Trump reaches sweeping trade deal with EU; Detroit archbishop fires 3rd theologian from Sacred Heart Seminary; Massacre in Congolese Catholic church kills over 30 worshippers; Canada cracks down on Christian musician, religious liberty; One of the largest abortuaries in the western hemisphere closes; First ‘Catholic ChatGPT’ is launched; 72nd miracle recognized at Lourdes; and more —
Trump Reaches Historic Trade Deal with EU: Europe to Buy $750 Billion in U.S. Energy
President Donald Trump announced a sweeping trade agreement with the European Union (EU) on Sunday, setting a baseline 15 percent tariff on European imports — including automobiles — while keeping existing 50 percent duties on steel and aluminum in place. As part of the deal, the EU committed to purchasing $750 billion in U.S. energy products.
Trump announced the agreement during a press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after a private meeting at Trump Turnberry in Scotland.
Read more at Breitbart
Pope expresses grave concern for starving civilians in Gaza exposed to violence and death
”My heart is particularly close to all those who are suffering because of conflicts and violence in the world,” said Pope Leo XIV as he launched an appeal to world leaders to find solutions to the wars afflicting so many people.
The Pope said he encourages negotiations toward a future of peace for all peoples and the rejection of anything that could compromise it, and entrusted to Mary, Queen of Peace, “the innocent victims of conflicts and the leaders who have the power to bring them to an end.”
“I entrust to Mary, Queen of Peace, the innocent victims of conflicts and the leaders who have the power to bring them to an end.”
Read more at Vatican News
Breaking: Israeli settlers again terrorizing Christians in Taybeh in the West Bank
Attackers set vehicles ablaze, hurling stones at homes, and writing threatening graffiti and hate slogans. Attacks took place around 2:30 a.m. at a Greek Orthodox housing project.
At least two cars were set on fire: one belonging to a Christian journalist and the other to a member of the village council, according to reports.
Observers report daily aggression from Jewish settlers toward Christians while Israel’s government does nothing to stop the violence.
Read more at @AF Post and @Catholic Arena here and here
Islamic State-backed rebels attack a Catholic church in eastern Congo, killing at least 34
Islamic State-backed rebels attacked a Catholic church in eastern Congo on Sunday, killing at least 34 people, according to a local civil society leader.
Dieudonne Duranthabo, a civil society coordinator in Komanda, in the Ituri province, told The Associated Press that the attackers stormed the church in Komanda town at around 1 a.m. Several houses and shops were also burnt.
Read more at Associated Press
He’s a real American: Bill aims to protect pope’s US citizenship
A bill introduced in Congress last week would exempt popes with U.S. citizenship from federal tax obligations, and prevent their citizenship from being revoked during their tenure as supreme pontiff.
The bill, the Holy Sovereignty Protection Act (H.R. 4501) was introduced July 18 by Republican Congressman Jeff Hurd of Colorado. It comes amid concern at the Holy See over possible legal complications stemming from the election of Leo XIV as the first American pope.
Read more at The Pillar
Detroit archbishop fires three theologians from Sacred Heart Seminary
Archbishop Edward J Weisenburger of Detroit has fired three prominent theologians from their longstanding roles at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.
On 23 July, Ralph Martin, 82, was terminated after working at the seminary since 2002, and Eduardo Echeverria, 74, also was terminated after teaching at the seminary since 2003. Martin was a professor of theology and director of graduate programs in the new evangelization, and Echeverria served as a professor of theology and philosophy.
A third professor, Edward Peters, a prominent canon lawyer in his late 60s, posted on X at 5:55pm (Eastern time) on 25 July that Archbishop Weisenberger had terminated his teaching contract at the seminary “this week.” Peters joined the seminary faculty as a professor of canon law in 2005 and held the Edmund Cardinal Szoka Chair, named for a former archbishop of Detroit (1981-1990) who also served for many years at the Vatican.
