“I continue to follow with concern the tragic situation in Sudan, especially in the city of el-Obeid,” Leo said in English after praying the Angelus. “In expressing my spiritual closeness to all the people of the nation, I renew my appeal to those in authority to guarantee humanitarian corridors for the civilian population.”

His remarks follow the worsening situation in Sudan, marked by drone warfare, sexual violence, and starvation, as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), who control the city of el-Obeid.

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Continued appeals for peace between Ukraine and Russia

The pope also addressed the war between Ukraine and Russia, lamenting the escalation of violence as casualties continue to rise.

“These incidents are occurring one after another; indeed, they are multiplying, resulting in ever-increasing numbers of civilian victims, including children,” he said.

In light of the rise in attacks, Leo renewed his call for respect for international humanitarian law.

“In the face of so much anguish, I renew my heartfelt appeal for humanitarian law to be respected and for both sides to cease attacks on civilian targets,” Leo said.

“War only begets more war and causes immense suffering,” he said.

Jesus never abandons us

In his preaching during his Angelus address, Leo encouraged the faithful to welcome God humbly into their hearts through prayer and the sacraments.

The pope also discussed the Gospel, which recounts Jesus walking on the water toward his disciples. He explained that the disciples were transformed by Christ’s presence and that miracles like this can teach the faithful not to despair in difficult times.

“Whatever the circumstances,” Leo said, “Jesus does not abandon us, and if we humbly welcome him into the boat of our lives — through prayer, the sacraments and listening to his Word — in him, we will find peace, light, and strength for our journey.”

This story was first published in two parts by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated, combined, and adapted by EWTN News English.

Surprisingly, though, the Dominicans don’t usually do much to celebrate the saint’s Aug. 8 feast day.

While the August feast “is for us certainly always a feast,” Dominican Father Angelo Giuseppe Urru told EWTN News in 2018, it’s not the primary one.

Instead, the order celebrates “more solemnly” May 24, which is the solemnity of the Translation of St. Dominic.

This unusual feast day commemorates the day St. Dominic’s remains were moved, or “translated,” from their original burial spot behind an altar of the church of San Nicolo della Vigne in Bologna, Italy, to a more prominent place in the church in 1233.

For many Dominican provinces, this day is the big celebration, Urru said.

The move of St. Dominic’s body was carried out at the request of Pope Gregory IX about one year before the saint’s canonization on July 13, 1234, only 13 years after his death.

As recorded in a letter by Blessed Jordan of Saxony, one of the first leaders of the Dominicans, the brothers were very anxious before the move of the body, because they were worried that when the wooden coffin was un-interred from the stone sepulcher, the body would give off a foul odor, since it had been buried in a poorly constructed tomb, exposed to water and heat.

But they received a great surprise, because when the tomb was opened, a wonderful and sweet perfume emanated from the coffin instead.

“Its sweetness astonished those present, and they were filled with wonder at this strange occurrence. Everyone shed tears of joy, and fear and hope rose in all hearts,” Blessed Jordan wrote.

He reported that the odor remained and if anyone touched a hand or some object to the body, the odor immediately attached itself and lingered for a long time.

“The body was carried to the marble sepulcher where it would rest — it and the perfume that it poured forth. This marvelous aroma which the holy body emitted was evidence to all how much the saint had truly been the good odor of Christ,” he wrote.

By 1240, the church containing St. Dominic’s remains had been expanded into a basilica and renamed for the saint.

Now, every year Dominican friars, sisters, and laity all over the world celebrate St. Dominic on May 24.

Mass is celebrated at the Basilica of Santa Sabina, the mother church of the Dominicans in Rome, for this feast.

The tradition is for a priest of the Order of Friars Minor, commonly called the Franciscans, to say the Mass and preach. After Mass, the procession of friars stops at the first side chapel, where the Blessed Sacrament is kept, to sing the “O Lumen,” the Dominican antiphon to St. Dominic.

Besides the tomb with the saint’s body, which is in the basilica in Bologna, there are few relics of St. Dominic in existence.

One relic, a piece of his skull, can be found in Rome. It is at the church of Santa Maria del Rosario, part of a Dominican monastery located on Monte Mario, the tallest hill of Rome.

Urru said he was not sure how it came to be kept in the monastery but that it originated when some students in Bologna stole it to have in their chapel.

“There is also the breviary of St. Dominic, a small breviary,” he said.

In 2016, the Dominicans celebrated the 800th anniversary of their founding with a jubilee year, culminating in an International Congress for the Mission of the Order, which took place Jan. 17–21 in Rome.

Urru voiced gratitude for the blessing of vocations, which allow the order’s work to continue.

Thankfully, though there are some provinces that are very small, many are growing and are very strong, he noted, such as those in Vietnam and Africa. The United States as well has seen a good number of new vocations, he said.

Around the world, “there are many initiatives of the order,” and they are working hard still, just as they have the last 800 years.

Ultimately, though, he said, the future of the order is “in the hands of God.”

This story was first published on Aug. 8, 2017, and has been updated.

Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski met with Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdańsk, president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, to begin coordinating preparations for what would be Leo’s first pilgrimage to Poland as pope.

The papal visit would be organized jointly by the Polish government and the Catholic Church.

Formal invitations have already been extended to Pope Leo XIV by both the Polish state and the Church, Vatican News reported. On behalf of the Republic of Poland, invitations have come from Presidents Andrzej Duda and Karol Nawrocki as well as Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The presidium of the Polish Bishops’ Conference has also invited the pope.

Because of the international nature of the visit, Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs will coordinate preparations on the government’s side.

A date for the pilgrimage has not yet been determined. Once it is established, a working group composed of representatives of the relevant Church and state authorities will be created to organize the visit.

Three popes have visited Poland a total of 11 times.

St. John Paul II, a native of Poland, made nine papal visits to the country. Benedict XVI visited in 2006, while Pope Francis traveled to Poland in 2016 for World Youth Day in Kraków.

This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English

The Vatican also announced that, as he did during his recent journey to Spain, he will meet with victims of clerical sexual abuse during his France trip. The victims themselves will help organize the meeting, with further details to be announced later.

The motto for Leo’s trip, “Pour que le monde ait la vie" (“That the World May Have Life”), is drawn from the Gospel of John 6:51. According to the official Vatican News outlet, the motto “resonates with” the debate over the assisted-dying legislation recently approved by Franceʼs National Assembly.

As announced by the Holy See Press Office, the pontiff will begin his journey by departing Rome on Sept. 25 at 7:50 a.m. and arriving at Paris Orly International Airport at 10 a.m.

Paris

At 11 a.m., Leo will pay a courtesy visit to French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace, followed by meetings with authorities, where he will deliver his first address. Then, at 3 p.m., he will visit the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

That evening, at 5:15 p.m., the pope will celebrate vespers with clergy and religious at the Notre Dame Cathedral. It will be the first time a pope has visited the cathedral since the 2019 fire. A prayer vigil with young people will follow at the Stade de France at 9 p.m.

