A woman becomes emotional during a vigil Feb. 11, 2026, the day after a deadly mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia. An 18-year-old suspect opened fire at the school Feb. 10, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens more. Police said the suspect was found dead inside the school with a self-inflicted injury. (OSV News photo/Jennifer Gauthier, Reuters) Pope Leo XIV Explains Why Catholics Fast During Lent VATICAN CITY (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV is calling Catholics to rediscover the power of fasting this Lent, saying the ancient practice can shake us out of complacency and teach us to “hunger” for God. In his 2026 Lenten message, released on Friday, February 13, ahead of Ash Wednesday, the pope described abstaining from food as an “ancient ascetic practice” that helps believers refocus their lives on the Lord. Lent, he said, is a time to “place the mystery of God back in the center of our lives, in order to find renewal in our faith and keep our hearts from being consumed by the anxieties and distractions of daily life.” He added, “Abstaining from food is an ancient ascetic practice that is essential on the path of conversion.” Fasting, he said, helps order our “appetites” and keeps our “hunger and thirst for justice alive and freeing us from complacency.” Drawing on St. Augustine, Pope Leo also urged Catholics to fast from hurtful speech and to embrace Lent as a shared journey of conversion, grounded in humility, Scripture, and grace. Portland Archbishop: Pope  Affirms Solidarity with Immigrants in U.S. VATICAN CITY (CNS) – All Catholics are called to stand together by reaching out to their brothers and sisters in the faith of all ethnicities, especially those of Hispanic heritage, Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, Oregon, said. “They are our brothers and sisters, we love them, and we stand with them in these difficult times,” he told Catholic News Service on Wednesday, February 11, during a visit to Rome and the Vatican, which included a private meeting with Pope Leo XIV on Monday, February 9. “Our Holy Father has been a great source of encouragement and support for the United States bishops, I think, to be very strong in our statements and in our support for the immigrant community back home,” he said. “Our Holy Father feels very strongly about this. I had the opportunity to speak with him, and I can say in the conversation, you could see that this was a matter of great concern for him,” said the archbishop. Launching a call for unity, peace, and mutual support, the archbishop said Catholics of every ethnicity need to “see themselves as one and to really reach out to our brothers and sisters in the Hispanic community, especially right now … just get to know them, welcome them, help them, know that they are loved and very much a part of the Body of Christ.” Ave Maria University Battles Measles Outbreak AVE MARIA, Florida (OSV News) – A Catholic university in Florida is battling an outbreak of measles among its students, including several who have been quarantined. Ave Maria University reported on its website that it first became “aware of suspected cases” on its campus on January 28 and “promptly reported” them to the Florida Department of Health. In a February 11 update, the school said “since the start of the semester, 50 nurse-assessed students have progressed beyond the contagious period and now have natural immunity.” Local CBS News affiliate WINK said the university had reported a total of 57 cases since the start of the current semester, a number that appeared to include the 50 post-contagious cases plus seven individuals who were in quarantine. Ave Maria said that it continues “to provide care for all students regardless of test results” and that it is “closely monitoring” the situation along with the Florida Department of Health. Ave Maria also stressed that “the vast majority of the Ave Maria University community is vaccinated.” Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, following extensive childhood vaccinations. However, declining vaccination rates have correlated with a resurgence of measles. For the year 2025, the Centers for Disease Control confirmed 2,280 cases, with 910 cases confirmed as of February 12 for the current year. Pope Leo: A True Parish Welcomes All, Spreads Respect, Harmony OSTIA LIDO, Italy (CNS) – An authentic Christian community knows how to sincerely and joyfully welcome everyone: Catholics, non-Catholics, and people of no faith at all, Pope Leo XIV said during a February 15 visit to the Roman parish of Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Lido – his first visit to a parish in his Diocese of Rome. “A true parish” is where “we all learn to say ‘Welcome,’ not only with words, but with a spirit of hospitality, opening the door and welcoming everyone,” he said. The pope also celebrated Mass during which he encouraged the faithful to cultivate humble and peaceful hearts that are open to Christ, because “the evil we see in the world has its roots precisely there, where the heart becomes cold, hard, and lacking in mercy.” He encouraged the parish community to continue its courageous efforts with other organizations “to spread the good seed of the Gospel in your streets and in your homes.” He added: “Do not resign yourselves to the culture of abuse and injustice. On the contrary, spread respect and harmony, beginning by disarming language and then investing energy and resources in education, especially for children and young people.”   LONDON (OSV News) – As the U.K. Parliament debates controversial legislation to allow assisted suicide and abortion up to birth, the country’s Catholic politicians are striving to defend pro-life values. Sir Edward Leigh, a member of the House of Commons, who is the U.K.’s longest-serving member of Parliament, said he and other Catholic MPs had tabled “practical objections” to the bill, along with legislators of other faiths, and said it would be “totally inappropriate” to use emergency powers to force its final enactment. The bill cleared the House of Commons in June 2025. Leigh spoke as the “assisted dying” bill was being debated in the neighboring House of Lords, amid threats by supporters to use a rarely invoked 1949 Parliament Act if it risks being delayed beyond a spring deadline. Leigh told OSV News that members of the upper house were doing a “constitutionally appropriate job” in carefully scrutinizing the bill, which was “far too complex” to be rushed through. An independent Catholic member of the House of Lords, Baroness Nuala O’Loan, a former law professor and police ombudsman for Northern Ireland, said the bill was “extremely badly drafted.” “As a Catholic, I believe we should be doing all we can to support life – our National Health Service exists to help people live, not to kill themselves,” she said. Trump Administration to Repeal EPA Regulation on Greenhouse Gasses WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – The Trump administration will repeal a landmark scientific finding that was the legal basis for federal greenhouse-gas regulation, President Donald Trump said on Thursday, February 12. Catholic theologians and environmentalists who spoke with OSV News expressed concern about the announcement, arguing the regulation helped prevent ecological damage in accordance with Catholic teaching, such as that laid out in the late Pope Francis’ landmark environmental encyclical Laudato Si’. The president’s announcement was expected, as officials previously indicated they would repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 “endangerment finding,” which concluded that six greenhouse gases were a threat to public health. The action would reduce the EPA’s ability to regulate such gasses. “Scientists have been warning that the burning of fossil fuels and the release of other greenhouse gases will warm the planet which, in turn, will impact human health and future generations,” said Dan Misleh, founder and executive director of the Catholic Climate Covenant, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit the U.S. bishops helped to form in support of care for creation. The post New Briefs: February 22, 2026 appeared first on Today's Catholic. ...read more read less