The Archdiocese of Tours in France reported that three Catholic churches within its jurisdiction have been desecrated and announced that Masses of reparation will be held at the affected churches.
“In recent days, three churches in our diocese in Chambray-lès-Tours, Luynes, and Tours (St.Joan of Arc Church) have been targeted by malicious individuals,” the archdiocese said in a July 28 statement.
The text specifies that “offering boxes were looted and damaged, doors forced open, sacred vessels damaged, a tabernacle forced open, and the Blessed Sacrament desecrated.”
“These painful and hurtful events for the Catholic community unfortunately reveal the extent to which our society is permeated by disturbing forms of violence, a lack of culture, and a lack of civility,” the statement laments.
Finally, the text notes without specifying dates that “Masses of reparation will be celebrated in the desecrated churches.”
Michel Lamy, the mayor of Chambray-lès-Tours, condemned the desecration of the church in his town, stating: “These acts fill me with deep indignation and are simply unacceptable.”
“Nothing can justify an attack on a place of worship, our heritage, and what it represents for many residents of Chambray,” the mayor stated on his Facebook page.
The mayor posted photos of the desecration, showing Communion hosts scattered on the ground and excrement on the floor.
“I condemn this desecration in the strongest possible terms and offer my full support to the parish community, Father François Xavier Olayemy Oniossou, and all those deeply shocked by these events,” the mayor added.
“In Chambray-lès-Tours, as elsewhere, respect for places of worship, regardless of one’s convictions, is a fundamental value,” he stated.
In November 2024, similar acts of desecration occurred at four churches in the Archdiocese of Tours. Archbishop Vincent Jordy stated at the time that “there may be people who wish to express at times hatred toward the Church, or toward what she represents.”
“There is this type of phenomenon that unfortunately exists — we say it in the communique — and which manifests a lack of culture and a form of contempt for peopleʼs [way of] life and faith,” the prelate lamented at the time.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
A retreat house inspired by the life and ministry of St. John Paul II is set to open its doors next to the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C.
Inspired by the retreats of Father Karol Wojtyła — later Pope John Paul II — the St. John Paul II Retreat House will offer Catholic group retreats in a prayerful setting.
The house, which is a pastoral initiative of the Knights of Columbus, will be unveiled and blessed on Aug. 26. The event will include Mass and a blessing by Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, supreme chaplain of the Knights of Columbus.
The St. John Paul II Retreat House will open in Washington, D.C., next door to the St. John Paul II Shrine. | Credit: Photo courtesy of St. John Paul II National Shrine
“Pope John Paul II’s deep spiritual life was the engine which drove everything else he did,” Stephen White, executive director of the St. John Paul II Shrine, said in a press release.
“Through prayer, he allowed God to make him a saint. The Retreat House is a way to invite guests to enter more deeply into the vocation we all share — answering God’s call to become saints,” White said.
As a young priest, then-Wojtyła led wilderness excursions for young people while teaching them about the faith. He used the quiet setting as a place for Mass, prayer, and discussion, which the center hopes to reflect.
The center strives to imitate the early home of Wojtyła, in the years prior to his election as pope, according to White. It houses a collection of the saint’s personal belongings including papal dishes, his rosary and cross, and handwritten letters and other items from his writing desk.
It also includes 40 rooms, a library, meeting spaces, a chapel, and a dining area.
Chapel located inside the St. John Paul II Retreat House in Washington, D.C. | Credit: Photo courtesy of the St. John Paul II Shrine
The center invites parish ministries, young adult groups, college campus ministries, leadership teams, formation groups, pilgrimage groups visiting the shrine, and any other Catholic group hoping to gather in prayer.
The center also allows for immediate access to the St. John Paul II National Shrine, one of the nationʼs premier Catholic pilgrimage sites, offering a 16,000-square-foot exhibit, sacred spaces, daily Mass, confessions, and a first-class relic of the saint.
A coalition of religious sisters in New York state won a major victory in federal court this week when the state agreed to not force the sisters to participate in New York’s looming assisted suicide regime.
The lawsuit had been brought earlier in July by four communities of religious sisters in the state. U.S. District Judge Anne Nardacci on July 30 issued the consent order holding that the government is “barred from requiring that [the sisters]” participate in the assisted suicide process in any way while their lawsuit proceeds.
The suicide law itself is scheduled to go into effect on Aug. 5.