The next day, Sept. 26, Leo will visit the Maison Bakhita Center for Social Support and Integration and meet with members of the provincial synod assembly at the Institut Catholique de Paris.

At 3 p.m., Leo will celebrate his first Mass of the trip at Place de la Concorde before traveling to Lourdes at 5:45 p.m.

Lourdes

The pontiff is scheduled to arrive in Lourdes at 7:05 p.m. From there, he will visit the renowned grotto at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes for a prayer service.

The next day, Sept. 27, he will meet with the French bishops at the shrine at 9 a.m. before celebrating there the second Mass of his trip at 11 a.m.

Leo is scheduled that afternoon to meet at the shrine with the staff and sick community of the Accueil Notre Dame. He will then privately meet with Carmelite nuns at their monastery in Lourdes.

At 9 p.m., Leo will lead a rosary and a candlelit procession at the Lourdes grotto.

Metz

For the final day of his trip on Sept. 28, Leo will depart Lourdes at 7:40 a.m. and arrive in Metz at 9:20 a.m., becoming the first pope to visit the city since St. John Paul II in 1988.

There, at 10 a.m., he will join an interreligious meeting at the Robert Schuman Conference Center and then attend another meeting, “To the Roots of Europe for Peace and Unity.”

The pope will then celebrate the third and final Mass of his trip at the Cathedral of St. Stephen in Metz. He will then depart Metz at 7 p.m. to arrive in Rome at 8:50 p.m.

Of this event, Benedict XVI noted: “According to the senses, the light of the sun is the most intense ever known in nature.” Despite this fact, Benedict said, “according to the spirit, the disciples saw for a short time a brightness more intense: that of the divine glory of Jesus, which illuminates the whole history of salvation.”

Peter, James, and John experienced an intense beauty, the beauty of an experience of God, a small glimpse of the beatific vision.

The preface for Mass on the Transfiguration explains the significance of the event: “For he revealed his glory in the presence of chosen witnesses ... that the scandal of the cross might be removed from the hearts of his disciples.”

Benedict reflected this sentiment at an Angelus address on March 20, 2011, saying: “We recall the Transfiguration of the Lord and how it prepared the apostles for the coming scandal of the cross.”

The apostles’ experience at the Transfiguration gave them courage and hope in the Resurrection. As the Mass preface ends: “that he might show how in the body of the whole Church is to be fulfilled what so wonderfully shone forth first in its head.”

Christ revealed himself in a new way at the Transfiguration.

“Strengthened by our faith in Jesus, true God and true man, may we be inspired, not scandalized, by the cross given to our Savior and to our fellow Christians who suffer with him throughout the world,” Benedict added. Christ’s transfiguration inspired more faith in the apostles, giving them the strength to face the cross.

Ultimately, faith in Christ and his own transfiguration leads the Christian’s life to be transfigured.

“He is the only voice to listen to, the only one to follow,” Benedict said in a February 2010 Angelus address. “He that, going up towards Jerusalem, will give his life and one day ‘will transfigure our lowly body to conform with his glorified body.’”

As Pope Francis said at an Angelus address on March 1, 2015, speaking about the Transfiguration: “The way of Jesus always leads us to happiness; do not forget it!”

On this year’s feast of the Transfiguration, Pope Leo XIV was in Assisi, Italy, with thousands of young people from across Europe who gathered for GO!, the 2026 Franciscan Youth Meeting.

In his homily at Mass in the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels on Aug. 6, Leo said Jesus was “transfigured precisely in conversation with the Father, with those who preceded him — Moses and Elijah — and with his contemporaries, the disciples.” He went on to say that the Church exists “to draw us into this dynamic of listening and deciding, helping us understand for whom to live and how to live.”

This story was first published on Aug. 6, 2021, and has been updated.

As announced by the Vatican City State Governorate on July 30, these coins are part of a new Vatican euro collector coin set honoring the new pontificate. This also marks the first time since 2014 that the papal image has appeared on the coins, following Pope Francis’ personal request that his face not be used.

Except for the 5-euro coin, the Vatican coins can be used to buy things in the 21 European Union member states that have adopted the euro as their common currency.

A unique design in the history of Vatican coin-making

Although these new coins with Leo are not the first to feature the pope’s face, they are part of an entirely unique design.

Leo’s coat of arms appears on the 1-cent, 2-cent, and 5-cent euro coins, while his face appears on the larger denominations.

The pope’s image has appeared on minted coins since the Middle Ages, when pontiffs held temporal power over the Papal States. Shortly after the establishment of Vatican City in 1929, the sovereign state issued lira coins (the Italian currency before the euro) bearing the papal image. The Vatican stopped making lira coins after it adopted the euro in 2001.

According to the European Central Bank, the first Vatican coins for the euro were issued in 2002 with the face of St. John Paul II. From 2006–2013, another set of coins was issued with the face of Pope Benedict XVI.

The coins featuring Francis in 2014 were the last until Leo to feature the pope’s face.

Francis’ refusal to be depicted on Vatican coins

For the 2017 issue of Vatican coins, Francis personally requested that his face not be used. Instead, they featured his coat of arms.

In a 2017 interview for Radio Vaticana, Mauro Olivieri, the then-director of the Philatelic and Numismatic Office for Vatican City State, explained the difficulties in accommodating his request.

“[Francis] asked that he no longer appear on coins, medals in general — and especially on those issued by his state — and we did everything we could to accommodate him,” Olivieri said. “We succeeded, despite some difficulties with the EU authorities, which were later resolved, and so the 2017 coinage features the popeʼs coat of arms.”

The newest Vatican coins can be purchased for 59 euros through the Vatican’s Philatelic and Numismatic Office, responsible for its coins and stamps.

The new Fundamental Law of Vatican City State, promulgated by Pope Leo and already in effect, represents considerably more than an update to the legal framework approved by Pope Francis in 2023.

Unlike the previous law, the new text makes a significant change to the way the foundation of the pontiff’s authority over the Vatican city-state is understood.

The constitution promulgated by Pope Francis stated that the pope exercised sovereign powers over Vatican City “by virtue of the Petrine office,” an expression referring to his sacred mission as the successor of St. Peter to guide, safeguard, and maintain the unity of the Church.

In practice, the formulation linked the pope’s temporal authority to his status as the successor of the apostle to whom Christ entrusted the keys of the Church.

“Francis introduced an anomaly that asserted that his powers as head of state derived from being the successor of Peter,” historian of Christianity Giovanni Maria Vian told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.

Vian, a former editor of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano and a professor of patristic philology at Rome’s Sapienza University, said the formulation represented a completely unprecedented innovation.

“It made his authority over Vatican City State derive directly from his status as Peter’s successor,” he said. “It was a theocratic arrangement without precedent in the very long history of the Apostolic See.”

