Hello, I'm Maggie Murray of OSV News, and this is your OSV newscast for Wednesday, March 25th,
Let's catch you up on the Catholic News of the day.
The long-awaited beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen now has a date.
Archbishop Sheen will be beatified on September 24th in St. Louis, and Catholics across the
country are already marking their calendars.
The Dicastry for the Causes of Saints made the announcement Tuesday morning, with Bishop
Louis Tilca of Peoria confirming in a statement that the ceremony will take place at 2 p.m.
central time at the dome at America's center.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Toglay, pro-prefect for the Dicastry of Evangelization, will
The location was chosen with large crowds in mind.
The venue was indoors, spacious, and close to the diocese of Peoria, Illinois, where Archbishop
Sheen was born, ordained, and first served as a priest.
Bishop Tilca said additional celebrations are being planned in Peoria to mark the occasion.
This is a moment of immense grace for the Church, Bishop Tilca said.
Words echoed by Montsenior Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies
in the U.S., who called the news an occasion of indescribable joy.
Archbishop Sheen had led the Pontifical Mission Societies for 16 years, from 1950 to 1966.
The U.S. Supreme Court took up a major immigration case Tuesday, hearing oral arguments over whether
the government can reinstate a policy of turning away asylum seekers at the southern border.
The practice, sometimes called metering, or the turnback policy, has a complicated history.
It was first used in limited form under the Obama administration, significantly expanded
during the first Trump administration, and then rescinded by the Biden administration
The current Trump administration wants to bring it back, though the policy remains on hold
amid ongoing legal challenges.
At the heart of the case is a straightforward but consequential question.
If asylum seekers cannot set foot on U.S. soil, federal law that allows them to request
protection from persecution in their home country simply cannot apply to them.
Kevin Applebee, senior fellow at the Center for Migration Studies of New York, told
OSV News the administration's goal is not only to close the border, but to deny migrants
any chance to claim asylum unless they are already on U.S. territory.
The decision is expected by the end of the court's term, typically in June.
Two prominent Catholic leaders pushed back Tuesday against claims that anti-Catholic bias
led to the removal of a commissioner from the Federal Religious Liberty Commission.
Kerry Praigeon-Buller, a Catholic, was removed from the commission last month following
a February 9th hearing focused on a rise in anti-Semitism.
Following the hearing, Praigeon-Buller engaged in what fellow commissioner Bishop Robert
Baron of Winona Rochester described as brow-beating behavior toward Jewish American witnesses.
She was removed two days later.
Praigeon-Buller has since claimed on social media that she was asked to deny Catholic
teaching to satisfy a political ideology, framing her removal as a violation of her religious
Bishop Baron rejected that framing directly.
In a March 20th post, he pointed out that if Praigeon-Buller had truly been removed
for holding Catholic beliefs, it would be difficult to explain why he himself remains
To paint herself as a victim of anti-Catholic prejudice is simply preposterous, the Bishop
Cardinal Timothy Dolan weighed in Tuesday, saying he agrees with Bishop Baron wholeheartedly.
The commission's capstone hearing is scheduled for April 13th.
In the West Bank, residents of Taipei, described as the last all-Christian village in the region,
are living under mounting fear as reports of settler violence and economic pressure continue
Roland Bessier, a local businessman, told OSV News he has been blocked from his family
stone quarry, his only source of income since March 19th, after a group of settlers seized
the site, raised in Israeli flag, and barred entry.
The village's Paris priest, Father Bashar Fawadle, says the takeover is not an isolated
It reflects a broader and accelerating pattern that is threatening livelihoods and destabilizing
Aid groups and human rights organizations point to a surge in violence since 2023, with
hundreds injured and some communities displaced.
Cardinal Pier Batista, Pizzabala, and other church leaders are calling for restraint, respect
for the law, and protection of civilians.
For the pastor of Taipei, the situation is one of helplessness tinged with resolve.
I can encourage my parishioners, he told OSV News, but I cannot give them safety.
I'm here to give them safety and security in faith, in hope.
On this feast of the annunciation, Pope Leo XIV called on the faithful to defend human
life from conception to its natural end, saying such a commitment is urgently needed in
a world marked by, in his words, the madness of war.
The Pope made his remarks Wednesday during his general audience in St. Peter Square, where
he offered special greetings to Polish-speaking visitors and highlighted Poland's national
day of the sanctity of life, which is observed every March 25th.
He praised initiatives like Poland's spiritual adoption of a conceives child program, as
exactly the kind of witness the world needs right now.
The feast carry special weight this year, as the beatification date for Archbishop Fulton
Sheen was announced this morning, a bishop who inspired a similar spiritual adoption
program, encouraging Catholics to pray daily for nine months for an unborn child.
Pope Leo closed his remarks by inviting all Catholics to imitate the Blessed Virgin Mary,
to say yes to God's will as she did, as they continue their went in journey toward Easter.
And that's your OSV News cast for today.
I'm Maggie Murray of OSV News.
Check out the show notes for direct links to the stories in this episode.
Make sure to subscribe to this podcast, follow us on social media, and bookmark OSVNews.com.
Thanks so much for listening, and God bless.
