Your 5-minute daily Catholic briefing. Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, The Pillar, Crux, First Things, Zeale, & Aleteia. Please support their ministries and apostolates. (Catholic Nutshell is a FREE subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)
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CRUX
By Joseph Krauss, AP, August 16, 2026
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of Qusra have huddled inside their homes for days on end, unable to leave because of the threat posed by Israeli settlers. The Israeli military, which over the past three years has displayed staggering military and intelligence capabilities from Beirut to Tehran, has yet to fully remove the settlers from the area of the village, about an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv. The United States, which provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, has issued a scathing rebuke, perhaps because one of the homeowners is a Palestinian American living in Ohio. U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee referred to the settlers as “terrorists.” Israel’s defense minister dismissed them as radical misfits — “boys on the hills.” In reality, they are the tip of the spear for a much larger movement, supported by successive Israeli governments and supercharged under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that is aimed at cementing Israeli rule over the territory and preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Related: Pope Leo defends West Bank Palestinians as conflict intensifies, Aleteia, Kathleen N. Hattrup, 08/16/26
National Catholic Register
By Andrea M. Picciotti-Bayer, August 14, 2026
Daniel Ortega told Nicaragua to forget about elections. What should alarm Americans more is what Ortega and his wife, co-president Rosario Murillo, have already done to the one institution in Nicaragua they cannot fully control: the Catholic Church. This is not incidental repression. It is strategy, years in the making. Ortega, who has periodically claimed a rediscovered Catholic faith, has called the Church a “perfect dictatorship” for not letting members vote on the pope. The regime has forced more than 80 priests into exile, shuttered a thousand religious entities, and expelled Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa was hauled from his residence in a predawn raid, sentenced to 26 years, then stripped of citizenship and put on a plane to Rome. This is not a new story, only a new setting. China’s campaign to “Sinicize” Christianity includes tearing down crosses, imprisoning clergy and bringing worship under Communist Party control, reflecting the same fear that drives Ortega’s assault on Nicaragua’s Catholics.
EWTN News
By Daniel Payne, August 16, 2026
What drives a young man to discern into the priesthood — a supportive family, a vibrant parish, a proactive pastor, an outspoken bishop? Father John Eckert’s response: “Yes.” Eckert, the vocations director for the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, chuckled a little when describing the myriad paths that a young man may take when finding his way to holy orders. But he said, “It’s always the Holy Spirit at work. It’s always cooperating with the grace of God.” The Charlotte Diocese is among those in the U.S. seeing high numbers of seminarians and priestly ordinations. The diocese in western North Carolina saw a record 10 young men ordained to the priesthood earlier in 2026; that followed six ordinations in 2025 and seven in 2024. “The Church is growing like crazy down here,” he said. “We have wonderful families. We have faithful, hardworking priests. We’ve had five bishops who keep on striving to bear the Gospel message and bring that to every corner of the diocese.”
Related: How Seoul, Korea is getting so many vocations to the priesthood, Aleteia, Caitlin Bootsma, 04/12/25
PIMA asia news
By Mongolia, August 17, 2026
The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) opened today in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, with 196 countries and the European Union in attendance. For two weeks, governments, financial institutions, businesses, scientists and civil society will discuss concrete solutions for land restoration, sustainable soil management and strengthening resilience to drought. The conference is taking place at a particularly sensitive time globally on this issue – with a scorching summer in Europe and fears over the effects in the coming months of the warming of the Pacific Ocean due to the phenomenon known as El Niño. Soil degradation and drought cost the global economy almost $900 billion a year, affect up to 40% of the world’s land area and impact around 3.2 billion people. Since 2000, droughts have increased by almost a third and cause annual losses of at least $300 billion.
The Pillar
By Michelle La Rosa, August 13, 2026
Dallas McInerney, chief executive of News South Wales Catholic schools, is being investigated over claims that he hired political allies and allowed them to engage in political efforts during work hours. The Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating allegations that McInerney hired people affiliated with the center-right Liberal Party to spend a significant part of their working hours on political efforts to recruit new party members. McInerney has spent nearly 10 years leading the Catholic schools in the Australian state. He has a background in financial regulation and policy, and he previously served for years as General Manager of Government and Public Policy at National Australia Bank. He has stepped aside from his position while the investigation proceeds. The Liberal Party is one of Australia's more conservative political parties. However, its membership holds mixed views on a number of social issues, including abortion.