The decision was announced by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the sisters in the suit along with Rockville Centre Bishop John Barres.
Mother Mary Rose Heery, OCarm, the prioress general of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, said in the legal group’s press release that families “entrust their loved ones to us” and that the sisters were “grateful that we can continue honoring that trust and remain beside every resident until the very end.”
“[The state’s] decision not to enforce this law against us means that we can continue our loving service to Christ’s poor,” Mother Marie Edward, OP, the superior general of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, said in the announcement.
Barres, meanwhile, called the consent order an “important first step toward protecting religious freedom” in the state.
“New York cannot force the Church to answer suffering with suicide or abandon the sick and dying when they need care most,” the bishop said.
“Until our legal fight is resolved, this temporary agreement keeps our ministries free to serve every patient according to the Gospel,” he said.
New York’s assisted suicide law has drawn pushback from Catholic advocates. In December 2025 the state’s Catholic bishops described assisted suicide as a “grave moral evil” and said the law signals the state government’s “abandonment of its most vulnerable citizens.”
New York cannot force the Church to answer suffering with suicide.”
Bishop John Barres
Diocese of Rockville Centre
New York’s assisted suicide law has drawn vigorous pushback from Catholic advocates. In December 2025 the Empire State’s Catholic bishops described assisted suicide as a “grave moral evil” and said the law signals the state government’s “abandonment of its most vulnerable citizens.”
The suicide law “[tells] people who are sick or disabled that suicide in their case is not only acceptable but is encouraged by our elected leaders,” the bishops argued.
In addition to the Catholic legal filing, disability advocates filed suit against the New York law earlier this year, arguing that it threatens the lives of people with disabilities there.
The suit, filed in federal court in June alongside a similar suit against a new assisted suicide regime in the state of Illinois, argued that the New York law does not require medical officials to “consider a patient’s psychiatric or psychological condition or how that may affect their suicidality” when they ask for help in dying, potentially leading to the euthanasia of patients who are not suffering from terminal conditions. A federal judge dismissed that suit on July 30.
When it legalized assisted suicide in February, New York became the 13th state in the U.S. to allow doctors to help kill patients.
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco called for “easier access” to the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) as the future of the restrictions on the traditional rite remain uncertain.
“I think with some precautions, we can allow a greater access to the Mass and maintain unity within the Church,” Cordileone said in a July 30 interview on “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo.”
The SSPX consecrations manifest “a growing lack of trust that has been simmering for a very long time,” Cordileone wrote in a post to X.
“Let us pray that an ardent effort toward sincere and honest dialogue will soon start up, and that easier access to the traditional form of the Mass will be available to our people, so they will not feel as if they are constrained to seek spiritual nourishment outside of the family in union with Rome,” he said in the July 10 statement.
While Cordileone and other leaders have called for less restrictions on the TLM, Cardinal Arthur Roche, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, said in an interview with The Tablet that Pope Leo has no intention of changing Pope Francis’ restrictions on the traditional liturgy.
Cordileone told Raymond Arroyo in response to Roche’s comments: “I donʼt know how well he knows the mind of the Holy Father. But I think one thing thatʼs clear to everyone is the Holy Father wants to bring everyone together. Heʼs all about unity.”
Cordileone said he is concerned that if the restrictions remain in place, people who want a traditional form of worship will feel they “have no choice” other than “to go outside of officially approved institutions and communities.”
“They will do that. So I think thereʼs concern for unity on both sides. One, if the restrictions are in place, people will then go to these other groups that are not in full communion with the See of Rome,” he said.
“But if theyʼre allowed generously, we have to make sure that the people who access the Mass are in full communion in terms of their belief and their acceptance of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council,” he said.
In the U.S. and other nations, Cordileone said that has, for “the most part,” been the case.
“So I think with some precautions, we can allow a greater access to the Mass and maintain unity within the Church,” he said.
Reconciliation of TLM restrictions not ‘realistic’
While Cordileone said he believes more access to the TLM is possible, he said he does not think itʼs “realistic” to reconcile the TLM restrictions following Pope Leoʼs message to the French bishops to be more inclusive of those who want to celebrate the traditional rite.
In March, Pope Leo XIV called for “concrete solutions” to heal divisions over the Mass in a message to the French bishops.
The Holy Father called for renewed unity in the Church’s liturgical life, urging French bishops to seek “concrete solutions” to include Catholics attached to the Traditional Latin Mass while preserving communion.
