Vatican Conservation Tech: The World Monuments Fund and Vatican Museums have kicked off a five-year, laser-assisted restoration of Raphael’s Loggia in Vatican City, using dry cleaning to protect fragile fresco and stucco layers and adding new glass protection against solar exposure. AI & Church Governance: Pope Leo XIV’s June 26–27 extraordinary consistory schedule was released, with sessions tied to his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and its focus on safeguarding people in the age of artificial intelligence. Catholic Education & AI: Marywood University president Lori met Pope Leo XIV in Rome, discussing Catholic higher education’s response to AI and the pope’s push to keep technology from fragmenting knowledge. Digital Signal Processing Legacy: Bede Liu, a pioneer in digital signal processing and digital watermarking, has died at 91; his work helped enable modern streaming and media integrity tools. Health Tech Research: Carnegie Mellon won an ARPA-H contract for OMEGA, a wearable system aimed at real-time assessment of fetal oxygen delivery to improve labor and delivery safety. Climate & Public Safety: A deadly Western Europe heatwave driven by an “Omega block” shattered records, disrupted power and schools, and pushed extreme temperatures across countries including France, the UK, and Spain. Human Rights & Reproduction Policy: Italy, the Holy See, Chile, and Cameroon backed a UN push for an international moratorium on surrogacy, calling it a step toward abolition. Cultural Repatriation: First Nations leaders in Manitoba are urging governments to help repatriate thousands of Indigenous artifacts from a private Swiss museum back to North America. Vatican Publishing & Writers: Pope Leo XIV met international authors marking the 100th anniversary of Libreria Editrice Vaticana, urging writers to keep storytelling central in an AI-driven world.