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National Catholic Register
California bishops push for social-media regulation
By Amira Abuzeid/EWTN News, August 28, 2026
The California Catholic Conference is calling on residents to urge legislators to pass a bill restricting “addictive features” on social media for children under 16 in the same week that Meta agreed to pay billions of dollars and add safety limits to settle claims that Facebook and Instagram have fueled addictive and harmful use among youth. The proposed bill, AB 1709, is scheduled for its third reading in the state Senate on Aug. 28. The amended measure originally would have prohibited “anyone under the age of 16 from having a social media account,” as the conference’s action alert still asserted as of Aug. 28. However, the bill was amended over the summer to simply restrict “addictive features” for youth under 16. The Catholic conference wrote in its alert that studies “repeatedly show that social media is damaging to young kids.”
Related: Meta $18 billion settlement over child safety raises questions about its real impact - Kimberley Heatherington, OSV News, August 28, 2026
EWTN News
Push for stronger protections for houses of worship
By Tessa Gervasini, August 28, 2026
Religious leaders met at the U.S. Department of Justice to discuss strengthening efforts to protect places of worship nationwide. The DOJ and the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, a religious freedom advocacy group, held the meeting in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 27 to address the rise in attacks against houses of worship and faith-based communities. Participants consisted of leaders from diverse faith backgrounds, including Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio to the United States. The leaders spoke with Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the DOJ, and Karen Schneier Dresbach, executive vice president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation — a coalition of business and religious leaders working worldwide on behalf of religious freedom, human rights, and the protection of houses of worship. “No American should ever fear violence for simply practicing their faith,” Dhillon said in a statement.
Aleteia
Leo XIV warns decisions ‘are being entrusted to machines’
By D. R. Esparza, August 28, 2026
Pope Leo XIV received members of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences in the Vatican on Friday, August 28, at the close of their annual conference in Rome; the Holy See is itself a member of the group. The Pope's brief, direct address focused almost entirely on artificial intelligence and its governance, framing the question as an urgent ethical responsibility for public administrators worldwide. He then named the core problem without preamble: “The speed at which innovations in artificial intelligence are developing pushes us to ask whether we will be able to control these machines in the future, whether humanity does not risk becoming the victim of its own inventions.” His diagnosis of the present situation was equally pointed. “One of the serious problems today is the observation that decisions concerning human life are being entrusted to machines.”
The Pillar
Meeting of German Synodal Conference postponed indefinitely
By Edgar Beltrán, August 28, 2026
The first meeting of the German Synodal Conference, originally planned for November, has been postponed indefinitely because the Vatican has not yet approved the statutes establishing the new body. The conference was to be the next step in the controversial German Synodal Way. It was to be composed of 27 bishops, 27 representatives of the Central Committee of German Catholics (known as ZdK in German), and 27 other Catholics with equal voting standing to oversee the Catholic Church in Germany. Thomas Arnold, a ZdK member, told katholisch.de that he believed that Rome wanted to harmonize the German synodal conference with the 2027-2028 Vatican-led synodal ecclesial assembly. “I would have preferred a swift start to the Synodal Conference. If Rome now intends to synchronize the processes, the Vatican should also clarify as quickly and definitively as possible what can be decided synodally at the local level in the future,” Arnold said.
OSV News
FBI’s ‘minimal corrective action’ after ‘radical traditionalist’ memo
By Kate Scanlon, August 28, 2026
The FBI “took minimal corrective action” after a controversial leaked memo discussed “radical traditionalist” Catholics, the Department of Justice said Aug. 28. A report by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Weaponization Working Group stated the FBI personnel responsible for the 2023 document, sometimes referred to as the “Richmond Memo,” have been terminated from their roles. Those firings were previously reported in June. However, a 2024 review by the Department of Justice’s watchdog found “no evidence” of religious bias by those responsible for the memo’s creation. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation is entrusted with the solemn responsibility of protecting the First Amendment rights of all Americans,” the Aug. 28 report stated. “History will rightly judge the Richmond Catholic Memo as a grave failure of the FBI Richmond Field Office to uphold that responsibility.”
Zeale
Five parties accused, sanctioned over violent far-left terrorism
By Elise Winland, August 28, 2026
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned three entities and two individuals under counterterrorism authorities Aug. 26, targeting what officials described as infrastructure supporting violent far-left groups. A department press release names Autistici Inventati, an Italy-based organization; Palestine Action, a United Kingdom-based group; and Masar Badil, a transnational network, as well as Masar Badil leaders Rawa Alsagheer and Zaid Abdulnasser. “Far-left extremists, their fronts, and their enablers should be on notice: We will bring the full weight of our economic tools to bear,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the release. “Political terrorism has no place in our society, and we will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated.”