“We look at the younger generation — they all love the tradition,” Cordileone said. “They love the more classical way that the Church worships, the traditional Mass, what we call the traditional Mass, the form of the Mass before it was changed after the Second Vatican Council.”
“But even the order of the Mass as we have now done in a more traditional way with the priest ad orientem, and the sacred music, and great solemnity, and reverence. Theyʼre desiring this deep tradition. It takes them to a very deep place,” he said.
“This is unstoppable. Itʼs whatʼs drawing young people in and will continue to do so,” he said.
The Catholic Church is responding to the illegal arrival within the span of just a few hours of nearly 50,000 migrants in the Spanish city of Ceuta, located on the North African coast, by mobilizing resources for the diocesan migrant ministry.
The Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta, led by Apostolic Administrator Ramón Valdivia (auxiliary bishop of Seville), expressed in a statement its “deep concern regarding the gravity of the events and the particular vulnerability of so many people affected by this situation.”
The diocese reiterated its readiness “to collaborate with civil institutions and competent bodies” to address “any needs that may arise.”
In support of this commitment, the diocese has directed that the entirety of the collections taken up this weekend in Ceutaʼs parishes be allocated to the diocesan migrant ministry in order to channel aid through the San Antonio Migrant Care Center.
“We thank the faithful and all people of goodwill in advance for their generosity, and we invite Christian communities to pray earnestly for those who are suffering, for those responsible for managing this situation, and for all who work to build paths of peace, justice, and hope,” the statement concludes.
On social media the bishops’ Commission for Social Pastoral Care and Human Promotion of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference called for “measures addressing this situation to be taken within the framework of current law, with respect for human dignity, and avoiding manipulation for partisan ends.”
Court ruling that precipitated the surge
Migrants are entering Spanish territory by swimming around the Tarajal breakwater, a border structure that extends into the sea located south of the autonomous city of Ceuta continuing the border fence that separates the Spanish town from Moroccan territory on land. The crossing, which can sometimes last for hours, is fraught with danger; Spanish authorities have already reported the recovery of more than 40 bodies.
On June 29, Spain’s Supreme Court issued a ruling rejecting the practice of “hot returns” (summary expulsions) applied to migrants intercepted at sea who attempt to swim into the Spanish territories of Ceuta and Melilla in Africa.
The high court determined that this method of illegal entry into the country takes place without getting over any border barrier as occurs when scaling a border fence and therefore the Law on Immigration’s Tenth Additional Provision cannot be applied.
The referenced section of the regulation stipulates that foreign nationals detected at the border line of demarcation of the territory of Ceuta or Melilla while attempting to get over a border barrier in order to enter illegally “may be turned back to prevent their illegal entry into Spain."
The Supreme Court ruling further stated that “nothing would prevent” the application of this provision for automatic return “were containment measures to be established at sea to protect the border line.”
Calls to exclude Spain from Europeʼs Schengen Area
The president of the autonomous city of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, requested that the central government on the Spanish mainland declare a national emergency so that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez could assume unified command of the situation and adopt “decisive” measures.
However, the request was rejected, even though the current situation involves a volume of arrivals many times greater than the last migratory wave the city experienced in 2021 when a group of around 12,000 people arrived, a figure nearly four times smaller.
The vulnerability of the borders of Spain’s African territories has led Italy and Finland to back a proposal to exclude Spain from the Schengen Area, the zone of free movement for people that comprises 29 European countries.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
A public dispute over the construction of an Islamic mosque in Albuquerque, New Mexico, boiled over into violence earlier this month when a local resident reportedly drew a gun during an altercation with an employee of a Catholic parish.
Father Vincent Paul Chávez, the pastor of the Shrine of the Little Flower St. Therese of the Infant Jesus Parish in Albuquerque, told EWTN News that the violent incident on July 22 came after several weeks of tension in the community stemming in part from the priest’s open support of a proposed 45,000-square-foot mosque that would be built several miles away from the parish.
Chávez said he spoke at a county meeting on July 1 in support of the construction of the mosque. In remarks he provided to EWTN News, the priest said at the meeting that he would “love” if the mosque were built next to the Catholic parish.
He referred to the Islamic religion as “noble Islam” and as “a religion of Abraham as are Christianity and Judaism.”
“Let us not be influenced by ignorance and racism,” the priest said at the meeting. “We have freedom of religion in these United States.”
