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National Catholic Register
Amid warnings of an ‘AI Apocalypse,’ Catholics take different sides
By Jonah McKeown, September 18, 2026
CEOs of several companies, including Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk of xAI, have endorsed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s subsequent call for government regulation and independent oversight of the AI industry. But the tech companies’ calls for state intervention to avert disaster have not been well-received by everyone, including some Catholics. While some Catholic leaders and experts have characterized the warnings as a wake-up call to pursue the kind of AI-related protections championed by Pope Leo XIV, others have raised concerns about AI tech companies' motives and the economic and national security consequences of the U.S. slowing the pace of development. Though the idea of an AI-caused apocalypse is arguably the hottest news item and conversation topic in the world right now, it’s far from new. “What we need is not just to slow down, however,” said Charles Camosy, a Catholic theologian. “We need a pause and pivot to a totally different way of thinking about the technology.”
EWTN News
Prayer vigils for unborn babies kick off across nation
By Kate Quiñones, September 26, 2026
Prayer vigils led by the pro-life group 40 Days for Life are underway this week, from Sept. 23 to Nov. 1, across the nation. 40 Days for Life is a pro-life group that leads prayer vigils outside abortion clinics across the U.S. and around the world. The group prioritizes prayer and fasting, nonstop prayer vigils, and community outreach. The group’s most well-known event is likely its Lenten vigil campaign, but 40 Days for Life operates year-round. For the current campaign, the group will rally against abortion pills, according to Shawn Carney, president and CEO of 40 Days for Life. “We are saving more babies from abortion pills than ever before by offering abortion pill reversal,” Carney told EWTN News. “We are also going on offense with a national billboard campaign that warns against the abortion pill and offers abortion pill reversal — including in some of the most pro-abortion cities in the country, like San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Boston.”
Aleteia
Sheen’s prophetic warning for the modern Church
By Theresa Civantos Barber, September 26, 2026
One reason Blessed Fulton Sheen remains so popular is that he avoided taking sides in culture wars while charting a clear path rooted in Christ and the Gospel. Today, his balanced approach and warnings against division seem prophetic, as if he could have anticipated the deep divides yet to come. His consistent message to seek unity over division is exactly what made his witness so timeless, as he continues to reach a new generation and point them toward Christ. Sheen was a bridge builder, said Bishop Tylka, of Sheen’s home diocese of Peoria, in a press conference before the beatification. He explained how Sheen avoided falling into “conservative” or “liberal” labels. “He actually drew a large number of Protestants and Jews who would watch his program, and not just Catholics. So I think Sheen actually becomes a model of how to approach difficult topics; you don't soft pedal them, and you don't ignore them, but you always do so with clarity and with great kindness and charity,” said Monsignor Jason Gray, director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation.
The Pillar
Scotland reviewing 7 options for diocesan structures (yes, 7)
By Luke Coppen, September 22, 2026
Scotland’s bishops presented seven options this week for the future of the country’s eight dioceses. The bishops launched the consultation after a request from the Vatican to explore whether the current situation of eight dioceses still suits the Church’s needs. In their introduction to the seven options, the bishops wrote: “This is not simply a question of boundaries, administrative adjustments or the sharing of resources more effectively.” The seventh and final option is to maintain the current structures. Of Scotland’s eight dioceses, the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles covers the largest geographical area (12,004 square miles) but also has the smallest Catholic population (9,990 in 2023, according to the website catholic-hierarchy.org). Conversely, the Archdiocese of Glasgow (318 square miles) covers the smallest geographical area and has the largest Catholic population (223,270 in 2023).
OSV News
Vatican still promoting 2-state solution for Israel, Palestine
By Simone Orendain, September 25, 2026
The Vatican secretary of state on Sept. 24 reiterated the Holy See’s support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East and called for limits on the rapid development of artificial intelligence, or AI. “The Holy See’s position is clear: The two-state solution, based on secure and internationally recognized borders, is the only viable and equitable path toward a just and lasting peace,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin told world leaders and top diplomats at high-level meetings during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The two-state solution is a proposed peace plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by creating two separate, independent countries within the former British territory of Mandatory Palestine: Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people, and Palestine for the Palestinian people in a state based on the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel seized the latter territories from Egypt and Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War, which began June 5 with an Israeli surprise attack on Egypt’s air force.
Zeale
Policy seeking donations for migrants in custody ends
By David Uebbing, September 25, 2026
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has withdrawn permission for a Biden-era policy that let the agency solicit and accept private gifts and donations for migrants held in its custody, according to Fox News, which obtained a memo from CBP Commissioner Rodney S. Scott announcing the move. The policy, DHS Delegation Order 07107, signed in 2022, allowed the ICE director authority to solicit, accept, and distribute donated gifts related to the “care of undocumented noncitizens” in federal custody. Scott said that rationale no longer applies. “With the significant decrease in encounters and apprehensions, CBP no longer requires private donations or gifts for distribution to aliens in custody,” he wrote, adding that the delegation “does not align with the Trump Administration’s strengthened enforcement posture at our borders and related presidential actions.”
