he International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) annual Military Balance 2026 report shows that while the pace of increase in military spending for defence has moderated compared to previous years, Europe and parts of Asia recorded significant rises, reflecting ongoing security concerns and shifting regional priorities

The report reveals that global military expenditure continued its upward trajectory in 2025, reaching an estimated USD 2.63 trillion. This, it notes, represents a 2.5 % increase over the previous year, though the pace of growth remains slower than the sharp rises seen in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The report also highlights a divergent picture across regions. Europe’s defence spending surged by around 12.6 %, significantly outpacing the global average, as governments responded to persistent security concerns and renewed commitments by NATO allies to bolster their militaries. Germany played a leading role in this increase, contributing substantially to Europe accounting for more than 21 % of global defence spending in 2025, up from 17 % in 2022.

In contrast, growth in the United States’ defence budget temporarily tapered in 2025, even as proposals under the current administration aim to push U.S. military spending beyond USD 1 trillion in 2026 with initiatives such as the proposed “Golden Dome” missile defence programme.

Russia’s defence spending continued to increase in absolute terms but at a much slower rate than in previous years, a marked change after substantial rises earlier in the conflict with Ukraine.

Across Asia, defence budgets also expanded, with China maintaining a dominant share – estimated at nearly 44 % of regional military expenditure in 2025 – and other states in the region raising their own defence expenditure amid security competition.

Spending in the Middle East and North Africa region also rose, reflecting ongoing regional tensions and state decisions to strengthen military readiness.

As the civil war continues to wreak death, destruction and displacement in Sudan, observers warn its neighbour, South Sudan, risks a return to all-out civil war as well.

Having obtained independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan is the world’s youngest nation. It struggled to find stability from the very start as its president and his deputy of opposing parties clashed for power, triggering a deadly war that caused tens of thousands to flee their homes.

The nation’s 2018 “Revitalized Peace Agreement” appears increasingly fragile, and a just-released UN inquiry finds that the country’s political and military leaders are driving the nation towards full-scale war and mass atrocity crimes. South Sudan is at a “dangerous point” and risks sliding back into full-scale civil war as violence intensifies and a fragile peace agreement comes under strain, the UN human rights chief warned Friday.

Addressing the UN Human Rights Council, Volker Turk expressed extreme concern for the human rights situation in South Sudan and described it as one of the world’s forgotten crises. He sounded the alarm following the release of an investigative report that accuses the country’s political and military leaders of systematically dismantling the 2018 “Revitalised Peace Agreement”, of undermining governance and exposing civilians to grave risks of renewed armed conflict, mass atrocity crimes and serious violations of international human rights law.

Turk said Government and opposition forces and allied militias have attacked residential areas across multiple states in recent months, forcing large-scale displacement, noting that in northern Jonglei alone, more than 280,000 people fled their homes.

January, he continued, saw a sharp deterioration with civilians bearing the brunt of a spike in indiscriminate attacks, including aerial bombardments, deliberate killings, abductions and conflict-related sexual violence. “Human rights monitoring provides a warning system. That system is flashing red for South Sudan,” Volker Turk said, calling for an immediate halt to hostilities and renewed commitment to the peace agreement.

The Holy See’s children’s hospital, Bambino Gesù, is considered the leading paediatric hospital in Europe and the 6th best in the world, according to the US magazine Newsweek’s 2026 World’s Best Hospitals ranking. Created in collaboration with the data gathering company, Statista, the ranking highlights leading hospitals around the world in 12 medical fields, including paediatrics. The 2026 edition evaluated 2,500 hospitals in 32 countries. The ranking is compiled with information gathered from a comprehensive international survey of healthcare professionals, independent data on the quality of care and patient safety, and indicators derived from their assessments and reported clinical outcomes.

“This recognition stems from the daily teamwork of the entire hospital community: doctors, nurses, healthcare professionals, technical and administrative staff, researchers, volunteers, and religious personnel who, together, take care of children and their families,” said Tiziano Onesti, President of the Bambino Gesù Hospital, in a press release published by the establishment.

“It is the quiet dedication of these women and men—in the wards, laboratories, offices, reception, and support services—that makes highly specialized care possible, combined with attention to the human and relational aspects of treatment,” he emphasized.

The press release highlights that Bambino Gesù is the only paediatric hospital operating within the Italian healthcare system to be included among the top 30.

It also explains that this recognition shows the hospital’s growth over the years, as it has obtained important international certifications such as the JCI accreditation as an Academic Medical Center for training and clinical and scientific research.

Additionally, the press release underlines how Bambino Gesù is today the leading paediatric centre in Europe in terms of the number of affiliations with European reference networks for rare diseases (affiliated with 20 out of 24 networks).

It records almost 3 million outpatient services, 100,000 visits to the emergency room, and over 33,000 surgical procedures every year.

At the conclusion of a week of Spiritual Exercises in the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV offered words of gratitude and reflection, drawing together the themes that marked the Lenten retreat preached by Bishop Erik Varden. He described the days as “a profound spiritual experience,” one that accompanied the Roman Curia along its Lenten path, beginning with meditation on “the Temptations” and unfolding through reflections on monastic life and the witness of Bernard of Clairvaux.