Chávez said one attendee filmed his remarks and posted the video to social media; she reportedly urged local residents to contact Archbishop John Wester in protest.
The priest said he eventually responded via the parish’s marquee sign on which he has regularly posted topical messages throughout the years. Chávez said he posted the phrase “Racism is a grave sin against God’s love” on the marquee; two days later he added part of the woman’s name to the sign.
On July 22 Chávez said the woman came to the parish to take a video of the sign. The priest said he spoke briefly with her; he said he remarked to her that he was “living rent-free in her head.” Chávez then went inside the parish, at which point he directed the parish’s facilities manager to ask the woman to leave.
The woman appeared to leave, the priest said, but eventually returned with another man who was reportedly her boyfriend. Chávez said the pair approached the facilities manager in his car while the boyfriend allegedly “presented a gun.” The manager then sprayed both of them in the face with mace.
Chávez said he ran out to take video of the rest of the encounter, which subsequently “de-escalated” with the boyfriend leaving in his car. He was arrested the next day and charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault. The priest said he was told by authorities that the FBI may be investigating the incident as a hate crime.
Both news reports and Chávez himself identified the individuals in the dispute as local residents Katrina Griego and David Romero. Neither individual responded to requests for comment regarding the incident.
Several days after the violent incident at the parish, on July 27, Wester issued a statement in which he said that Muslim residents of Albuquerque “have the same God-given and constitutionally protected right to worship freely as every other faith community, including our own.”
Citing the Second Vatican Council, the archbishop said the principle of freedom of religion “is not limited to Catholics or Christians; it extends fully to Muslims, Jews, and all people who seek to worship according to their conscience.”
In a July 30 statement the U.S. Council on American-Islamic Relations praised the assault charges brought against the suspect in the parish dispute, thanking law enforcement for “taking this alleged threat seriously.”
"No faith leader should face intimidation or violence for defending the constitutional rights and religious freedom of his neighbors,” the council said in its statement.
In a statement to his parishioners after the incident, meanwhile, Chávez said the altercation was “a sobering reminder that words matter.”
“When disagreements become fueled by anger, fear, or hatred, they can have real and dangerous consequences,” he said.
The priest urged the congregation to pray for “everyone involved,” including “those whose actions led to this painful event.”
One month after the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela, the Catholic Church is focused on “remaining at the side of the suffering,” according to Father Ricardo Guillén, episcopal vicar for pastoral ministry of the Archdiocese of Caracas.
In an interview with the archdiocesan press office, the priest explained how “physical presence, active listening, and organized charity” have been the cornerstones of the Church’s response to the tragedy, which claimed the lives of thousands of people and severely affected tens of thousands more.
“Our immediate priority was to be present where the suffering was most acute; we showed up and shared close up with the vulnerability of our people,” he said.
From the very first hours following the earthquakes, he continued, the Church understood that this accompaniment “could not take place from a distance” but rather “required being physically present in the places of greatest uncertainty to support those who had lost everything.”
“For this reason, we deployed directly to the areas most critical to the emergency,” he added. Consecrated personnel and lay volunteers assessed the scale of the disaster, offering special support to people at the morgues “to embrace and share in the families’ painful silence” and bringing the comfort of the sacraments.
“In each of those places, our mission was simply to be present, to listen, and not to leave anyone alone,” Guillén added.
‘God never abandons us’
After highlighting “the profound vocation of service and solidarity,” which he said especially characterizes the new generations of Venezuelans and which enabled the enormous logistical response to the emergency, the episcopal vicar noted that it is precisely “in closeness and compassion” that God’s presence is revealed amid so much pain.
Beyond providing material aid, the Catholic Church’s “fundamental mission” was to “be a living presence of the Lord and sustain the faith where suffering was the greatest,” regardless of the difficulties posed by the earthquakes. Thus, the Church “had to take to the streets,” transforming plazas, parks, and sports fields into “open-air altars” for religious services and encouraging the most popular devotions in Caracas and La Guaira.
“One of the most moving services was accompanying people in their grief,” he said. “We priests were present in morgues, hospitals, and cemeteries in Caracas and La Guaira, supporting those who were suffering, often offering nothing more than a hug, weeping with those who wept, praying together, or maintaining a respectful silence in the face of such immense pain.”
“Bringing grace and comfort to places where suffering reigned was living proof that God never abandons us,” he added.
