Hello, I'm Dina Christian, and you're listening to our OSV newscast for Monday, March 2,
Let's catch you up on the Catholic News of the day.
Catholics across the Middle East are reeling with shock and sorrow and responding with prayer,
amid joint strikes launched by the U.S. and Israel on Iran February 28th.
The strikes have plunged the region into war.
It has targeted Tehran and several cities across Iran, killing that nation's supreme leader
86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Hamani.
Four U.S. soldiers have died so far, with 18 others seriously injured.
President Donald Trump warned more American troops may be lost in the coming days as the
war continues, which he said could be four or five weeks.
The strikes have killed at least 11 in Israel.
The Iranian Red Crescent says 555 people have been killed so far in Iran.
Trump said the attacks were part of major combat operations to overthrow Iran's regime
in order to defend the American people.
Yesterday, Pope Leo IV spoke out after leading the Angela's Prayer in St. Peter's Square.
He said the warring parties have a moral responsibility to end the fighting and return
to diplomacy before the violence leads to an irreparable abyss.
That message was echoed yesterday by Archbishop Paul Cochley, president of the U.S. Conference
of Catholic Bishops.
The Catholic Church's Global Humanitarian Network, Karitas, said it unequivocally condemns
the attacks, which it said would destabilize the region.
In a statement on February 28th, Italian Bishop Paolo Martinelli, the apostolic vicar of Southern
Arabia, urged Christians in the Gulf to remain calm, follow civil authorities, and intensify
Earlier today, Caldean Catholic Archbishop Peshawd Warda of Erbil, Iraq told OSV News
he could see the whole scene of nearby missile attacks by Iran on a U.S. military base near
the Erbil airport, and he told me, prayer is the only hope we have.
President Trump's decision to initiate major combat operations against Iran in concert
with Israel has raised debate within Congress over its war power's prerogatives.
It's also raised questions about the justice of committing the U.S. to a new Middle East
Mary L. O'Connell, a professor at Notre Dame Law School who specializes in international
law and conflict resolution, said in written comments shared with OSV News that February
28th, 2026, will forever mark the day that the United States began a war on Iran that
will be compared with the disastrous March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The strikes are expected to prompt Congress to consider a war power's resolution, but
the path for its passage is unclear.
Back on Friday evening, about 100 people gathered on the campus of the University of Notre Dame
for what had been planned as a student protest against that school's decision to name a pro-abortion
professor as head of a research institute.
Instead, the event ended up being a time of prayer and gratitude.
The day before and after weeks of controversy, professor Susan Ostriman of Notre Dame's
Kyo School of Global Affairs withdrew her acceptance to take on the directorship of
the University's new institute for Asia and Asian Studies.
Notre Dame is an expert on regulatory compliance in South Asia, but her work with the pro-abortion
population council and her vigorous public endorsement of legal abortion sparked outcry.
A number of students, faculty, staff, supporters, and several U.S. bishops said the appointment
harmed the school's Catholic mission and identity.
Notre Dame sophomore Luke Woodyard, who had organized the protest turn prayer service, told
OSV News that the gathering was an occasion for Thanksgiving and a time of hope for greater
respect for life on campus.
The Catholic Church teaches that human life must be respected and protected absolutely
from the first moment of conception, and since the first century, the Church has affirmed
the moral evil of every procured abortion.
Luke is a journey that requires trust and reliance on Jesus, who sometimes asks his disciples
to leave everything behind.
That's what Pope Leo XIV said in a homily during a mass celebrated yesterday and a small
Pope Leo was visiting the Church of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ as part of a series
of parish visits in the run-up to Easter, and the Pope said while it may be tempting to
flee from the uncertainty of heading into the unknown, it is precisely in this dizzying
vertigo that people of faith will find God's promise of unexpected greatness.
The Pope told the parishioners, you are signs of hope, and he reminded them that even
amid so many complex problems, you are entrusted with the pedagogy of the gaze of faith, which
transfigures everything with hope, putting passion, sharing, and creativity into circulation
as a cure for the many wounds of this neighborhood.
The Pope admitted it's easy to become discouraged and to doubt efforts make any sense when so
many things are not right in the world, but he said, it is precisely in the face of the
mystery of evil that we must bear witness to our identity as Christians as people who
want to make the kingdom of God perceptible in the places and times in which we live.
And finally, after months of following the news on the Trump administration's hard
line immigration policies, a Catholic mother of two in Ohio said she felt she had to do
Katie Holler is a social worker from Stubinville who launched the Dorothea Project.
It's a women's action and advocacy group dedicated to educating the public about Catholic
social teaching, with the mission of empowering communities to speak truth and act in defense
of vulnerable people whenever human rights and human dignity are violated.
The group's name honors two Catholic women, Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic
Worker Movement, and sister Theobalman, a French's consistor of perpetual adoration
who fought against racial injustice.
The bipartisan movement has grown to over 1,000 members who feel they're called to live
our faith out loud according to the project's website.
The project also highlights conscience formation, ongoing faith formation, and spiritual solidarity.
And it's seeking to launch parish and community Dorothea project chapters and to produce a
voters guide based on Catholic social teaching themes.
And that's your OSV newscast for today, I'm Gina Christian.
Check out the show notes for a link to our website where you can find the stories in this
As always, make sure to subscribe to this podcast, follow us on social media and bookmark osvnews.com.
Thanks so much for listening and God bless.
This has been an OSV News production.
To learn more, visit osvnews.com.
