The Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta has expressed its concern over the serious migration emergency unfolding in the Spanish autonomous city of Ceuta, offering its cooperation to public authorities and announcing that this weekend’s collections in the city’s parishes will be devoted entirely to meeting the most urgent needs of migrants.

About 60,000 migrants entered the Spanish autonomous city of Ceuta from Morocco over the past 24 hours, according to Ceuta’s President, Juan Jesús Vivas, speaking on Friday. The figure is equivalent to around 70 per cent of the city’s regular population. At least 34 migrants have died while attempting the crossing, highlighting the growing human cost of the unfolding crisis.

Located on the northern coast of Africa and bordering Morocco, Ceuta has for decades been one of the principal entry points into Europe for migrants. In recent days, the growing number of arrivals has led to scenes of thousands of people scaling the border fence or attempting to swim to the Ceuta shoreline from the El Tarajal breakwater. Reception facilities remain overwhelmed.

In response to the scale of the emergency, the Spanish Government ordered the deployment of members of the Armed Forces to reinforce security and support the Civil Guard.

At the same time, the President of the Autonomous City of Ceuta appealed to the central government for urgent assistance, warning that the city’s capacity to respond had reached its limits.

Among those who have arrived are many unaccompanied minors, adding further complexity to reception and protection efforts. Moroccan forces meanwhile reportedly beat back crowds with batons and tear gas at the gates to Ceuta, trying to prevent more from storming across into the tiny Spanish territory that juts on a sliver of sandy land into the Mediterranean from Morocco.

In a statement released on 30 July 2026, the local Church expressed its closeness to all those affected by the crisis and reaffirmed its readiness to work alongside public authorities in responding to the humanitarian emergency.

As an initial concrete measure, the Diocese announced that all collections taken this weekend in Ceuta’s parishes will be allocated to the Diocesan Office for Migrants. The funds will be channelled through the San Antonio Migrant Assistance Centre, which will address the most urgent needs in coordination with the relevant services.

In a video message for Ecuador’s 7th National Youth Day, Pope Leo XIV invites young people to follow Christ, allow the joy of encountering Him to transform their lives and inspire others to seek Him, and to let the Blessed Mother’s example inspire them to embrace God’s plan for their lives.

“An encounter with Jesus Christ fills the heart with joy and gives us the strength to be witnesses of His love and His mercy.”

Pope Leo XIV offered this comforting reminder in a video message he sent to participants in Ecuador’s 7th National Youth Day, taking place in Ibarra this weekend, under the theme, “Take courage; I have conquered the world” (John 16:33).

In his remarks, the Pope stressed that Christ gives their lives meaning.

“I encourage you,” he said, “to listen to the Lord’s call and to follow Him with determination.”

The Holy Father also reminded the young people that they are precious to the Church.

 “The Church needs your joy, your courage, and your witness so that many others may come to know Christ,” he said, adding, “Allow yourselves to be transformed by His love.”

Finally, the Pope called on them to become promoters of forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace, and entrusted all the young people of Ecuador to Our Lady of the Presentation. “May Mary,” Pope Leo prayed, “be the model who inspires you to live the Gospel and to dedicate yourselves, as she did, to God’s plan for your lives.”

In a message signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin for the opening of the Youth Festival (Mladifest), held at the shrine in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pope Leo XIV urges young people not to be seduced by the illusions of “fleeting happiness.” By following Jesus, even the deepest questions and anxieties of the heart can become “an opportunity for discernment and growth in faith.”

The promises of easy and immediate happiness are attractive, but they often fade away without leaving a lasting mark. What remains are the deeper questions, the anxieties that dwell in the human heart, and the longing for a joy that endures. It is precisely from these vulnerabilities that an authentic journey of faith can begin through an encounter with God, “who quenches every heart and gives the strength to always begin anew.”

This is the heart of the message that Pope Leo XIV, through a message signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, addressed to the young people from 73 countries gathered in Medjugorje for the opening of Mladifest, the international youth festival. Starting in 1989, the festival takes place annually. The Eucharistic celebration takes place at the outdoor altar of Saint James Parish.

Encountering the Lord who quenches every heart

The message was read by Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, the Apostolic Visitor with a special assignment for the Parish of Medjugorje, shortly before the Mass celebrated by Archbishop Francis Assisi Chullikatt, Apostolic Nuncio to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.

In his message, the Pope encouraged young people to return ad fontem—to Christ, the source of new life and authentic joy. Through prayer, listening to the Word of God, and the sacraments, he invites them to rediscover “the beauty of a personal encounter with the Lord, who quenches every heart and gives the strength to always begin anew.”

The Pope also encourages young people to seek sincerely “the truth that sets them free,” without allowing themselves to be deceived by “the illusions of a passing happiness.” In following Jesus, he said, everyone can embrace even the most difficult questions and the anxieties of the heart as opportunities for discernment and growth in faith.

The General Secretariat of the Synod publishes a document outlining stages, criteria, and tools to guide local Churches toward the Ecclesial Assembly set for October 2028.

Remembering, interpreting, orienting, and celebrating. These are the four key stages accompanying local Churches, Bishops’ Conferences, and continental groupings towards the Ecclesial Assembly that will take place in October 2028 in the Vatican.

They are proposed by the General Secretariat of the Synod in support of the implementation phase through the document Towards the 2027–2028 Assemblies: stages, criteria, and tools in preparation for the 2027–2028 Assemblies, published on 20 May.

The text defines the calendar, methodology, and criteria through which local Churches throughout the world and their national and continental groupings are called to share the fruits of the journey begun after the Final Document of the 2021–2024 Synod, leading up to the Ecclesial Assembly of October 2028.

“We are proposing to local Churches not an additional task,” says Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod, “but rather a time of shared discernment and thanksgiving, in which to reread together what the Spirit is causing to grow in the Church and to recognise the steps we are called to take. The Assemblies are not sociological consultations, deliberative processes, or technical evaluations. Rather, they are a profound ecclesial and spiritual experience of discernment: a moment of synthesis and renewed impetus, so that the exchange of gifts among the Churches may become a concrete experience and synodality may increasingly be translated into the ordinary style of ecclesial life at the service of mission.”

The first two Assemblies—those at local and national level—will prepare two complementary texts: a reflection document (the narrative report for dioceses and eparchies, the theological-pastoral report for Episcopal Conferences) and a letter to the other local Churches, drafted during the Assembly itself.

It is this latter document that becomes the concrete instrument of the exchange of gifts: every community offers what it has matured and becomes ready to receive what is offered by other Churches.

The continental Assemblies, meanwhile, will prepare a forward-looking report that will serve in drafting the Instrumentum laboris for the 2028 Ecclesial Assembly. All materials will be sent to the General Secretariat of the Synod according to the following timetable: by 30 June 2027 for the diocesan and eparchial stage; by 31 December 2027 for the Episcopal Conferences stage; and by 30 April 2028 for the continental stage, in preparation for the Ecclesial Assembly of October 2028.