What are lessons the earthquakes taught the Church?
Guillén emphasized that “the earthquake left deep scars, but it also revealed the immense spiritual and solidarity reserves of our people.”
“Far from plunging us into despair, this tragedy becomes an urgent call to make fraternity a permanent way of life, oriented toward the common good and the recognition of every person’s dignity,” he said.
He remarked that “true consolation requires neither explanations nor grand speeches,” but rather manifests itself “in quiet presence, in an outstretched hand, in attentive listening that takes in the pain, and in respectful silence that helps heal the wounds of the soul.”
The earthquakes “leave us with profound lessons” for the Church in Venezuela and have confronted the entire country with “the urgent need to organize ourselves better in the face of contingencies of this magnitude,” he said. In that sense, he continued, Cáritas must strengthen itself and become “a true network of solidarity capable of reaching even the most remote areas” of Venezuela.
“Ultimately, this time confirms for us that the faith lived out is authenticated through charity and tangible dedication to the most vulnerable,” Guillén said.
“For this reason, the Church in Caracas reaffirms its unwavering commitment to continue accompanying those affected. We are not pulling out now that the immediate phase of the emergency has ended; we will be there for the long road of rebuilding society and the integral healing of our people’s lives,” he pledged.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Israeli airstrikes on an apartment building adjacent to the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City damaged the hospital on the evening of July 29, blowing out windows and doors, and frightening patients and medical staff, according to a report by the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA).
“The repeated explosions create confusion among medical staff and place additional psychological pressure on patients,” Mousa Ayad, manager at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, told CNEWA’s Diaa Ostaz.
Ayad told CNEWA he could not rule out another airstrike: “This is war, and no one knows where the next danger will be. But given the hospital’s humanitarian and medical role, we do not believe that the hospital is the intended target.”
According to CNEWA, Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense, said emergency response crews were not able to immediately reach the struck building, which is beside the hospital and a shelter for displaced people, because responders feared a second strike.
“The fire burned for more than 15 minutes before our crews could move in,” he said, according to CNEWA. “We continue to work with severe shortages of firefighting vehicles, water tankers and fuel, making every emergency response more difficult.”
CNEWA reported that, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, nearly 1,200 Palestinians have been killed and another 3,900 injured since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025.
Ayad told CNEWA that despite the ceasefire, Gaza’s health sector is still in dire circumstances.
“The situation has not improved significantly. Hospitals continue to face shortages of medical supplies, equipment and essential consumables,” he said. “Thousands of patients remain on waiting lists for surgery, while many others still need to travel outside Gaza for specialized treatment.”
Last year, he told CNEWA that the hospital was operating at 350% capacity and a total evacuation would be “a major humanitarian challenge.”
This is not the first time the hospital has been struck.
On Oct. 17, 2023, an airstrike on the hospital killed 500 people and injured many others. More than 5,000 people were sheltering at the hospital at the time, reported Joseph Hazboun, regional director for CNEWA’s Jerusalem office.
Then, in June 2025 airstrikes, six people, including four journalists, were killed and 30 others were injured.
Three months later, Israel Defense Forces killed one person and injured several others after it launched a missile that landed in the hospital’s courtyard, according to CNEWA.
The Catholic aid group has long supported Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, and since January 2025, it has partnered with the hospital to provide urgent medical services.
Pope Pius XI founded CNEWA in 1926 as “an instrument of love and a sign of hope for those in need scattered throughout the historic but unstable lands of the ancient Eastern churches — the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe,” according to the group’s website.
Situated next to the imposing Gothic cathedral where Cistercians have prayed for centuries, this depository of knowledge preserved a medieval manuscript whose significance has since come to light.
In 2024, Paul Alexander Nebauer, an independent researcher specializing in the medieval history of the former Cistercian monastery of Bad Doberan in Germany, contacted Christian Tornau, a professor of classical philology (Latin studies) at the University of Würzburg, to propose a mission to him: He had located a medieval codex containing several sermons attributed to St. Augustine and needed help identifying and translating them.
The shelves of the Pelplin diocesan library in Poland where the St. Augustine manuscripts were housed. | Credit: Pelplin Diocesan Library
Tornau, considered one of Germany’s leading specialists on the works of St. Augustine of Hippo and Christian literature of late antiquity, accepted the challenge.
To an untrained observer, the manuscript might appear to be little more than a collection of aged pages, yellowed in hue with the smell of an ancient document.