Vian said Pope Leo, who is trained in both civil and canon law, appears to have decided to correct that innovation and return to the approach followed by the two previous Vatican constitutions, promulgated in 1929 and 2000.

“That assertion was neither adequate, correct, nor precise from a theological and historical point of view. That is why it was removed,” said Father Roberto Regoli, an expert in ecclesiastical history and diplomacy from the 19th to the 21st centuries and president of the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation.

“This omission is very important because the concept was unnecessary and, moreover, inappropriate,” he said.

4 constitutions for Vatican City State

The new law, dated July 31, completely replaces the constitution promulgated by Pope Francis on May 13, 2023. It is the fourth Fundamental Law in the history of Vatican City State.

The first was promulgated by Pope Pius XI on June 7, 1929, a few months after the signing of the Lateran Pacts and the creation of the new state. The law was drafted by Jewish jurist Federico Cammeo.

The second was the reform approved by St. John Paul II in 2000. The third was promulgated by Pope Francis in 2023.

Now, just three years later, Pope Leo has approved the Vatican’s fourth constitution.

The most significant change is found in the preamble. The new text recalls that Vatican City State was created through the Lateran Treaty to guarantee the Holy See absolute and visible independence and to ensure its sovereignty in the international sphere.

According to Vian, the difference between the two constitutions is substantial.

“One cannot maintain that Peter possessed temporal power or that his successors received it directly from him,” he said.

The historian noted that the temporal power of the popes emerged centuries after the apostolic era.

“That did not occur until the beginning of the Middle Ages,” he said. “The Papal States began to take shape around the middle of the eighth century.”

From that perspective, Vian said the formulation introduced by Pope Francis was historically difficult to sustain.

“It was probably the result of a mentality connected to his Jesuit background, obedience to the pope, and also the legal advice he received,” he said. “But from a historical and ecclesiological point of view, it was an anomaly.”

Regoli likewise said Pope Leo has restored the traditional formulation.

“Temporal power is at the service of spiritual power, nothing more,” he said. “Temporal power cannot be divinized or placed on the same level as spiritual ministry.”

A more traditional understanding of the Petrine ministry

Both experts said Pope Leo’s decision reflects a more traditional understanding of the Petrine ministry.

“He understands it in continuity with the tradition of his predecessors,” Vian said.

The Italian historian noted that the popes’ temporal power developed between the eighth and 19th centuries, over the course of more than a millennium, without deriving directly from the apostolic primacy of St. Peter.

Vian also said it was necessary to place the creation of Vatican City State in its historical context.

Following the French Revolution, the Papal States were abolished on several occasions: in 1798, with the establishment of the French-backed First Roman Republic; in 1809, during the Napoleonic occupation; in 1849, with the Second Roman Republic; and finally in 1870, when Italian troops took Rome and brought the temporal power of the popes to an end.

The events opened what became known as the “Roman Question.” For nearly 60 years, the pontiffs refused to recognize the new situation created by the Italian state. As a gesture of protest, they ceased appearing at the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to impart public blessings.

The crisis was resolved in 1929 with the signing of the Lateran Pacts between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy. The agreements included an international treaty, a financial convention, and a concordat.

The treaty created Vatican City State as a sovereign territory intended to guarantee the independence of the Holy See.

The new constitution preserves the traditional principle that the pope possesses the fullness of power within Vatican City State.

Article 1 states: “The Supreme Pontiff, sovereign of Vatican City State, possesses the fullness of governing authority, which includes legislative, executive, and judicial power.”

The wording is nearly identical to that used by Pope Pius XI in 1929.

A new legal framework

Another significant change introduced by Pope Leo provides a legal basis for a situation that arose during Pope Francis’ pontificate.

The new Fundamental Law incorporates a November 2025 motu proprio allowing the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State to be held by someone other than a cardinal.

The reform addresses the case of Sister Raffaella Petrini, whom Pope Francis appointed to lead the Governorate of Vatican City State even though the legislation then in force stipulated that the position was to be held by a cardinal.

The appointment prompted criticism because of the discrepancy between the law and the institutional reality.

According to Regoli, the new constitution formalizes a correction Pope Leo had already introduced in 2025.

“The previous constitution established that the president had to be a cardinal; however, the president was Sister Petrini,” he said. “There was therefore an inconsistency between the law and reality. The pope intervened in 2025, and now, with the new 2026 constitution, that change has been fully incorporated into the legislation.”

The legal change means that “in addition to Sister Petrini, any other woman or man, including a layperson, may hold that office,” Regoli said.

“This is because Vatican City State, since it is not directly connected to theological or sacramental matters, does not necessarily require its governor to be a cardinal, bishop, or cleric,” he explained.

Membership in the College of Cardinals is therefore not an indispensable requirement, he said, because the position is not connected to the sacrament of holy orders.

The new Fundamental Law not only returns the Vatican constitution to the legal tradition of 1929 and 2000 but also regularizes several institutional reforms introduced in recent years.

Both experts agreed, however, that the most important change remains the redefinition of the origin of the pope’s temporal authority, an issue they consider essential to understanding the nature of the world’s smallest state.

“Pope Leo XIV has repaired an unprecedented break and returned to the original spirit in which Vatican City State was created,” Vian concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The pope celebrated Mass on Thursday at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels before the Portiuncula, the small chapel closely associated with the life and vocation of St. Francis.

Addressing approximately 2,500 participants in the GO! Franciscan Youth Meeting on the feast of the Transfiguration, Pope Leo said Assisi has long drawn pilgrims because “everything whispers that our lives can take on a new form, radiate light, and heal the world.”

“It was here that the transformation of Francis, Clare, and then thousands of other young people began,” he said. “They embraced the Gospel ‘sine glossa’ — we could say, in its simplicity — then the life of Jesus began anew within them.”

Reflecting on the Gospel account of the Transfiguration, the pope said the young pilgrims had come to Assisi in search of direction and meaning.

“We have come here to understand where history is heading and where we ourselves are going,” he said. “In the Gospel, we see that meaning can indeed be found, that a path can be glimpsed. Like Peter, James, and John, we too have been brought a little aside, and Jesus is with us. What matters is his presence.”

“Now, in Jesus’ transfiguration, God himself reveals his glory, which takes the form of a cloud that protects and envelops. He points to his Son and invites us to listen to him. The path of life is discovered by following him together.”

Pope Leo told the young people that their days of prayer, meetings, and conversation in Assisi offered evidence that they were not alone.

“We are not alone! In recent days you have experienced this, since you have met and listened to one another, moving beyond the clamor of overlapping and conflicting voices to the art of conversation,” he said.

“Today, we contemplate Jesus, who is transfigured precisely in conversation with the Father, with those who preceded him — Moses and Elijah — and with his contemporaries, the disciples.”