Referring to moments that have touched him deeply, Pope Leo recalled a meditation on the election of Pope Eugene III, and cited Saint Bernard’s words: “What have you done? May God have mercy on you.” He then pointed to the chapel itself, recalling 8 May, when he and his brother cardinals were gathered there for the Eucharistic celebration. Above them is inscribed the verse from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Philippians: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” “In this context and with this spirit of communion,” he said, “all of us gathered together work side by side, though often very separately.” To meet in prayer, he added, is “a very important moment in our life,” a time to reflect on questions vital for personal life and for the Church.

Among the themes chosen by Bishop Varden during the week, the Pope highlighted the reference to the Doctor of the Church, St John Henry Newman, and his poem The Dream of Gerontius. In that work, he noted, Newman presents death and judgment “as a prism” through which the reader confronts fear and unworthiness before God.

Freedom and truth, he added,  also stood out as essential dimensions of Christian life that were touched upon during the reflections.

Returning to Saint Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, the Pope read the Apostle’s words about being “hard pressed” between the desire to depart and be with Christ and the call to remain for the sake of others’ “progress and joy in the faith.” He highlighted Paul’s exhortation: “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ.”

“This,” the Pope said, “is the invitation at the end of these days of prayer and reflection, which the very Word of God addresses to all of us.”

Enthusiastic reactions are emerging from the various countries that Pope Leo XIV will visit in the coming months, after the journeys were officially announced by the Holy See Press Office on Wednesday, February 25. His first visit will be on March 28 to Monaco; he will then embark on a ten-day journey from April 13 to 23 with 11 stops across Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, before a week-long journey to Spain from June 6 to 12, which includes Madrid, Barcelona, the Canary Islands, Tenerife and Gran Canaria.

In Algeria, the bishops say they are “overjoyed,” while in Cameroun the papal visit is being described as a “sign of hope” amid political and social difficulties, with preparations already underway to guarantee a safe and smooth visit.

From Spain comes a wave of “joy” and “gratitude,” along with assurances of a “warm” welcome. The same is true in the Principality of Monaco, where both the royal family and the local Church emphasize the “honor” of this “historic moment”: the first visit of a reigning Pope to the small city-state.

Marking the 95th anniversary of its founding, on February 12, 2026, Vatican Radio – Vatican News is renewing and relaunching one of the most recognizable elements of its identity: its jingle, the audio logo that has always accompanied the listeners of the Popes’ Radio.

This project has been conceived to celebrate this historic milestone with a sign that merges tradition and contemporaneity.

The new jingle has been entrusted to Maestro Marcello Filotei of the Musical Programs editorial team, led by Maestro Pierluigi Morelli. It will accompany listeners throughout the entire day of February 12, before becoming a permanent feature of regular programming.

The new audio logos are the natural modern evolution of the historic orchestration of Christus Vincit created by Maestro Alberico Vitalini—based on a theme by Czech composer Jan Kunc—a distinctive and recognizable element of the Radio’s identity right from the beginning.

The original Christus Vincit theme has been reworked in a modern key, maintaining a direct link with tradition while at the same time offering a new sonic guise in line with contemporary culture and sensibilities.

The Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Paolo Ruffini, stated that, “Vatican Radio has always cultivated, even in its jingle, a special relationship with music that defines its identity.”

“Music,” he said, “speaks to us of that dynamic harmony, never identical to itself, which we all seek in our lives. It generates resonances that become dialogue, dialogue that becomes communion, and memory that becomes life. Celebrating today the 95 years of our radio by revisiting the network’s jingles has precisely this meaning for us: to condense, in the few seconds of an audio logo, a history in which identity and communion merge, grow together, and make us feel at home.”

After more than two decades marked by enthusiasm, setbacks and prolonged silence, the cause of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen has reached a decisive threshold. The Holy See has formally notified Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria, Illinois, that the cause of the Venerable Servant of God may now proceed to beatification, clearing the way for the American prelate to be declared “Blessed” in the Catholic Church.

The announcement, welcomed by the Diocese of Peoria, places one of the most recognizable Catholic figures of the 20th century on the brink of official liturgical veneration. The next step, as Bishop Tylka explained, is the celebration of the beatification itself, the date and location of which are now being coordinated with the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

For Catholics less familiar with the Church’s canonization process, beatification represents a pivotal moment. It acknowledges that a deceased person lived a life of heroic virtue and that a miracle has occurred through his or her intercession, allowing for public veneration, usually at a local or regional level. Canonization, which would follow at a later stage, would extend that veneration to the universal Church and would require the recognition of a second miracle after beatification.

Few American churchmen have left a public footprint comparable to that of Fulton Sheen. Born Peter John Sheen on May 8, 1895, in El Paso, Illinois, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Peoria in 1919. His episcopal career unfolded largely on the national stage: he was appointed auxiliary bishop of New York in 1951, serving there until 1966, and later became bishop of Rochester, a post he held until his retirement in 1969 at the age of 74.