However, the exhaustive philological research conducted by Tornau together with Clemens Weidmann, a researcher at the “Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum” (Corpus of Latin Ecclesiastical Writings or CSEL, by its Latin acronym) in Vienna, Austria, and a team of young scholars ultimately revealed a discovery of immense importance.
The manuscript was copied at the Doberan monastery during the 12th century and may have been transcribed from an older codex originating from Amelungsborn, a historic Cistercian monastery located in the present-day German state of Lower Saxony.
Of the four sermons analyzed, two were already known to specialists: one recognized as authentically Augustinian and another classified as pseudo-Augustinian. The other two, however, could not be immediately identified.
Scholar Christian Tornau, together with a score of specialists, confirmed St. Augustine’s authorship of two previously undiscovered sermons. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Christian Tornau
“We transcribed the new texts and began analyzing them with a view to a future edition. We were fascinated, of course, by the idea of having found new sermons by St. Augustine, but we soon became skeptical because, in some places, the sermons did not seem to have been written by Augustine,” Tornau explained to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.
2 years of research to verify authenticity
Without letting themselves get carried away by the initial rush of excitement, the researchers wanted to subject the discovery to the highest academic standards before validating it. “Our final verdict that they are authentic is the result of continuous philological work during nearly two years,” noted the German scholar.
Part of this work was carried out during a summer school organized by the CSEL in Vienna in 2025, attended by doctoral students and early-career researchers specializing in early Christian literature. Following a meticulous analysis of the texts and their transmission into a manuscript, the team concluded that there were no serious objections to attributing them to St. Augustine.
According to the researcher, although several centuries of textual transmission separate the era of St. Augustine (fifth century) from the surviving manuscript, the document offers a surprisingly reliable version.
“Several centuries lie between Augustine and this 12th-century scribe, so it is easy to imagine that errors occurred during transmission. Nevertheless, we have a very good text, and with a few critical corrections, we can largely reconstruct what St. Augustine said,” he explained.
Among the most compelling arguments are the dating of the sermons to late antiquity — between the fifth and seventh centuries — as well as the description of liturgical practices that, in Tornau’s words, “would be unimaginable in the Middle Ages.”
Furthermore, according to the researcher, “the background is North African, as is evident from the concluding prayer of the first sermon, which is attested only in Africa of late antiquity.”
Specialists also confirmed that the author possessed a profound understanding of Augustinian thought, without, however, merely reproducing it mechanically.
“The preacher is familiar with the thought and works of St. Augustine, but he does not simply copy them — which could be a sign of inauthenticity,” he explained.
He further added that “the sermons contain nothing that could not have been said by Augustine, whether from a linguistic, exegetical, or theological standpoint.”
After comparing expressions, arguments, and textual features against the extant body of Augustinian works, the researchers reached a firm conclusion.
“Since the preacher is indistinguishable from St. Augustine, we consider it methodologically sound to accept St. Augustine’s authorship rather than inventing an anonymous ‘disciple’ or ‘follower,’” Tornau explained.
A biblical passage that posed a major theological problem
The two sermons center on one of the most complex episodes in the Old Testament: King Saul’s consultation with the medium or “witch” of Endor, recounted in Chapter 28 of the First Book of Samuel.
The first page of one of the two new sermons by St. Augustine. | Credit: Pelplin, Ms. 114 (195), fol. 14r (Copyright: Pelplin Diocesan Library)
According to the biblical account, abandoned by God and in despair over the threat posed by the Philistines, Saul turns to a necromancer to summon the prophet Samuel. The prophet appears and foretells his imminent death.
“This narrative posed a problem for early Christian exegesis. How could a necromancer wield magical, diabolical power over Samuel, a saint of God? Is God unable or unwilling to prevent it? Evidently, this raises the question of theodicy,” Tornau explained.
According to Britannica, theodicy is “an explanation of why a perfectly good, almighty, and all-knowing God permits evil.”
Before St. Augustine, two main interpretations prevailed. The first held that Samuel had actually appeared, albeit by divine will or permission, and not as a result of magic. The second maintained that the apparition was, in reality, an evil spirit assuming the prophetʼs appearance to deceive Saul.
What is new is the emergence of two specific sermons in which the bishop of Hippo addresses the matter before his congregation without ruling out either possibility.
“In the new sermons, St. Augustine discusses both possibilities along with their advantages and drawbacks and concludes that both are acceptable because neither contradicts the Christian faith,” the professor noted.