Zeale
By Zeale News Team, August 16, 2026
In a statement defending her decision to sign radically pro-abortion legislation into law Aug. 10, a spokesperson for Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey called Healey “a proud Catholic” as context for her support of the bill, amid mounting criticism from Catholics who say her support for the law could carry canonical consequences. Many pro-lifers, Catholics, and others have expressed outrage at the legislation, which effectively legalizes abortion up to the moment of birth. The law Healey signed, H.B. 5595, takes effect Nov. 8. Previously, Massachusetts law allowed abortions at or after 24 weeks in specified circumstances involving the patient’s life or physical or mental health, or certain serious fetal diagnoses. The new law removes those specified conditions and states instead: “An abortion may be performed by a physician based upon the professional judgment of the physician.”
Aleteia
By Philip Kosloski, August 17, 2026
While St. Arethas and his companions were martyred for their faith in the 6th century, their feast day on October 24 lacked approved liturgical texts until recently. On July 16, 2026, the Vatican Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments approved a new set of liturgical texts for use by the local church in Northern and Southern Arabia. The letter read, “We hope that these proper texts will contribute to the further development of the liturgical life in both Vicariates, as well as to deepening devotion towards such an important group of martyr saints.” Christians are in the minority in the Middle East, even though they have been present since the earliest days of Christianity. It is believed that the king of Arabia at the time took it upon himself to hunt down and persecute Christians. St. Arethas and his companions are especially venerated by Christians living in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
EWTN News
By Daniel Payne, August 16, 2026
Yet though Christ in the Eucharist occupies a place of centrality in the Church, many Catholics may not ever stop to reflect on the bread that in the Mass becomes Christ — namely, how is this unique substance produced before it is brought to the altar? The question is not merely academic; in rare instances, the local Church can run out of Communion hosts, as occurred in Cuba in June. All of Cuba’s hosts are produced by Discalced Carmelites at the Monastery of Santa Teresa and San José, but a lack of reliable power there hindered production over the summer. Sister Ruth Starman, head of altar bread production for the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, Missouri, told EWTN News that the Code of Canon Law of the Church dictates the requirements for Catholic altar bread, specifically canon 924. Standard hosts, she said, “can be made of wheat and water only.” “Yeast is not allowed because that would make it leavened bread and Jesus used unleavened bread at the Last Supper,” she said. “Any other additives such as salt, honey, etc. would be forbidden.”
EWTN News
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.
10 things to know about San Marino ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s visit - By Ishmael Adibuah - San Marino is said to have been founded in A.D. 301, roughly 270 years after the death and resurrection of Christ. It was also founded at a time when early Christians in Rome still faced widespread persecution, producing martyrs such as St. Agnes, St. Pancras, and St. Lucy.
Christians across the Middle East and North Africa celebrate the Assumption despite challenges - By Romy Haber - Despite the ongoing war and the country’s difficult economic situation, streets across Lebanon on Saturday were filled with processions honoring the Virgin Mary, with each village marking the feast through its own customs.
Nigerian court bars Islamic police from arresting Christian convert over faith, marriage refusal - By ACI Africa - A federal high court in Nigeria has restrained authorities in the country’s Kano state and the Islamic religious police, known as Hisbah, from arresting a 22-year-old woman because she converted from Islam to Christianity and rejected a forced marriage.
Catholic World Report
Catholic World Report is a free online magazine that examines the news from a faithful Catholic perspective.
Clarifying primacy for Catholic-Orthodox dialogue - Ines Angeli Murzaku - August 16, 2026 - Pope Leo XIV’s recent revision of the Fundamental Law of Vatican City State announced on July 31, 2026, may be one of the first concrete answers: not a resolution of all remaining disputes, but a juridical clarification that directly serves Roman Catholic-Eastern Orthodox dialogue.
On Abortion Pills, Wastewater, and Public Trust - John M. Grondelski, Ph.D. - August 9, 2026 - A scandal of the COVID era was the alliance between government and social media platforms to suppress doubt and dissent about the regime—especially compulsory vaccinations—to control the pandemic. A casualty has been the erosion of public trust in the medical community.
Reading Saint Paul in a Time of Synodality - Carl E. Olson - August 6, 2026 -
“The Apostle Paul, an outstanding and almost inimitable yet stimulating figure, stands before us as an example of total dedication to the Lord and to his Church, as well as of great openness to humanity.
Catholic World News
Catholic World News (CWN) is an independent Catholic news service staffed by lay Catholic journalists, dedicated to providing accurate global news from a distinctly Catholic perspective.