Read more at The Catholic Weekly
Details Buried In Recently Declassified Docs Further Implicate Obama In Russia Hoax
Documents released over the last month have exposed a post-election plot designed to derail President Donald Trump’s first term. The recently declassified material reveals former President Barack Obama sought to continue the Russia-collusion hoax Hillary Clinton had launched during the presidential campaign by directing select members of his intelligence community to craft the deceptive Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election. However, a close reading of these documents reveals Obama holds even more culpability than previously discussed.
Read more at The Federalist
Florida Tops the Rankings as the Best State for Religious Freedom
This year, Florida climbed to the top spot in the ranking as the best state for religious freedom, earning a score of 74.6% and surpassing Illinois, which held the No. 1 position in 2024.
The annual “Religious Liberty in the States” report, produced by the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy at the First Liberty Institute, … analyzed 47 safeguards for religious freedom across states, including issues such as euthanasia refusal, insurance mandates, minors’ alcohol use, clergy reporting …
According to the report, “Florida is an exemplar for how state legislators can improve their state’s protection of religious liberty.”
Read more at Christianity Daily
Conclusion of Major New Economic Research Paper: “Vatican II, in 1962-1965, triggered a decline in worldwide Catholic attendance relative to that in other denominations.”
A new study Looking Backward: Long-Term Religious Service Attendance in 66 Countries concludes “Using an event-study design, we find that rates of religious-service attendance in predominantly Catholic countries started to decrease relative to those of all other countries and to those of other Christian countries precisely in the aftermath of Vatican II. This result holds for adult and child religious-service attendance and also holds when using the share of a country’s catholic adherents as a continuous measure of a country’s exposure. Overall, the Catholic relative attendance rate fell by four percentage points per decade between 1965 and 2015.
Read more at Rorate Caeli; entire study available here
Planned Parenthood set to close massive Texas abortion facility
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast announced Friday that it would be closing two locations this autumn, including its Prevention Park location, one of its largest and most notorious facilities in the western hemisphere.
The abortion giant announced July 25 that it would be closing its 78,000 square-foot, seven-storey Prevention Park outlet along with the Southwest abortion center on September 30. Its Northville, Northwest, Spring, and Stafford locations will remain open but be absorbed into Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, per a Houston Chronicle report. Planned Parenthood’s funding has been drastically cut, forcing locations across the country to close their doors.
Read more at Lifesite
Birth control pill for men that temporarily stops sperm — without hormones — passes safety trial
A first-of-its-kind male birth control pill just cleared its first human safety test, raising hopes that it could soon open the door to a new era of contraception.
The drug, YCT-529, is currently enrolled in a larger clinical trial, with experts hoping it’ll be ready to hit the shelves by the end of the decade. Here’s everything you need to know about this potential pregnancy game-changer.
Read more at the New York Post
Texas man sues California doctor in unprecedented abortion pill case over unborn child’s alleged ‘murder’
A Texas man has filed a landmark federal wrongful death lawsuit against a California abortion provider, alleging the physician “murdered” his unborn children by mailing abortion pills across state lines.
The case, Rodriguez v. Coeytaux, marks the first of its kind to test how far pro-life litigants can go to sidestep blue state abortion shield laws using century-old federal statutes and Texas civil code.
Read more at Fox News
Canada Cracks Down on Christian Musician. He Defies Intolerant Government, by John Zmirak
We reported here on Friday that U.S.-based Christian musician and worship leader Sean Feucht was facing bans all over Canada as he tried to conduct a series of prayer and praise events across that increasingly intolerant country. Feucht is a mainstream evangelical Christian, not some political extremist (as Canadian officials try to paint him). He’s well-known across the U.S. for defying bans on public worship during the COVID crisis, when casinos and abortion clinics were deemed “essential businesses” in many states but churches weren’t.
In one Canadian city after another, Feucht saw permits revoked and approvals reversed at public venues — and scrambled to find alternate sites that would defy hostile government officials.
Read more at The Stream
Chinese Communists Are Buying up American Housing
Chinese nationals have just shattered their own records for American property purchases, dropping a staggering $13.7 billion on U.S. homes in the past year alone — an 83 percent increase that should send alarm bells screaming through every statehouse and suburban neighborhood in America.