Yet it was not diocesan administration that made Sheen a household name. His television program Life Is Worth Living, broadcast from 1952 to 1957, brought Catholic moral teaching into American living rooms at a time when religious programming rarely reached mainstream audiences. The show earned an Emmy Award and attracted millions of viewers, a fact Bishop Tylka has often cited in calling Sheen a pioneer who anticipated the Church’s later engagement with mass media. Long before the age of digital evangelization, Sheen demonstrated how theology, philosophy and pastoral concern could be communicated with clarity and cultural relevance. Sheen’s influence extended well beyond the United States. In his later years, he served as national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, supporting missionary work across the globe. According to Bishop Tylka, this phase of Sheen’s life underscored a conviction that the Church exists for all people, especially those on the margins or in places where the Gospel is scarcely heard.

Officials at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), the administrative headquarters of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, have denounced what they have described as a “relentless wave of killings and abductions” across the West African nation, warning that continued violence and impunity are turning the country into “a field of grief” and eroding the foundations of governance.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Feb. 7, and shared with ACI Africa — the sister service of EWTN News in Africa — CSN Secretary-General Father Michael Banjo and National Director of Social Communications Father Michael Nsikak Umoh expressed “profound outrage and sorrow at the ongoing assault on human life and dignity.”

“After years of repeated complaints and unfulfilled promises, violence persists unchecked, leaving more communities devastated and citizens weary of empty condolences that do not guarantee their safety,” the CSN officials said.

They lamented that the renewed cycle of mass violence “has turned our country into a field of grief.” “Nigeria cannot afford to normalize bloodshed or treat mass killings as routine tragedies,” they emphasized in their one-page statement titled “The Cry of the Innocent: Stop This Slaughterhouse in Nigeria!”

Citing recent attacks between late January and early February, the Catholic officials questioned how such atrocities could be allowed to continue. “How can it be justified that, outside of war, over 160 innocent civilians were slaughtered in one coordinated attack in Woro, Kwara state?” they wrote.

They also referred to “the repeated killings and abductions in Agwara and Tungan Gero in Niger state, the wiping out of entire farming communities in Katsina and Kaduna, and the ongoing violence in Borno.”

“This is not ‘instability’ but a massacre allowed by silence and a betrayal of every Nigerian’s right to live in peace,” the Nigerian Catholic officials added.

They went on to remind politicians that “the constitution is not a lofty document of ideals but a binding covenant with the people” and warned that “when citizens are slaughtered with impunity and communities live in perpetual fear, the very foundation of governance is undermined.” They added that “a government that struggles unsuccessfully to safeguard its people risks diminishing its moral authority to lead.”

The first of two statements made by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) on social justice in the country has been released. The President of the ACBC, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, described the statement as an invitation “to reflect deeply on the challenges facing our nation and to respond with faith, hope and love.”

Throughout the nation, Archbishop Costelloe lamented, many people are struggling with the rising cost of living. “For some, this means skipping meals, delaying medical care or living without secure housing”, he noted.

But he warned against letting these people become simply numbers or statistics. Rather, we should see them as they are: “human stories of struggle and resilience.”

The Archbishop stressed that the Gospel calls each and every one of us to accompany those who suffer, and this statement is an invitation to that mission. The Australian bishops draw on Catholic social teaching and four of its seven principles: the dignity of every person, the common good, solidarity, subsidiarity and the preferential option for the poor. These, Archbishop Costelloe highlighted, “challenge us to share generously, to advocate for justice, and to build communities where no one is forgotten.”

A theological dialogue, on the condition that the episcopal ordinations scheduled for July 1 be suspended: that’s the proposal the Holy See made to the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) on 12 February. With the Pope’s approval, a meeting was held at the Palace of the Holy Office between Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Father Davide Pagliarani, Superior General of the SSPX.

This process, described as having a “well-defined methodology,” would establish the minimum requirements for full communion with the Catholic Church and identify a canonical status for the Society.

In a statement released, the Dicastery described the meeting as “cordial and sincere.” After clarifying several points raised by the SSPX in letters sent between 2017 and 2019—particularly the question of God’s will regarding religious pluralism—Cardinal Fernández proposed a path of theological dialogue.

The discussions would address themes “that have not yet been sufficiently clarified,” including the distinction between “the act of faith” and “the obedience of faith”—that is, the religious submission of intellect and will—as well as the varying degrees of assent owed to different texts of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and their interpretation. The Argentine cardinal also suggested examining a series of topics listed by the Society in a letter dated January 17, 2019.

The Holy See nevertheless reiterated that the ordination of bishops without a mandate from the Roman Pontiff—who, according to Pastor Aeternus (1870), holds supreme, full, universal, immediate, and direct ordinary power—would entail “a decisive rupture of ecclesial communion,” namely “a schism,” with “grave consequences for the Society as a whole,” the Dicastery noted.

For this reason, it has proposed suspending the episcopal ordinations announced for July 1, 2026, which were declared without papal approval.

The Superior General of the SSPX will present the proposal to his Council and provide a response to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Should the response be positive, the next steps and procedures will be determined and established “by mutual agreement.” Cardinal Fernández has asked the entire Church to pray to the Holy Spirit to accompany this forthcoming journey.