The Church, the pope continued, exists to draw people into “this dynamic of listening and decision-making,” helping them understand “for whom we are to live and how we are to live.”

He highlighted the Franciscan tradition’s emphasis on restoring relationships damaged by sin, division, and exploitation.

“Franciscan spirituality, in which you have been formed, is among the most attentive to restoring fundamental relationships with God and with all his creatures,” he said. “Today, more than ever, this is a harmony that needs to be safeguarded and cultivated.”

Pope Leo said St. Francis continues to attract people eight centuries after his death because of the profound humanity that led him to abandon familiar paths and follow Christ in a new and radical way.

“Dear friends, the reason why St. Francis still draws us to himself, even 800 years after his death, lies in the grandeur of humanity that led him to abandon familiar ways in order to find a new path that is more consistent with that of Jesus,” he said.

“Even in a town that had been Christian for centuries, such as Assisi, this seemed revolutionary.”

The pope then issued a direct appeal to the young people gathered before the Portiuncula.

“Well then, dear young people, today Europe and the whole world are looking to you to be new saints,” he said. “Dare to believe in the word of the Gospel; become fully human with the freedom of Jesus Christ; embrace Sister Poverty!”

The name of the youth gathering, he said, was itself a missionary command.

“The title of your gathering, GO!, is a mission, a sending forth onto paths for which we have no maps, because they are opened by listening to the heart, obeying the Holy Spirit, and following the Risen One wherever he has chosen to go before us,” Pope Leo said.

“Go! Go! Better yet: Let us go! Let’s go to the margins, where the injustice and arrogance of a few deny the dignity and dreams of many, of far too many sons and daughters of God.”

Following Christ may bring misunderstanding, including from one’s own family or community, the pope cautioned. He insisted, however, that opposing injustice and division does not mean betraying one’s roots.

“We may not be understood, even by those closest to us, as happened to St. Francis,” he said.

“Yet, breaking free from the culture of power, and tearing down the walls that separate human beings from one another, is never a betrayal of our families, towns, or traditions. Instead, it means freeing them from their ghosts, from enemies invented out of fear or ignorance and from the violence with which people seek to impose their own limited order on a reality that surpasses us on every side.”

“To trust in God is to rediscover, like Francis and Clare, a world of brothers and sisters to cherish and serve, not to exploit and dominate,” he continued. “Not a world to defend, but to embrace.”

Concluding his homily, Pope Leo encouraged the young participants to place every aspect of their lives at the service of what he called the “civilization of love.”

“Unite the best energies of your magnificent humanity: your studies, skills, work, friendships, love, and prayer, so that you can bring St. Francis’ vision to life in many different ways,” he said.

The pope then recited the prayer commonly attributed to St. Francis, beginning: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”

At the conclusion of the Mass, Francesco Varone addressed Pope Leo on behalf of the young participants.

“During these days, we have prayed, listened to testimonies, formed friendships, and allowed ourselves to be challenged by the Gospel and by the witness of St. Francis, who right here at the Portiuncula learned to make his life a total response to God’s love,” Varone said.

“Today, all of this has found fulfillment in your presence. Holy Father, we young people need authentic witnesses, men capable of pointing us to Christ with their lives, not only with words.”

“Your voice encourages us not to be afraid to choose the good and to believe that the Gospel can still change the human heart,” he continued. “Thank you, Holy Father, because today you make us feel that we are Church. Thank you for being here in Assisi, in Mary’s house; thank you for being among your young people.”

Following the celebration, Pope Leo entered the Portiuncula for a period of silent prayer, greeted the faithful, and then departed for the Vatican.

This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The pope spoke Aug. 6 at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels during the GO! Franciscan Youth Meeting 2026, a gathering of young people ages 18 to 33 from throughout Europe and from countries including the United States, Vietnam, and South Sudan.

The event formed part of celebrations marking the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi.

In 1221, St. Francis gathered approximately 5,000 friars from across Europe near the Portiuncula for what became known as the Chapter of Mats. With nowhere else to stay, the friars slept on simple mats — an image Pope Leo XIV invoked in his remarks to the young participants, many of whom had spent the gathering sleeping in bags.

The pope arrived by helicopter at approximately 8:28 a.m. near St. Mary of the Angels. He was welcomed by Bishop Felice Accrocca of Assisi and local civil authorities before traveling to the basilica, where he was received by the ministers general of the principal Franciscan orders.

According to Father Alfio Vespoli, Pope Leo XIV personally chose the youth gathering from among the many events planned for the Franciscan centenary year.

Father Marco Vianelli, provincial minister of the Friars Minor of Umbria and Sardinia, welcomed the pope and recalled the importance of the Portiuncula in Franciscan history.

“Your Holiness, here at the Portiuncula St. Francis understood his vocation; here he welcomed his first brothers; here St. Clare consecrated her life to the Lord; here the indulgence of the Pardon of Assisi blossomed, a sign of God’s boundless mercy,” Vianelli said.

“Here, on Oct. 3, 1226, naked on the bare earth, he welcomed Sister Death in song,” the friar continued. “We thank you for accepting our invitation and for wanting to meet these young people.”

Becoming artisans of peace

The first question came from Karolina, a young woman from Zagreb, Croatia, who described the challenge of witnessing to the faith in a rapidly changing society.

“Today, however, we live in a rapidly changing world, where many young people struggle to find points of reference, to build authentic relationships and open their hearts to God,” she said. “We too want to be credible witnesses to the Gospel wherever we live, study, and work, and to bring the light of Christ with the simplicity and fraternal spirit of St. Francis.”

She asked the pope what advice he would give young people formed in the Franciscan spiritual tradition so that they could remain faithful disciples of Christ and bring hope to their peers without losing the joy and simplicity of the Gospel.

Pope Leo XIV noted that Karolina came from a part of Europe that was marked by war only three decades ago and praised the Franciscans’ history of promoting dialogue and peaceful coexistence among Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Muslims.

“Increasingly, Christians will be called to become artisans of peace within societies that are tempted to place religion at the service of competing identities,” the pope said.

“Being witnesses to Christ, therefore, is both captivating and demanding. It enlarges our minds and hearts, freeing us from artificial boundaries, from the fears created by misinformation, and from walls built by prejudice,” he continued. “Rejecting the culture of power and building a civilization of love are choices that are not immediately understood or accepted.”

The pope encouraged the young people to learn from St. Francis a radical commitment to the Gospel that should never be confused with fundamentalism.

“St. Francis, however, teaches that radicalism of the Gospel is the very opposite of fundamentalism,” he said. “It does not make us blind or violent; instead, it makes us aware, attentive, and always eager to follow Jesus, and therefore humble and welcoming toward everyone. It is not an easy path, but it brings much joy.”

Pope Leo XIV then asked the participants to imagine the site eight centuries earlier, when young friars from across Europe gathered around St. Francis.

