August 25, 2023

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - India’s Catholic bishops celebrated along with the rest of the country this week after an Indian-built lunar lander touched down on the moon’s surface Wednesday morning, a win for the country’s still-developing space program. “The progress made by our scientists and engineers in the field of space research is truly commendable and fills our hearts with pride,” said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) on August 23. Similar to the Indian bishops, Pope Francis has spoken about space exploration — recalling the 50th anniversary of the moon landing in 2019, the pope encouraged Catholics to look to that great event for inspiration to overcome injustices and mistreatment of the weak. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255179/indias-bishops-elated-after-successful-moon-landing A seminarian in Nigeria’s Diocese of Makurdi on Monday narrowly escaped death when the car he was riding in was shot at by Islamist Fulani herdsmen. David Igba, a seminarian with Via Christi Society who was fulfilling his pastoral assignment at Sacred Heart Udei Parish in the Diocese of Makurdi, was traveling with two others when their car was sprayed with bullets by a group of gun-wielding Fulani herders in the August 21 incident. Igba said it was a miracle that he and the other two occupants of the car survived the ordeal. “I was very scared,” he said. “The killings here are too much. I have lost many relations to the Fulani herdsmen, but that was the closest I came so close to death at … their hands. I kept praying that God would protect us.” He said most of those living in the villages that are currently under siege by the Fulani have already abandoned their villages and are living in a state of despair. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255176/seminarian-in-nigeria-narrowly-escapes-shooting-by-islamist-