February 14, 2026 // World News

News Briefs: February 15, 2026

OSV NEWS

The Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, announced on Monday, February 9, that Venerable Fulton J. Sheen will soon be beatified now that the Vatican has given the green light. No date or location for the beatification was given. The announcement comes six years after the Holy See had postponed the beatification, initially scheduled for December of 2019, only weeks before the event was to take place. (OSV News file photo)

Pope Leo: Human Trafficking Is a ‘Grave Crime Against Humanity’

VATICAN CITY (Vatican News) – Ahead of the 12th World Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking, Pope Leo XIV has condemned the scourge of modern slavery, which has taken even more disturbing forms in our online societies. In his message for the day, which was marked on Sunday, February 8, the pope renewed the Church’s “urgent call to confront and bring an end to this grave crime against humanity.” He focused on the Risen Christ’s greeting “Peace be with you,” saying these words offer “a path toward a renewed humanity.” “True peace begins with the recognition and protection of the God-given dignity of every person,” he said. “Yet, in an age marked by escalating violence, many are tempted to seek peace through weapons as a condition for asserting one’s own dominion.” Pope Leo entrusted the World Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking to the intercession of St. Josephine Bakhita, whose life, he said, stands “as a powerful witness of hope in the Lord who loved her to the end.”

Sister Thea Bowman’s Sainthood Cause Moves to Vatican Review

JACKSON, Mississippi (OSV News) – Servant of God Thea Bowman’s canonization cause has moved ahead, as a Mass and ceremony marking the closure of the cause’s diocesan phase was held on Monday, February 9, at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Jackson, Mississippi. Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz of Jackson celebrated a Mass of thanksgiving followed by an official closing session of the diocesan phase of the canonization process, where the cause’s leaders sealed the boxes containing the diocesan phase’s documents and findings. Those boxes will be shipped to the apostolic nunciature in Washington for transfer to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican, which will further investigate the cause. In 2018, Bishop Kopacz opened the cause for Sister Bowman, a Mississippi native and the only African American member of her religious community, the Wisconsin-based Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. Before she died of cancer in 1990 at age 52, she was a widely known speaker, evangelizer, singer, and trailblazer for Black Catholics.

Vatican Confirms Pope Will Not Visit U.S. in 2026

ROME (OSV News) – The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Leo XIV has no plans to visit the United States in 2026. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told reporters on Sunday, February 8, that a U.S. trip is not on the pope’s calendar, despite an invitation extended last year by Vice President J.D. Vance on behalf of President Donald Trump. While Pope Leo has said he would visit the U.S. “at some point,” tensions over immigration policy have made a near-term trip unlikely. Meanwhile, Pope Leo is expected to travel this year to Angola, Algeria, and Spain, and has voiced a strong interest in visiting Latin America, though no dates are set.

Pro-Democracy Activist Jimmy Lai Sentenced to 20-Year Imprisonment

HONG KONG (OSV News) – Hong Kong media entrepreneur and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, in what critics say is the harshest penalty yet under China’s national security law. A Hong Kong court handed down the sentence on Monday, February 9, nearly six years after Lai’s arrest sparked international outrage. Lai, founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily, was convicted in December of sedition and conspiring to collude with foreign forces. His family condemned the ruling as “heartbreakingly cruel,” warning that the 76-year-old’s declining health makes the sentence life-threatening. “If this sentence is carried out, he will die a martyr behind bars,” said Lai’s daughter, Claire. The case has renewed global concern over press freedom, religious liberty, and human rights in Hong Kong.

New York Becomes 13th State Allowing Assisted Suicide

ALBANY, New York (OSV News) – New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday, February 6, made good on her promise that early this year she would sign a bill into law allowing physicians to aid terminally ill adults in dying by suicide. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have now legalized assisted suicide. Hochul, a Catholic, had said in a December 17 commentary in the Times Union daily newspaper she would sign it once the Legislature added certain “guardrails” to “address the concerns of some who fear that vulnerable populations, including those with disabilities or the elderly, will be pressured into a decision they would not have made on their own.” Among the guardrails now part of the law are an opt-out for “religiously oriented home hospice providers” and a mandatory five-day waiting period between when a lethal prescription is written and filled. New York’s Catholic bishops called assisted suicide “a grave moral evil on par with other direct attacks on human life.” The law takes effect in six months.

USCCB Chair: Trump’s ‘Blatantly Racist’ Post ‘Inexcusable’

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – A video posted on President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account that depicted former first couple President Barack and Michelle Obama as apes was deleted after widespread outrage denounced the content as racist. Bishop Daniel E. Garcia of Austin, Texas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation, said in written comments to OSV News: “As my brother bishops and I have said in our pastoral letter against racism: ‘Every racist act – every such comment, every joke, every disparaging look as a reaction to the color of skin, ethnicity, or place of origin – is a failure to acknowledge another person as a brother or sister, created in the image of God,’” he said. White House officials at first defended the post and claimed Trump did not post the video, blaming an unnamed staffer. It was posted late at night on Thursday, February 5, and deleted by noon on Friday, February 6.

Pope Meets Leaders of Apostolate for Catholics with Same-Sex Attraction

ROME (OSV News) – on Friday, February 6, Pope Leo XIV met with leaders of Courage International, a Catholic apostolate that offers spiritual support to people with same-sex attraction who seek to live chaste lives in line with Church teaching. The private audience included Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, chair of Courage’s board of bishops. In a statement, Courage officials said the meeting was an “opportunity to share with the Holy Father the works of the apostolate, to provide pastoral accompaniment to persons who experience same-sex attraction but who strive to live chaste lives or to accompany family members who have a loved one who identifies as LGBTQ.” Founded in 1980 by Father John Harvey at the request of then-Cardinal Terence Cooke of New York, Courage now has more than 160 chapters, including in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, and received canonical status in 2016. The apostolate’s five core principles focus on chastity, prayer, fellowship, support, and leading by example.