Citing “The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi,” the pope described the friars gathered “company by company, here 40, there a hundred, and there 80 together, all employed in speaking of God, in prayers, in tears, and in exercises of charity, behaving themselves with so great silence and with such sobriety that no clamor was heard there.”

“That silence stands in stark contrast to war, with its violence, clamor, and cruelty,” he said. “The simple mats on which those friars slept speak to us of peace — just like your sleeping bags today. This is the Church: an assembly of brothers and sisters to which everyone is invited.”

The pope also encouraged the young people to bear witness through personal encounters at a time when technology is making face-to-face relationships less common.

“More than words, it is this joy that evangelizes, and it cannot be hidden,” he said.

The courage to choose forever

Giovanni, a 27-year-old from Bologna, Italy, asked about discerning and remaining faithful to a vocation in a culture dominated by temporary commitments.

“How can we say a full and courageous ‘yes’ to him, without ‘putting our hand to the plough and looking back,’ by dwelling too much on the hardships and sacrifices that the journey may entail?” he asked. “What helped you most on your own vocational journey?”

Pope Leo XIV said contemporary misunderstandings of freedom can lead people to believe that no decision is truly permanent because both individuals and the world around them are constantly changing.

“In such a context, the courage to make a definitive choice may well be the most revolutionary act of all,” he said.

A permanent choice, the pope continued, “does not imprison us within a cage; rather, it opens us to a greater dynamism.”

“To love is an exodus,” he said. “It is a path to be discovered, a journey that God himself walks with us. This is the meaning of every vocation.”

Faith, trust, and faithfulness are inseparably connected, the pope said, warning that people cannot solve their problems simply by fleeing commitments or moving continually from one experience to another.

“We may multiply our experiences, our acquaintances, and our possessions yet remain in exactly the same place,” he said. “The human cost is immense, and the inner emptiness that follows is profound.”

Reflecting on his own vocation, Pope Leo XIV said God had always accompanied him through the people placed beside him.

“Looking back on my own life, I can say that the Lord has never left me alone,” he said. “He has always accompanied me, often by placing people beside me with whom I could share the journey.”

The pope said the light that guided him as a priest, an Augustinian, and a missionary remained with him when he was called to accept the unique vocation of serving as pope.

Rebuilding a wounded Church

The final question was posed by Luigi, a 22-year-old from Paternò, Sicily, who spoke on behalf of the Franciscan Youth of Sicily.

Luigi recalled that St. Francis remained obedient to the pope and the Roman Church despite the contradictions and difficulties of his time. Rather than attacking or judging the Church, Francis responded through compassion, obedience, and reparative love, he said.

“Today many young people say that they ‘believe, but not in the Church,’” Luigi said. “Even within our own communities we sometimes see a Church marked by contradictions and internal crises.”

“How can we remain faithful to this reparative love?” he asked. “Why is it so difficult today to see the Church as a mother who, despite her wounds, is always ready to welcome us and to love us?”

Pope Leo XIV acknowledged that many people throughout history have struggled to experience the Church as Christ desires her to be.

“This causes deep suffering; it leaves wounds and disappointments, and for some it even becomes an obstacle to faith,” he said.

Yet the Church continues to bring together men and women who otherwise might never have met, the pope said. Whenever people overcome discrimination and inequality by recognizing one another as brothers and sisters, the miracle desired by Christ is renewed.

“The word of God, the sacraments, and the practice of fraternal love are the means by which the image of Christ is formed within us,” Pope Leo XIV said.

“Francis walked this path: not to dominate, but to serve; not to grasp, but to receive; not to withhold, but to give back,” he continued. “This is the very life of God, which continually renews the Church and makes her a free people, a place of refreshment and salvation.”

Each Christian has a role in the continuing work of rebuilding the Church, the pope said, through different vocations and responsibilities undertaken together.

“Then we shall speak of the Church with the affection one has for a mother, because we shall know that we belong to her,” he said.

After the public exchange, the pope greeted representatives of the Franciscan orders, bishops attending the gathering, and members of the national committee responsible for the eighth centenary of St. Francis’ death. He later celebrated Mass in the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels.

Father Luca De Pasquale, one of the organizers, told ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News, that the gathering was not intended to create a temporary spiritual high in which the young people merely enjoyed spending several days together.

Its central objective, he said, was to prepare a “missionary charter” offering concrete guidance to help participants return home and place the Gospel and fraternity at the center of their daily lives.

This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

As reported by the Vatican on Aug. 5, the pontiff accepted the invitation of the heads of state and ecclesiastical authorities of the three countries to carry out the pastoral visit, which will include several emblematic cities of each nation.

The first stage of the trip will take place in Uruguay, where Leo XIV will stay from Nov. 6–8. During those days he will visit the cities of Montevideo, Paysandú, and Florida.

Subsequently the Holy Father will travel to Argentina, where he will visit from Nov. 8–11. The itinerary includes visits to Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and the Marian sanctuary of Our Lady of Luján, one of the main pilgrimage centers in the country.

The last portion of the trip will take place in Peru, from Nov. 11–17. In that country, in which the pope has had citizenship since 2015, he will travel to Lima, Chiclayo, Cuzco, and Pucallpa on an itinerary that will take him both to the coast and to the mountains and the Peruvian Amazon.

The Holy See said it would release a more detailed itinerary in the near future.

The visit will have a special meaning for Peru, a country where Leo XIV did extensive pastoral and missionary work for years.

The pope, then-Father Robert Prevost, lived in Peru for more than two decades in total. He arrived in the country in 1985. His first destination was Chulucanas, but it was in Trujillo and Chiclayo where his pastoral dedication took deep roots.

In 2015, already a nationalized Peruvian, he was appointed bishop of Chiclayo, where he exercised a close and committed leadership. He was there until January 2023 when he was appointed by Pope Francis as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.

“In our time, in contexts dominated by an efficiency-driven and consumerist mindset, prayer may seem pointless and trivial,” the pope said during his Aug. 5 general audience.

“In a world where science and technology claim to provide all the answers, praying may appear to be a form of escapism,” he continued.

Leo resumed his weekly public audience after suspending most of his official schedule during the traditional July summer break. Because of Rome’s high summer temperatures, the audience was held inside St. Peter’s Basilica.

Continuing his catechetical series on the Second Vatican Council, the pope focused on the ecclesial dimension of liturgical prayer as presented in the conciliar constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium.

He warned that prayer is increasingly misunderstood, including within Christian homes.

“Furthermore, even in many Christian families, the tradition of prayer is no longer passed on, whilst many people risk confusing it with just another technique, of a psychological nature aimed at personal well-being,” he said.

“Prayer, however, as a fundamental dimension of our humanity, is worth rediscovering in its true form.”

Leo said Sacrosanctum Concilium took this need seriously. He recalled the words of St. Paul VI when the constitution became the first document promulgated by the Second Vatican Council on Dec. 4, 1963.