Zambia’s bishops decry suspension of vote counting in presidential election -The bishops of Zambia decried the suspension of vote counting following the August 13 general election. “While we acknowledge that the Commission has since indicated that counting has resumed under heightened security, the very fact that such a suspension was made a day after Zambians went to the polls is a matter that should trouble every citizen of goodwill.”
Dutch bishop, in open letter to Pope, argues against synodality - Auxiliary Bishop Robertus Mutsaertsof of ’s-Hertogenbosch said that “ultimately, the Catholic Church has no need for a permanent synod about itself. It needs saints.” The 68-year-old prelate added: “The Church of the Martyrs did not change the Roman world by organizing listening meetings on the question of how Romans could experience the Christian community more inclusively. She proclaimed Christ.”
San Antonio priest found guilty of schism, excommunicated, laicized - The Archdiocese of San Antonio announced the excommunication and laicization of Father John Mary Foster, a priest ordained in 1987 and incardinated into the archdiocese in 2009. Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, M.Sp.S., announced on August 14 that Foster was found guilty of the canonical crime of schism (Canon 751), which entails automatic excommunication (Canon 1364).
First Things
By Sam Buntz, August 17, 2025
The average secularist is apt to dismiss belief in ghosts or aliens as eccentric. But if you say you believe in fairies, even the modern equivalent of an irrational peasant is liable to roll his eyes at you. There is something silly about fairies, something childish. As Francis Young explains in his definitive chronicle, Fairies: A History, our imaginations have been unduly dominated by the “small winged fairy,” largely a Victorian and Edwardian creation. As Young makes clear, the charm of fairy folklore lies in the fact that fairies don’t fit. They escape the categories we use to organize the universe, which C.S. Lewis pointed out in The Discarded Image. Fairy folklore proves to be so culturally varied that one often loses the sense of some stable, discernible reality underlying all the disparate phenomena. In folklore, the fairies always seem to be leaving. This is usually taken as a parable of dawning modern disenchantment, yet it dates back far in the lore.
The Tablet
By Sara Wheeler, August 12, 2026
Earlier this year, I visited Santa María de Fe, Hebblethwaite’s adopted village in the fertile south-east of landlocked – and still little-known – Paraguay. At the charming little hotel she founded, my room looked out on the plaza conjured in Tablet pages: low adobe dwellings, the saffron flash of a kiskadee wing, a beaker of iced tereré infusion in every human hand. Hebblethwaite reported on the unpredictable grid, the erratic water supply, the non-existent mobile coverage and the hopelessly elusive internet. Santa María Hotel now enjoys stable, high-speed Wi-Fi. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, was still alive when his followers waded on to the coast of what is now Brazil. By the early years of the seventeenth century, a band of brothers had created the “Republic of Paraguay”, a Jesuit so-called “province” far larger than the modern country.
Our Sunday Visitor
By Katarzyna Szalajko, August 7, 2026
Three Polish friars served remote communities in the Andes after arriving in Peru in 1988. Fathers Tomaszek and Strzalkowski were killed by Shining Path guerrillas Aug. 9, 1991, and were beatified as martyrs in 2015. Thirty-five years after Conventual Franciscan Fathers Michal Tomaszek and Zbigniew Strzalkowski were martyred, their legacy endures as a reminder that the Gospel is lived not through privilege, but through closeness to the people entrusted to the Church’s care. Father Jaroslaw Wysoczanski, the only surviving member of the three-man Polish Franciscan team that established the mission in Peru’s western coastal Diocese of Chimbote, said the anniversary of their death is not primarily about returning to the day his friends perished, but about why they chose to remain in Peru. “A good shepherd does not abandon his flock when danger comes,” Father Wysoczanski, who now ministers to migrants and refugees in El Paso, Texas, told OSV News.
The Catholic Thing
By Randall Smith, August 17, 2026
I sometimes hear people say something like this: “I want to believe, but I just can’t,” or “I would like to believe, but I just don’t.” I don’t wish to be critical of such people. I assume their reserve about “faith” comes out of a good-willed desire to be honest about themselves – like someone admitting, “I wish I were a calm, temperate person, but I’m just not.” So, although I respect the goodwill, I still would wish to ask this person: “What do you think faith is?” “What do you think having faith is like?” I fear sometimes that people think “having faith” is the same as “being certain,” or that “having faith” is a feeling you get when you’re sure of something. What if it’s not? What if it’s something else? What if it’s like love – not quite a feeling as much as a way of living? People don’t just “have faith”; they have faith in something. In God. In God’s love for us. So, we wouldn’t just ask about faith – that’s much too vague. We would start by asking what this person believes or doesn’t believe in.
Image of Coconut by Celio Nicoli from Pixabay
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