Zenit
U.S. Sedevacantist Group superior excommunicated
By Zenit Staff, August 27, 2026
Archbishop of San Antonio, Texas (USA), Gustavo Garcia-Siller, issued a public notification regarding Father John Mary Foster and his Mission of Divine Mercy. He declared the latae sententiae excommunication, that is, automatic. The priest was dismissed from the clerical state. Foster may no longer celebrate the Sacraments or exercise any jurisdiction. Foster “has been found guilty of schism, an offense against the faith, due to his refusal to submit to the Roman Pontiff.” Garcia-Siller said, “Father Foster publicly declares his disobedience to Church authority and encourages others to do the same." [Sedevacantism is a traditionalist Catholic movement that says the Holy See is “vacant” since the 1958 death of Pius XII.] The organization’s superiors “are actively committing and commanding a grave evil,” and therefore, morally speaking, “there is no obligation to obey them.” Regarding Pope Leo XIV—whom the Mission of Divine Mercy does not recognize —the group argues that the conclave that elected him was invalid because many of the Cardinals were not truly cardinals, having been created by Pope Francis.
The Angelus
LA parish: Viral video of demonstration only outsiders, no staff
By Heather King, August 25, 2026
A video that went viral on social media of a man being forcibly removed from Precious Blood Catholic Church in Los Angeles involved people with no ties to the archdiocese or church, according to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Eoin Richard Connolly had organized an anti-Islam demonstration near the church just west of downtown on Aug. 23. An Instagram video captures him being chased from the church and doused in blue paint before he flees into a Starbucks. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles said in a statement: “Several individuals participating in a rally at a nearby location moved their demonstration to the sidewalk directly outside of Precious Blood Church. Then, when the demonstrators made their way into the church, they were asked to leave by a surprised group of women volunteers who were cleaning and locking up the church following the 12:30 p.m. Mass.”
Keep informed - 8/29/26 matters for Catholics:
Snippets: EWTN News, aciafrica, & Word on Fire
EWTN News
EWTN’s top headlines — August 29, 2026
EWTN News provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, with updates on the Holy Father's words and the Holy See.
How the movie ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ inspired a camp for Catholic fathers and sons - By Tessa Gervasini - The annual “Top Gun Father and Son” camping event welcomes dads and sons for a mission to grow closer, strengthen their relationships through challenges and reflections, and partake in faith-filled adventures.
Why does the Catholic Church oppose surrogacy? - By Daniel Payne - The practice of using women to gestate babies for other parents is contrary to the dignity of both marriage and the human person, the Catholic Church says. The “modern version” of surrogacy involves impregnating a surrogate using in vitro fertilization (IVF) either via a donor or using gametes from the “intending parents.” The Church has condemned and prohibited this practice for decades.
Student asks Supreme Court to overturn ruling blocking public aid for religious studies - By Madalaine Elhabbal - Representatives for Liberty University student Bethany Hall have filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a decades-old court decision that has been used to bar Catholic institutions from receiving state funds.
aciafrica
aciafrica’s top headlines — August 29, 2026
ACI Africa was founded in 2019 to provide free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Catholic Church in Africa, with particular emphasis on the Holy Father's words and the activities of the Holy See.
Ghana Catholic Diocese Says Suspended Priest Found at Police Training Centre - The Catholic Diocese of Konongo-Mampong has announced that a Priest of the Ghanaian Episcopal See, who was suspended indefinitely on August 24 for “abandoning his pastoral ministry” and whose whereabouts had remained unclear, has been found at a Police Training Centre, where he is undergoing training.
Coronation of St. Agatha’s Skull Relic: Ghana’s Catholic Bishops Clarify Veneration after Online Fuss - Members of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) have called for “clear teaching on the communion of saints” after a video showing the ceremonial crowning of the skull relic of St. Agatha sparked concern among some faithful who viewed it online.
Kenyan Married Man Who Posed as Catholic Priest Pleads Not Guilty to Charges, Remains on Remand - The diocese said “Fr Jones Bogonko Onchonga, M.C.” allegedly pretended to administer sacraments, conducted unauthorized celebrations, usurped ecclesiastical office, and falsified Church documents. Onchonga, a layman, managed to gain access in several Catholic communities of Lodwar, Turkana County, participating in liturgical celebrations.
Word on Fire
Fresh insights from the Word on Fire Institute - August 29, 2026
Word on Fire reaches millions every year by effectively sharing the Gospel via podcasts, videos, books, articles, Scripture studies, and Gospel meditations.