“God comes first; prayer is our primary duty; the liturgy is the primary source of the divine life communicated to us, the primary school of our spiritual life,” Paul VI said at the time.

Leo explained that the word “prayer” in the constitution refers to the liturgy as a whole. This understanding, he said, proved decisive in guiding the liturgical reform and placing the active participation of the faithful at its center.

“The liturgy is presented first and foremost as the place of encounter, of God’s initiative in drawing near to humanity in his Son, ‘the Word made flesh, anointed by the Holy Spirit,’” the pope said.

The faithful respond “through Christ, with Christ and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,” he continued, through “the very prayer which Christ himself, together with his body, addresses to the Father.”

The importance of the Liturgy of the Hours

Leo recalled Paul VI’s desire that the Liturgy of the Hours — the Church’s daily public prayer, which is inseparable from the Eucharist — would permeate, enliven, and guide all Christian prayer.

“For this desire to be fulfilled, the Liturgy of the Hours needs to be more fully embraced and lived out in the daily lives of the baptized and of the communities,” Leo said.

The pope described the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours as “the breath of the life of the Church,” through which the Holy Spirit circulates throughout the body of Christ.

He said the Liturgy of the Hours sanctifies the different moments of ordinary life.

“Bound to the Eucharist, whose light it prolongs, the Liturgy of the Hours sanctifies the time of our daily lives: In the morning, we begin the day with faith and gratitude; at midday, we ask for the strength to remain faithful amidst our labors; in the evening, once our work is done, vespers accompany the moment of sunset; at night, we fall asleep entrusting ourselves to God’s peace,” he said.

“Each hour is an act of hope: During our earthly pilgrimage, we keep watch, awaiting with the whole Church the glorious return of the Lord.”

The Liturgy of the Hours can also serve as a practical school for those learning how to pray, the pope said, particularly people preparing to enter the Catholic Church.

“To the many people who wish to learn to pray, especially catechumens, it can offer the path and the school of Christian prayer,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The event is proceeding normally, despite the grave act of vandalism that took place on July 28 at the Parish of St. James the Apostle, where the outdoor altar used for celebrations was set on fire and a statue of the Virgin Mary was found defaced with offensive graffiti.

In his message, read by the apostolic visitor for the parish of Medjugorje, Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, shortly before the opening Mass presided over by the apostolic nuncio to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, Archbishop Francis Assisi Chullikatt, the pontiff invited participants to return to the source of true joy, following this yearʼs motto: “Ad fontem! To the source!”

Addressing participants from 73 countries, the pope warned against the false promises offered by the contemporary world. “Promises of easy and immediate happiness are alluring, but they often vanish without a trace,” the pope noted, while reminding them that the deepest questions of the human heart — and the longing for lasting joy — endure.

The Holy Father emphasized that these very yearnings can become an opportunity for growth in faith when they lead to the “beauty of a personal encounter with the Lord, who satisfies every heart and gives the strength to always begin anew.”

For that reason, he encouraged the participants to turn to Christ — the “source of new life and authentic joy” — through prayer, listening to the word of God, and receiving the sacraments.

Likewise, the pontiff encouraged the young people to sincerely seek “the truth that sets us free,” without “letting yourselves be captivated by fleeting happiness.”

He concluded his exhortation by inviting them to let themselves be guided by the Holy Spirit and to trust in the intercession of the Virgin Mary, so as to become “luminous witnesses of the Gospel, promoters of fraternity, and builders of peace in society.”

Mladifest has been held annually in Medjugorje since 1989, bringing together tens of thousands of young people from around the world.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The message was shown as part of the July 30–Aug. 2 event, held in Chulucanas, a town in the Piura region, that brought together thousands of young people from throughout the country.

Chulucanas is the site of then-Father Robert Prevost’s first missionary assignment in northern Peru in 1985, when the man who would become pope — and who has held Peruvian citizenship since 2015 — arrived as an Augustinian missionary in this region entrusted to his order.

In his message, the pope thanked the country’s young people “from the heart, for having responded to this initiative, which renews and strengthens the life of the Church.”

“The motto bringing you together for this gathering is: ‘Be brave, Christ lives.’ It is precisely the certainty of the Lord’s living presence in our midst that is the inner fire driving us to be brave and to step out of the comfort of individualism — to become part of a community of brothers and sisters in faith, to forge true bonds of friendship, and thus bear witness that it is possible to live united in Christ,” Pope Leo declared.

“I invite you to open your hearts wide to welcome the gifts the Lord wishes to pour out upon you,” the Holy Father continued in his message.

“And do not keep what you experience during this event just for yourselves — do not let it remain only in photos on your phones or videos on social media; share it, reflect it in your lives, because today many people need that joyful and contagious witness that a young person in love with Christ can convey,” Leo encouraged.

“Do not be afraid to be God’s instruments in rekindling hope for so many — for so many suffering hearts,” he emphasized.

In closing, the pope entrusted the young people to “the maternal intercession of Our Lady of Evangelization. May she intercede for you, so that you may be Christ’s ‘salt and light’ in this beloved Peruvian land. May God bless you!”

Highly anticipated papal visit

Peruvians are preparing to welcome the Holy Father this November to the country where he served as bishop of Chiclayo and apostolic administrator of Callao, prior to his tenure as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops at the Vatican.

Although the Vatican has not yet officially confirmed it, the cities Pope Leo is expected to visit in Peru include Lima, Chiclayo, Piura, Cusco, and Pucallpa as part of a trip that is also expected to include stops in Argentina and Uruguay.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate announced the appointment in a statement published on the order’s official Facebook page. The appointment was also confirmed to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, although it has not yet been officially announced by the Vatican.

“We are pleased to announce that the Holy See has appointed Msgr. Mario León Dorado, OMI, apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Rabat, Morocco,” the Oblates said.

The statement said the Spanish priest would carry out the responsibility “in communion with the Holy See and at its discretion” and invited the faithful to accompany him with their prayers in his new mission.

ACI Prensa obtained a copy of the decree sent by the apostolic nunciature in Morocco communicating the decision. The letter was signed by Archbishop Alfred Xuereb, the apostolic nuncio, and dated Aug. 1.

An apostolic administrator “sede plena” is appointed when the diocesan bishop remains in office but is temporarily unable to exercise pastoral governance. In such circumstances, the Holy See entrusts the ordinary administration of the diocese to another bishop or priest until the situation that prompted the measure is resolved.

The Archdiocese of Rabat covers much of Morocco and is one of the Catholic Church’s principal jurisdictions in the country.

Preliminary investigation underway

The appointment follows López Romero’s announcement in early July that he would temporarily withdraw from all public and pastoral activity while the Church conducts a preliminary investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct involving adult women.

The cardinal defended his innocence in a brief statement released at the time by the Spanish news agency EFE.

“I have not committed any assault, violence, or sexual harassment,” he said.

