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Thousands of people, hundreds of miles, and successive generations walking the same road. On August 15, the season of walking pilgrimages reaches its peak at Jasna Góra – a tradition that remains a vivid expression of faith and community in Poland.
The Europe’s tallest statue of Mary was blessed on August 15 in Konotopie, Poland. During the ceremony, Bishop Krzysztof Wętkowski said the more than 55-meter (180-foot) monument is meant to turn people’s thoughts toward God and serve as a place of prayer.
Pope Leo XIV reflects on how Mary’s Assumption reveals humanity’s destiny of eternal life, and prays for those suffering in the Holy Land, Ukraine, Russia and earthquake-stricken Colombia.
During Mass in Castel Gandolfo for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Leo XIV marvels how the Blessed Virgin Mary, through God's grace, leads us toward Heaven, insisting that love is "humanity’s most beautiful adornment," stressing that it "transfigures, transforms, ennobles and lifts us up, making us light, free and close to God, even amid life’s ups and downs."
In the communities of the Peruvian Amazon, anticipation is growing over Pope Leo's arrival in the country that shaped his missionary journey. The bishops of Iquitos and Puerto Maldonado hope that the papal visit to Pucallpa will be much more than a celebration: a call to conversion, unity, and renewed defense of the peoples of the Amazon.
Romania and neighboring Hungary are facing an energy crisis linked to a record heat wave and the related low level of the Danube River, with Romania forced to shut down its last operating nuclear reactor while Hungary struggles to keep the only one of its four Paks reactors still operating online.
Three death-row inmates were executed by lethal injection in the United States on Thursday, August 13, in three different states. According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), an organization that advocates for the abolition of the death penalty, this was the first time in more than sixteen years that three executions had taken place in the country on the same day.
The Church, representatives of social organizations, Indigenous peoples and communities, grassroots groups, and human rights defenders from nine regions of southern Peru gathered in Cusco to share experiences, hear about the different realities across the territories, and develop common proposals in favor of dignity, justice, peace, and the common good, as part of the Southern Macro-Regional Meeting, “Weaving Voices for Dignity.”
Pope Leo XIV encourages priests to respect the liturgical norms for the celebration of Mass, in a message to participants in a Vatican-organized meeting in the US state of Oregon.
In his Message for the 112th World Day of Migrants and Refugees to be observed 27 September 2026 on the theme "Even Just One of These Children," Pope Leo XIV says that the cry of displaced appeals to the conscience of all.
From August 14 to 17, 2026, the diocese of Bougainville is celebrating 125 years of Catholic missionary presence in the North Region of the country. They honor the generations of missionaries, catechists, and local faithful who sustained the Church through war, crisis, and social change.
Bishop Timothy Norton of Broome Diocese expresses his deep sorrow to victims and survivors following the conviction of Australian Bishop Christopher Saunders, pledging a diocesan path marked by listening, accountability, and hope.