Zenit
Antwerp bishop seeks authority to ordain married men to priesthood
By ZENIT Staff, September 24, 2026
A proposal that began as a public declaration in March 2026 has moved into a more concrete phase in the Diocese of Antwerp: Bishop Johan Bonny says several married men have been selected and are already receiving theological and pastoral formation, as he seeks Rome’s authorization to ordain them in 2028. Bonny’s initiative, he says, is driven by a shortage of local clergy that is increasingly affecting the Church’s ability to serve communities beyond parish life. Antwerp has fewer than 70 priests under the age of 70, according to figures cited by the bishop, and around two-thirds of them come from abroad. The diocese no longer assigns priests exclusively to hospitals, youth movements, or schools, while only one of the province’s five prisons has a permanent chaplain. Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, and Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, have both agreed to raise the matter with Pope Leo XIV. No public authorization from the Holy See has been announced.
Pima Asia News
Trade into Nepal at standstill, left with few paths in and out
By Stefano Vecchia, September 23, 2026
Nepali authorities are trying to look beyond the disaster that struck the Bothekoshi River Valley in the Langtang region on 26 August, where Rasuwagadhi/Gyirong, the main border crossing with the Tibet Autonomous Region and the primary trade route with China, was wiped out. The devastation has left Nepal with few options, at least regarding trade. Experts say it could take years to restore operations at Rasuwagadhi, not only due to the extent of the damage, which affects roads and infrastructure along the river and beyond its confluence with the majestic Trishuli, but also because of the persistent risk of further disasters in the area. The only alternative route suitable for commercial vehicles lies much farther east at the Tatopani Pass, normally accessible via a steep, geologically unstable gorge; however, Chinese authorities closed this crossing to cross-border trade on 29 August because of the risk of landslides on the Nepali side.
Keep informed - 9/26/26 matters for Catholics:
Snippets: EWTN News, aciafrica, & Word on Fire
EWTN News
EWTN’s top headlines — September 26, 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.
Knights of Columbus pitch their role at Symposium on Young American Men - By Tyler Arnold - “The lifeblood of the Knights is young men,” said Joseph McInerney, who noted that men under 35 are currently the fraternal organization’s fastest-growing membership segment.
Pope addresses ‘surprising’ Catholic growth in secular France - By Hannah Brockhaus - “It may seem paradoxical that this phenomenon … is taking place against the backdrop of a society like that of France, which is marked by a deeply secularized culture,” the pope said at the Catholic Institute of Paris.
English scholars ‘piece together history’ to reunite missing pages of centuries-old Catholic text - By Daniel Payne - “The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Christ” was translated by English monk Nicholas Love from a 14th-century devotional work, and enjoyed immense popularity among English Catholics in the years leading up to the Reformation; a few hundred surviving manuscripts attest to the public’s love of the book.
aciafrica
aciafrica’s top headlines — September 26, 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 Holy See's activities.
Ugandan Catholic Archbishop Challenges Digital Faith Influencers at Graduation to Pay Attention to Global Challenges - By Silas Isenjia - The Archbishop emeritus of Uganda’s Gulu Catholic Archdiocese challenged graduates from the Digital Faith Influencers program of the Pan African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN) to leverage modern technology to promote the Gospel and respond to global challenges in society.
World Day of Migrants and Refugees in Port Louis Diocese in Mauritius to Focus on Dignity and Inclusion - By Jude Atemanke - The Catholic Diocese of Port-Louis in Mauritius is set to mark the 112th World Day of Migrants and Refugees with a focus on the dignity, inclusion and contribution of foreign communities living and working in the island nation.
Official Calls for Action against Practices “incompatible” With Charismatic Renewal in Angola - By João Vissesse - The National Assistant of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Angola has called for stronger oversight of prayer groups and communities affiliated with the movement, denouncing practices outside the spirituality and objectives of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Word on Fire
Fresh insights from the Word on Fire Institute - September 26, 2026
Word on Fire reaches millions every year by effectively sharing the Gospel via podcasts, videos, books, articles, Scripture studies, and Gospel meditations.