López Romero informed the diocesan community of his decision in a message issued at the end of the pastoral year. He said the Church had opened a preliminary investigation into the complaints and that the case was in the hands of the appropriate Holy See authorities.

“I am accused of inappropriate conduct toward adult women,” the archbishop said, adding that he was cooperating fully with the ecclesiastical process.

The cardinal said he would refrain from presiding at public celebrations or taking part in pastoral activities while the investigation is underway.

“During this period of investigation, and so as not to hinder it, I am going to take a step back, refraining from presiding at any public celebration and from participating in any pastoral activity, as you will undoubtedly understand,” he said in the statement obtained by ACI Prensa.

Who is Mario León Dorado?

León Dorado, who is also Spanish, belongs to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and currently serves as apostolic prefect of Western Sahara. According to information released by the archdiocese, he has carried out his ministry in the region for nearly 25 years.

He discerned a missionary vocation at a young age and professed religious vows on Sept. 15, 1996. He was ordained a priest on June 2, 2001, and began his pastoral ministry in the Spanish province of Jaén, where he served for three years while retaining his desire to minister in an Arab cultural setting.

That interest was strengthened by a visit to the Sahara during his formation, an experience that profoundly shaped his vocation and ultimately directed his pastoral and missionary work toward North Africa.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The Vatican published a video message from Leo for Ecuador’s seventh National Youth Day on Aug. 2, the final day of the event that began on July 31 in Ibarra. In the message, the pope greeted those present and urged them to listen to Christ’s call for their lives.

“I encourage you to listen to the Lordʼs call and to follow him with determination,” the pope said in his message. “An encounter with Jesus Christ fills the heart with joy and gives us the strength to be witnesses of his love and his mercy.”

Leo also asked them to allow themselves to be transformed by Christ’s love and to work for peace in today’s world.

“Allow yourselves to be transformed by his love and be promoters of forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace.”

“The Church needs your joy, your courage, and your witness so that many others may come to know Christ,” Leo added.

The National Youth Day in Ecuador (“Jornada Nacional de la Juventud”) is the country’s own adaptation of World Youth Day, gathering dioceses nationwide for catechesis, worship, and fellowship. The motto for this year’s gathering is drawn from John 16:33: “Take courage; I have conquered the world.”

Amid a rise in homicides nationwide, the Ecuadorian bishops renewed the country’s consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June. In 1874, Ecuador became the first country to be officially consecrated to the Sacred Heart.

“I am following with concern the alarming situation in Ceuta, praying to God that, through the intercession of Our Lady of Africa, solutions may be found to bring peace, stability, and justice,” the pope said after leading the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square on Aug. 2.

His remarks followed the arrival of an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 people from Morocco on July 30, many of whom attempted to reach Spanish territory by swimming around the border barriers.

According to figures provided by Spanish authorities, at least 67 people died, most of them by drowning. The influx overwhelmed the autonomous city’s capacity to respond and prompted authorities to install additional barriers near the El Tarajal border crossing.

The pope also renewed his appeal for an end to armed conflicts around the world.

“Let us continue to pray for peace, that wars may cease throughout the world and diplomatic solutions to conflicts may be found,” he said.

“Let us remember all the victims of hostilities, especially the weakest and most defenseless: children, the elderly, and the sick,” he continued. “May the Lord comfort those who suffer and bless the work of those who bring aid and consolation.”

Pope Leo also recalled the Pardon of Assisi, the plenary indulgence traditionally associated with the Portiuncola chapel in Assisi, Italy.

“St. Francis obtained this indulgence from Pope Honorius III in 1216, having been inspired — while praying at the Porziuncola — by a vision of Jesus and Mary surrounded by angels,” he said.

“Let us thank the Lord for this great gift and treasure it, especially in this eighth centenary year of the Transitus of the Poor Man of Assisi, who died at the Portiuncola on 3 October 1226.”

Earlier, in his reflection before the Angelus, Pope Leo encouraged Catholics to rediscover the practice of blessing meals as a simple public witness to faith and a way of bringing the beauty of the Eucharist into everyday life.

“As we savor the grace of the Eucharist, let us commit ourselves to bearing witness to its beauty in our daily actions, beginning with blessing meals at the table with family and friends,” he said.

The pope reflected on the Gospel account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, explaining that Christ’s miracles reveal both his care for humanity and the salvation he offers to the world.

“When we listen to the Gospel, we frequently hear that Jesus performed signs, which are acts that reveal his special dedication to us and the salvation that he brings to the world,” he said. “The Lord is presented as the One who gives meaning to our lives, freeing us from evil and sin.”

Pope Leo said Christ’s healing miracles were not merely extraordinary acts but signs that the kingdom of God was near.

“By restoring sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, Christ is doing more than merely performing miraculous deeds; he is proclaiming to all that the kingdom of God is near,” he said.

The Gospel, he continued, shows that Christ not only restores the senses but also fills them with good things, giving food to the hungry as well as sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf.

“The account of the multiplication of the loaves shows us that the encounter with the Lord is a nourishing experience,” he said. “In the desert, that is, when we are in need, Christ is the bread of life.”

The 12 baskets of food left over after the crowd had eaten, the pope explained, signify both the universal character of God’s gift and the constancy of his providential care.

“Christ truly satisfies humanity’s hunger, our hunger for truth and life,” he said. “His gesture teaches us that nothing is discarded when it is shared.”

Pope Leo contrasted that spirit of generosity with a culture driven by accumulation and waste.

“Hoarding and waste, on the contrary, are two sides of the same evil: greed,” he said.

He described greed as a spiritual sickness that dulls the senses and makes people indifferent to the suffering of others.

“This spiritual sickness numbs the senses, which become intoxicated with wealth, to the point of making people forget those who weep from hunger and cry out from thirst,” he said.

“And so, in the face of an opulence that reeks of decay, we find the outstretched hands of those who have no nourishment, the burned homes of those who have no peace.”

Against the “deserts of war and arrogance,” the pope invited Christians to contemplate the actions of Jesus during the multiplication of the loaves: looking to heaven, blessing the bread, breaking it, and giving it to the disciples to distribute.

“In this miracle of charity, we recognize the characteristic actions of Jesus, which find their culmination in the Last Supper, for it was then that the Son of God gave us his very life as our brother in humanity,” he said.

The pope concluded by encouraging Catholics to make their summer vacations an opportunity for fraternity and service.

“In Jesus’ company, even vacations can become a time of fraternal serenity, if we reach out to our neighbors in need,” he said.

This story was first published in two parts by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated, combined, and adapted by EWTN News English.

“Roughly half of us live in cities. Jesus himself walked city streets, in Cana, in Jericho, in Jerusalem, and just as in those cities Christ is present in ours — teaching, praying, celebrating, but also suffering among the poor, the forgotten, the imprisoned," the Holy Father said in a video released July 31 on X.