The Passion of St. John the Baptist as a Witness to Marriage - Dr. Hannah Barrett - John points to Christ by conforming himself to Christ’s death, which is the very reason John lays down his life. In other words, John dies for the dignity of marriage. This is the doctrine for which he sheds his blood.
So, You’re Adopted - Dr. Christopher Kaczor - I heard her soft voice, the voice that taught me the Our Father. I saw her small hands, the hands that once placed me gently in my crib. I told her, “Mom, you will always be my mom. And Dad will always be my dad. I love you. Nothing can ever change my love for you. When I asked you if I was adopted, you said to me, you are my son. Now, I say to you, you are my mother.”
A Glimpse into the World of USCCB Committees - Bishop Robert Barron - I have long wondered whether the Church has adequately communicated the calling, this mission peculiar to the laity. Consequently, we have been holding listening sessions within dioceses, with groups of lay leaders, and with the bishops of the country in order to prepare a statement.
August 29, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings
You can listen HERE — or read HERE:
Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist
Today’s Catholic commentary:
National Catholic Register
The whole Christian life, according to Micah
By Regis Martin, August 24, 2026
Meet Micah, one of a dozen Minor Prophets from the Old Testament, who grew up in a small village eight centuries before Christ — the Christ whose unforeseen, indeed unimaginable, coming among us Micah had already seen and imagined on the wings of his own prophecy. It was Micah, after all, who predicted that the promised Messiah would surely come, springing forth most unaccountably to the rulers of this world, from a small town called Bethlehem, “too little to be among the clans of Judah” (5:2), yet destined from all eternity to lead Israel to salvation. The whole of the Christian life is to be found right here, neatly distilled into a single sentence found in an otherwise obscure Old Testament prophet, Chapter 6 of the Book of Micah. “You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
First Things
Evangelicalism’s trinitarian deficit
By Phillip Cary, August 28, 2026
William Lane Craig has recently caused some consternation by saying he does not confess the faith of the Nicene Creed. The reaction is understandable. Nicene orthodoxy, after all, is the faith confessed by Catholics, Orthodox, and most Protestant traditions going back to the sixteenth-century Reformation. And here is a prominent philosopher and apologist in the American evangelical tradition who does not share the same faith. Yet perhaps the most important thing to understand is why many evangelicals do not share the consternation. The sticking point is the Nicene teaching that the Son is “eternally begotten of the Father” or (in a more precise rendering of the Greek) “begotten from the Father before all ages.” Part of the problem for many evangelicals is that “begotten” is no longer a familiar word. In its ordinary literal sense, it refers to what happens among the birds and the bees: fathers beget, mothers conceive, and offspring are born. Clearly this ordinary way of relating a father and a son has to be drastically modified in order to apply to the Father begetting his eternal Son “before all ages.”
The European Conservative
West Bank school leaders still hail the killings of October 7
By TEC News, August 27, 2026
Palestinian Authority-run schools actively celebrated the October 7 pogrom of 2023—even incorporating support for them into the academic curriculum. A new report shows how PA schools themselves presented the attacks to Palestinian schoolchildren. The recorded pattern of advocacy for antisemitic violence comes not from a few rogue teachers, but from official materials distributed by the schools themselves. PA monitoring research group Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has published a breakdown of how school assemblies, classroom activities, and even mathematics exercises were used to commemorate the wave of lethal, Hamas-led violence which crossed over from Gaza to Israel. Multiple school assemblies were found to have glorified terrorism and martyrdom, whether through the direct addresses made by teachers or through such activities as contests for writing and reciting poetry. International supervision should oversee restructuring primary and secondary education so this can never happen again.
The Catholic Thing
Is Bob Dylan’s music a Catholic thing?
By Fr. Raymond J. de Souza, August 29, 2026
Bob Dylan’s Chimes of Freedom is not a new song; it dates from the early 1960s. It remained entirely unknown to me until a few months back at Madison Square Garden, where Bruce Springsteen used it as the final song on his Land of Hope and Dreams tour. Is Bob Dylan’s music a Catholic thing? Many a homilist has quoted his 1979 song Gotta Serve Somebody, especially against the argument that unbelievers are freer because they don’t have to serve God. Dylan knew better: “It may be the devil, or it may be the Lord/ But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” for Dylan’s 85th birthday – and his own 40th anniversary of priestly ordination – Bishop Robert Barron recorded a video singing You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go. In June, Pope Leo XIV saw Barron and praised him, citing Dylan in the foreword to an anthology on peace and disarmament. Dylan was with St. John Paul the Great in Bologna, at the 1997 Italian Eucharistic Congress, which had a World Youth Day vibe.
Image of Coconut by Celio Nicoli from Pixabay
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