A Conversation with Bonnie Engstrom, Mother of Fulton Sheen’s ‘Miracle Baby’ - “He was without a heartbeat for sixty-one minutes—a little over an hour. I believe with my whole heart that Fulton Sheen was walking with us and making a Holy Hour.” Bonnie Engstrom is the mother of James Fulton Engstrom, who received miraculous healing through the intercession of Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
Not Made for the Machine: Thoughts from the ‘Better Way Forward for Women’ Convention - Nora Kenney Mittiga - Some of Erika Bachiochi's points, a legal scholar and founding editor of Fairer Disputations, particularly on what market forces, technological advances, and the sexual revolution have done to women, were superb. She observed that these conditions have primed women to mistrust their own power. But after decades of feminism promoting women’s empowerment, she asked, how can that be?
On Not Seeing It All: Bishop Barron’s ‘Heaven in Stone and Glass’ - Dr. Tod Worner - With their enormous pillars and mathematically precise arches, flying buttresses and tiled labyrinths, soaring spires and bellowing bell towers, ornate facades and brilliant windows, cathedrals are more than sublime—they are a reminder of our Christian story: The Lord became incarnate; the Lord died on a cross; the Lord rose from the dead . . . for you.
September 26, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings
You can listen HERE — or read HERE:
Saturday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Catholic commentary:
National Catholic Register
The child in surrogacy
By Katie Yoder, September 16, 2026
I was curious about how the surrogacy industry approaches abortion, so I started researching various surrogacy agencies. With surrogacy, I noticed that abortion seems to happen when the baby — or the situation — isn’t what society might consider “normal” or “perfect.” Most commonly, “selective termination” or “reduction” happens when a surrogate becomes pregnant with multiple babies or when the babies are diagnosed with genetic or medical abnormalities, according to a surrogacy agency in Fairfield, Connecticut. The Church anticipates this commodification of the human person and condemns surrogacy as a whole in recognition of something greater: the dignity of the child and woman involved. “By transforming gestation into a negotiable service, this violates the dignity both of the child, who is reduced to a ‘product,’ and of the mother, exploiting her body and the generative process, and distorting the original relational calling of the family,” Pope Leo XIV said of surrogacy earlier this year.
First Things
Canada’s deadliest blind spot
By Anna Farrow, September 24, 2026
Three months ago, eighty-three-year-old Brigitte “GG” Stegemann of Belleville, Ontario, was living in a residential long-term care home. She was in the last stages of stomach cancer, hard of hearing, and suffering from cognitive impairment. But Stegemann had clearly and regularly expressed both her desire to die free of pain and her refusal of, as she called it, the “death shot.” Despite this, Stegemann died by lethal injection on July 10. Healthcare workers claimed that Stegemann had consented to the MAiD (medical assistance in dying) procedure. But according to Kranendonk, paperwork was either missing or undisclosed, the care team refused to hand over medical records, and the team and the family were working at cross-purposes. When Kranendonk asked who had raised the topic of MAiD with her grandmother, a nurse told her, “I’m just trying to advocate for her. I’m just trying to do what’s right for her.” In the hierarchy of Canadian healthcare, MAiD takes pride of place.
The Imaginative Conservative
We don’t want to be blind in both eyes
By Brian Sudlow, September 24, 2026
We hear Jesus explain that food cannot make a person impure; rather, impurity comes from a wayward heart. As for the Pharisees, He concludes, they are blind guides, and their actions will bring about their own doom and the doom of those who blindly follow them. This is a spiky encounter that occurs during the late Galilean ministry, before Peter’s appointment as the ‘rock’ and Jesus’ final journey towards Jerusalem. It is a gospel that encourages us to reflect on the mystery of our own call as disciples: a call to listen and hear carefully, but also to internalize the lessons given. Do we consciously sit every day at His feet and try to hear His gospel? Are we doing so even now, letting its words search our hearts and test our deepest motives? The case of the Pharisees should stand as a warning to us, as we undergo that process. Who were reputedly the best Jews if not the Pharisees?
The Catholic Thing
California’s El Camino Real (‘The Royal Road’)
By Robert Royal, September 22, 2026
California’s coastal highways and walkways began as 18th-century footpaths, mostly forged by Franciscan friars (a “royal” road only in aspiration back then). Today, California 101 basically traces out what the missionaries carved out on foot. All those saint names up and down the Pacific – and a capital named Sacramento – reflect the long and storied history of the Church’s missionary work in the Americas. It’s fitting that we started in San Diego because Diego is a variant of the Spanish name for James. That first mission recalls the Camino of St. James in Compostela, the most famous Christian pilgrimage. The missionary friars, though, weren’t on a spiritual pilgrimage; they were relentless and intrepid in pursuing the dominical injunction to preach the Gospel to all nations. Revisionist histories these days often reduce their efforts to mere collaboration in colonization – even the saintly acts of the great St. Junipero Serra. Pairs of Franciscans and a handful of soldiers at each mission carried out exploration, development, and – most of all – evangelization.
Image of Coconut by Celio Nicoli from Pixabay
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