NATION
DUTCHESS COUNTY, N.Y. (OSV News) – James Earl Jones, a distinguished actor known for his resonant voice and a Black Catholic, died Sept. 9 in Dutchess County at age 93. His numerous and versatile roles over an illustrious 70-year career included the voice of Darth Vader in “Star Wars,” beginning in 1977, and Mufasa in “The Lion King” (1994); a reclusive author in “Field of Dreams” (1989); and Admiral James Greer in “The Hunt for Red October” (1990), as well as Broadway and Shakespearan plays. He was also the dramatic voice behind CNN’s tagline “This is CNN.” A convert to the Catholic faith as a young man while serving in the U.S. Army, Jones wrote in 1993, “Perhaps my greatest honor came when I was asked to read the New Testament on tape,” pointing to an unabridged recording of the King James Version of the New Testament he made in the 1980s that was remastered for CD in 2002. His talent earned him the elusive “EGOT,” having garnered Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. The Oscar was an honorary Academy Award granted in 2011. Jones’ passing coincided with the feast of St. Peter Claver, a patron saint of Black Catholics.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, repeated – without evidence – claims about Haitian immigrants eating the pets of residents in Springfield, Ohio. But Vance’s fellow Ohio Republican officials have said such claims are false, and Catholic leaders have called for respect for migrants. At a Sept. 10 debate, former President Donald Trump also repeated the viral, unverified claims – refuted by local authorities – about Haitian migrants, a largely Catholic population, living in the city of Springfield, Ohio, that accuses them of abducting pets and eating them. In a Sept. 15 interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Vance was confronted by anchor Dana Bash about that claim, which he has also repeated. “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do, Dana, because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast,” Vance said. Vance’s fellow Ohio Republicans including the state’s governor and Springfield’s mayor, called the claims that Haitian migrants are kidnapping and eating pets false. “We have a big-hearted community, and we’re being smeared in a way we don’t deserve,” said Mayor Rob Rue, also a Republican. Credible estimates vary, but a few thousand immigrants from Haiti have settled in Springfield, Ohio, city officials said, and most have legal status. Most came as a result of a local Chamber of Commerce effort to revive Springfield as a manufacturing hub.

VATICAN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The second session of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, set to bring 368 bishops, priests, religious and laypeople to the Vatican, will begin by asking forgiveness for various sins on behalf of all the baptized. As synod members did before last year’s session, they will spend two days on retreat before beginning work; that period of reflection will conclude Oct. 1 with a penitential liturgy presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican announced. The liturgy will include time to listen to the testimonies of three people: one who suffered from the sin of abuse, one from the sin of war and third from the sin of indifference to the plight of migrants, according to a Vatican statement announcing the liturgy. Afterward, “the confession of a number of sins will take place,” said the statement, released Sept. 16. “The aim is not to denounce the sin of others, but to acknowledge oneself as a member of those who, by omission or action, become the cause of suffering and responsible for the evil inflicted on the innocent and defenseless.” The liturgy is open to all but is specifically geared toward young people, as it “directs the church’s inner gaze to the faces of new generations,” the Vatican said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Maybe it is a sign of aging, Pope Francis said, but he is increasingly concerned about what kind of world he and his peers will leave for younger generations – and the prognosis is not good. “This isn’t pessimism,” the pope told about two dozen representatives of popular movements and grassroots organizations meeting Sept. 20 at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Pope Francis said he feared adults are leaving behind “a world discouraged, inferior, violent, marked by the plundering of nature, alienated by dehumanized modes of communication,” and “without the political, social and economic paradigms to lead the way, with few dreams and enormous threats.” But, he said, if people join forces, especially with those who are most often the victims, things can change.

WORLD
HANOI, Vietnam (OSV News) – More than 100 people, including a Catholic religious sister, are still listed as missing after Typhoon Yagi, the most powerful storm to hit Asia this year, left at least 233 dead in northern Vietnam. Sister Maria Nguyen Thi Bich Hang from the Lovers of the Holy Cross congregation is believed by her family to have been killed in the storm. On Sept. 9, heavy rain collapsed the Phong Chau Bridge over the Red River in Phu Tho province and eight people, including 35-year-old Sister Maria Nguyen, were washed away. With winds of up to 92 mph, Typhoon Yagi, the most powerful typhoon to hit Asia in 2024, wreaked havoc in northern Vietnam Sept. 7-11. Besides the death toll, the subsequent landslides and floods also left 807 people injured and 103 missing, according to government figures. In a Sept. 12 telegram signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, the pope said he was “deeply saddened” to learn of the destruction wrought by Typhoon Yagi, offering his “spiritual solidarity to the injured and to all those suffering the continuing effects of this disaster.” The church and the government agencies have provided aid to victims of the storm that hit 20 out of Vietnam’s 25 northern provinces. In the Hung Hoa Diocese in Phu Tho province, Caritas workers were distributing instant noodles, milk, rice and clean water to flood victims.

KRAKOW, Poland (OSV News) – Poland’s government is preparing a decree of a state of natural disaster as the southwestern part of the country was severely flooded by torrential rains caused by Storm Boris. Throughout the weekend of Sept. 14-15, the storm continued to wreak havoc across Central and Eastern Europe. In Austria, Poland and Czech Republic, 11 people were confirmed dead in the regions affected. “I want to express our sympathy to those who have experienced this great drama, but at the same time assure them that they are not left alone,” Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdansk, president of the Polish bishops’ conference, said in a Sept. 16 statement as thousands of people were evacuated from the flood-affected region of the country. “Water, after heavy rains, flooded many houses, schools, kindergartens, and hospitals. Many homes and public buildings have been destroyed, and the entire road infrastructure in that area has been badly damaged,” the archbishop said. A 17th-century Franciscan monastery in Klodzko was dramatically affected by the flood. “The whole main church was flooded,” said Father Ignacy Szczytowski, guardian of the monastery. “We’re located right at the curve of the Nysa Klodzka River. There were no chances that with this amount of water we would manage to stop it from coming,” he said, estimating the monastery’s losses at $3.5 million.