This isn’t simply foreign investment. This is strategic territorial acquisition by a hostile communist regime that views American soil as nothing more than another asset to be harvested, exploited, and ultimately controlled. Every deed signed, every property transferred, every American family priced out represents another small victory in Beijing’s patient, methodical campaign to own America without firing a single shot.
Read more at The American Spectator
First ‘Catholic ChatGPT’ launched in response to radical religious content
The Flemish Catholic youth organization Kamino has launched a Catholic chatbot called Via, to provide answers to young people struggling with questions about the Catholic faith and meaning in life. Kamino calls the AI application a world first.
The international study Digital Youth Faith Formation in 2023 showed that young people with questions about faith and life often turn to the internet, where, according to Kamino, radical groups often interpret Christian teachings in an extreme way.
“The problem is that radical opinions about the Christian faith are much more prevalent online today than the voice of the nuanced middle ground,” said Sofi Van Ussel, director of Kamino. “What’s more, the algorithms of TikTok and YouTube can draw you into a one-sided view.”
Read more at Belga News Agency
“Do Not Profane France with Barbaric and Inhuman Laws”: Cardinal Robert Sarah’s Homily for the 400th Anniversary of the Apparitions of Saint Anne d’Auray
Cardinal Robert Sarah today delivered a forceful and inspiring homily marking the 400th anniversary of the apparitions of Saint Anne, mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at her shrine in Sainte-Anne-d’Auray, Brittany, France.
Appointed by Pope Leo XIV as his special envoy for the historic celebration, Cardinal Sarah declared that France—and Brittany in particular—has been chosen by God as a sacred land. He urged the faithful to return to Eucharistic adoration and to place God first in both private and public life.
Read more at Diane Montagna substack
Nagasaki church replaces cathedral bell 80 years after it was destroyed in atomic blast
Catholics in Nagasaki, Japan, have replaced a bell in a cathedral bell tower there almost exactly 80 years to the day after it was destroyed by the atomic blast that leveled most of the city at the end of World War II.
An international effort to fund the construction and installation of the bell at Urakami Cathedral raised $125,000 in just over a year, with the funds coming from over 600 individual donors, according to Williams College Professor James Nolan.
Read more at the Catholic News Agency
Rome gears up for Holy Year’s monumental Catholic youth rally in scorching temperatures
Half a million young people are expected to pour into Rome next week for the biggest event of the 2025 Holy Year: a weeklong Jubilee celebration for young Catholics that will sorely test their tolerance for heat and the Eternal City’s ability to provide public services, security and logistical support during its peak tourist season.
Officials said Wednesday the highlight of the celebration is the Aug. 2-3 vigil service, outdoor overnight slumber party and morning Mass presided over by Pope Leo XIV, the first massive gathering for history’s first American pope. It’s being held on the same dusty field on the outskirts of Rome where St. John Paul II led the 2000 World Youth Day, an even larger gathering of some 2 million young Catholics in that millennial Jubilee year.
Read more at AP News
‘A voice told me not to be afraid’: The story of Lourdes’ 72nd recognized miracle
Antonia Raco, a 67-year-old Italian woman long affected by an incurable neurodegenerative illness, was officially introduced to the press on July 25 in Lourdes, where her healing was recognized as the 72nd miracle attributed to the intercession of the Virgin Mary since the apparitions of 1858.
Diagnosed in 2006 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — a progressive and fatal condition — Raco experienced a recovery that defied medical explanation.
Read more at Catholic News Agency
Pope Leo: We are transformed by praying the Our Father
“We cannot pray to God as ‘Father’ and then be harsh and insensitive towards others,” Pope Leo XIV told those assembled in St. Peter’s Square July 27 for his first Angelus address since returning from Castel Gandolfo.
His address, drawn from the day’s Gospel reading Luke 11:1-13, focused on the Our Father.
“This is the prayer that unites all Christians, in which the Lord invites us to address God as ‘Abba,’ ‘Father,’ with childlike ‘simplicity, filial trust… boldness, the certainty of being loved,’” the Holy Father said, quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Read more at Catholic Vote