For Tornau, this stance reflects a distinctive trait of the bishop of Hippo. “This openness to divergent interpretations of Scripture is characteristic of Augustine in general,” he observed.
According to the specialist, this doctor of the Church, one of the most significant and influential minds in the history of philosophy, adopts an attitude far more willing to dialogue than other ancient authors, who tended to engage in harsh polemics against opposing views.
The great surprise: Saul may have been saved
The most striking aspect of the new texts is a hypothesis previously unknown to the Augustinian tradition.
“The most notable element of the new sermons is the idea that Saul, after hearing Samuel’s prophecy, could have repented and been redeemed,” Tornau noted.
The first page of one of the two new sermons by St. Augustine. | Credit: Pelplin, Ms. 114 (195), fol. 18v (Copyright: Pelplin Diocesan Library)
According to the researcher, this interpretation has no parallels in either the known works of the bishop of Hippo or in early Christian exegesis, where the figure of Saul is typically portrayed in a decidedly negative light.
In these sermons, St. Augustine seems to suggest that even a figure as controversial as Israel’s first king might have ultimately opened himself to divine grace.
“The idea may be an original invention of Augustine’s, or perhaps he had access — directly or indirectly — to Rabbinic Jewish exegesis, which is far more positive regarding Saul,” the specialist noted.
Be that as it may, Tornau said he believes this interpretation sheds light on a fundamental aspect of Augustinian thought.
“His intellectual independence and his willingness to consider that anyone, even those who seem most wicked, is capable of attaining salvation through the grace of God” is striking, Tornau commented.
For the expert, this insight accurately reflects the personality of the great Church Father who died in the year 430 and whose work has shaped European theology, philosophy, spirituality, and culture for centuries: “This combines intellectual honesty and episcopal humility in a remarkable and very Augustinian way.”
The next step is to prepare a critical edition of the Latin text with a German translation and a substantial introduction that will explain the history of the discovery; describe the manuscript, its contents and dating; and place the new sermons in the context of St. Augustine’s body of work and the history of Christian exegesis. The publication could appear in early 2027.
The discovery has already sparked numerous reactions in academic and ecclesiastical circles. “Perhaps also because the pope is an Augustinian, which has heightened interest in St. Augustine,” remarked Tornau, who said he hopes to personally present the future critical edition to Leo XIV.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
With roughly one year to go before World Youth Day (WYD) in Seoul, South Korea, in 2027, organizers have announced the launch dates for its official theme song.
In a July 30 press release, the local organizing committee announced the start of the event’s implementation phase, continuing preparations for services to welcome pilgrims.
Pope Leo XIV will also attend the global event, to be held Aug. 3–8, 2027. His attendance will continue the trend of a regular papal presence at WYD since St. John Paul II established it in 1985.
WYD 2027 will be the first WYD to be celebrated in a non-Christian country and only the second in Asia.
Theme song and tree-planting campaign to launch Aug. 3
On Aug. 3, the WYD 2027 countdown will begin, and its official theme song will premiere on its official YouTube channel. The song, “Confidite, Ego Vici Mundum” (“Take Courage! I Have Overcome the World,” in Latin), was the winning composition from 434 submissions and was written by Korean composer Francis Jiyoon Kim.
Pilgrims hold the WYD Seoul 2027 flag at the Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport (DIL) in Dili, Timor-Leste, on Aug. 23, 2025. | Credit: WYD Seoul 2027 Local Organizing Committee.
That same day, the Breath of Life Global Tree-Planting Campaign will launch, inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’. The campaign will encourage young people to practice ecological stewardship in line with the vision laid out in that encyclical.
The registration window for WYD 2027 will open in the latter half of 2026, offering pilgrims accommodation, meals, transportation, and insurance services. Volunteers will also be able to register at that time.
WYD 2027: A celebration of Korean hospitality
In the press release, Archbishop Peter Soon-taick Chung of Seoul, president of the local organizing committee, expressed hope that the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims expected in Seoul will experience the hospitality of the South Korean people.
“We will do everything possible to make WYD Seoul 2027 a celebration of hope and a witness to the hospitality and solidarity of Korea and Seoul,” Chung said in the release.
“Over the past three years, we have concentrated on laying the foundations for the event. The year ahead will be the time to complete our preparations and welcome young people from every part of the world.”