He added: “This month, let us pray for the courage to recognize him [Jesus] there and through our work and witness to bring the Gospel to the streets and homes of our metropolises.”

In the full video shared on the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network website, Pope Leo recites an original prayer written specifically for this month’s prayer intention:

“Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd,

You walk through our streets and squares,

enter tall buildings and humble neighborhoods,

and silently accompany millions

who seek meaning amid noise and haste.

You know, Lord, the heart of the city:

its lights and shadows, its noise and loneliness.

We know that cities are called to be places of freedom and opportunity,

but they can also become spaces of anonymity and isolation.

That’s why today we ask you for a renewed gaze,

able to discover in urban life

fertile ground for proclaiming your Gospel.

Give us a creative and deep faith,

that doesn’t remain in words,

but becomes flesh through simple and loving gestures.

Make us a Church that goes forth,

able to reach out to the peripheries,

to console those who are lonely,

and to sow fraternity and connection instead of giving in to indifference.

Lord, may our urban communities

be open and welcoming homes,

places where hope is shared,

where no one feels invisible,

and where the joy of your Gospel shines

in the hidden lives of so many brothers and sisters.

Make us your witnesses in the city,

bold and creative missionaries,

who proclaim your love with their lives—

a love capable of overcoming haste, noise, and anonymity.

Amen.”

“Pray with the Pope” is accessible on the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network website and its digital platforms.

According to the annual report released on July 31 by the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), the profit increased by $102 million (89 million euros) compared with 2024. The profit was also mainly due to the revaluation of physical gold, the increase in the value of real estate, and the positive valuation of financial securities.

Speaking to Vatican Media, APSA President Archbishop Giordano Piccinotti said that comparing profits in 2024 and 2025 should be done with caution, as 2025 was marked by extraordinary income from the reorganization of financial flows, a situation he described as unrepeatable.

“APSA’s purpose is not to generate an annual profit, but rather to preserve and strengthen the patrimony entrusted to it,” he stated.

A profit driven by real estate

According to the 2025 report, real estate management was APSA’s main economic driver that year, with a profit of $51 million (44.5 million euros), an improvement of $10.8 million (9.4 million euros) over the $40.3 million (35.1 million euros) recorded in 2024.

This growth was driven by higher income from properties directly managed by APSA in Italy. APSA also manages approximately 1,200 properties abroad, including residential and commercial units, primarily in London, Paris, Geneva, and Lausanne, Switzerland.

APSA also made profits from its stakeholdings in several companies, including the Société Sopridex in France, the British Grolux Investments in the United Kingdom, and Profima S.A. in Switzerland.

Cardinal Becciu and the London property sale

For investments, APSA reported that it continues the financial and legal procedures for the divestment of the Luxembourg fund U.K. Opportunities (Sloane & Cadogan), in compliance with a 2020 motu proprio issued by Pope Francis to strengthen transparency and control of Vatican investments.

The fund is linked to the controversial real estate deal involving the Sloane Avenue building in London, which led to one of the Vatican’s biggest financial scandals in recent years. Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the former prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, was at the center of this scandal, and the Vatican sentenced him to five years and six months in prison.

Since his conviction in 2023, Becciu has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied any wrongdoing.

The Vatican court ordered a retrial of Becciu’s case on March 17 after the initial sentence was overturned due to a “relative nullity” caused by violations of the right to defense. On Sept. 30, the appeal process against Becciu and other defendants will resume.

Growth by gold, money in reserves, and supporting Roman Curia

The growth in assets was mainly driven by the revaluation of physical gold in the portfolio, which contributed $46.9 million (40.8 million euros), as well as by the increase in the value of real estate by $45.1 million (39.2 million euros) and the appreciation of financial securities by $18.8 million (16.3 million euros).

Financial management showed a negative accounting result of $4.3 million (3.7 million euros) in 2025, compared with a positive $43.8 million (38.1 million euros) in 2024. However, APSA explained that this figure is mainly due to the application of the new Holy See accounting standards, the Vatican Financial Management Policy.

In 2025, APSA allocated a total of $26.1 million (22.7 million euros) to cover the financial needs of the Roman Curia, fully complying with the contribution requested by the Holy See.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The meeting lasted about 40 minutes at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, according to Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, undersecretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, who shared details of the encounter on Instagram.

Smith wore a Tau cross, a symbol closely associated with the Franciscan order, during the audience.

The meeting also had a personal connection: Both the pontiff and the artist were born in Chicago, a detail highlighted by the Vatican when it reported on the encounter.

Known as the “godmother of punk,” the 79-year-old Smith has been a prominent figure in music, poetry, and the visual arts for five decades.

Her debut album, “Horses,” released in 1975, helped transform New York’s music scene by combining rock and poetry. Her best-known songs include “Because the Night,” which she co-wrote with Bruce Springsteen.

The audience took place amid the Holy See’s continuing dialogue with the cultural world.

On May 8, the first anniversary of Leo XIV’s election, Smith inaugurated the Holy See Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, which is scheduled to continue through Nov. 22.

For the exhibition, Smith and the artistic group Soundwalk Collective presented what organizers described as a “sound prayer.” The collective is a central collaborator in the project promoted by the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

Smith’s relationship with the Vatican extends across several pontificates. She met Pope Francis during his general audience on April 10, 2013, and performed for him at the Vatican the following year.

The Vatican did not disclose what Leo XIV and Smith discussed during their private conversation. Photographs released by Vatican Media showed the artist appearing visibly moved during the meeting.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The new laws, making up the Fundamental Law of Vatican City State, were published on July 31. They replace the 2023 constitution by Pope Francis, which emphasized papal authority over the sovereign state.

In an explanatory note, the Vatican said the new law responded to government and regulatory changes in recent years.

Non-cardinal eligibility for Vatican presidency enshrined in Fundamental Law

The most direct change in the 2026 law concerned the presidency and composition of the Vatican’s pontifical commission and governorate.

In 2025, Pope Francis appointed Sister Raffaella Petrini, FSE, as the first woman and first non-cardinal to serve as president of both the Pontifical Commission and the Governorate. Although the 2023 law already allowed non-cardinals to be members of the commission, its presidency had been reserved to a cardinal.

The Vatican subsequently said Francis had modified the Fundamental Law in connection with Petrini’s appointment. In November 2025, Leo XIV issued a motu proprio (a decree by the pope’s own initiative)  expressly providing that non-cardinals could serve as president. The 2026 constitution now incorporates that change into the state’s Fundamental Law.

Other changes

Other changes in Leo’s 2026 constitution included changes in the role of the general councilor. It allows for the general councilor to participate in commission meetings and provide consultation.

The 2026 law also specified the role of the secretary-general, who will implement the policies of the president.

Leo XIV’s new constitution is the fourth since the creation of Vatican City State in 1929. Following its Lateran Treaty with Italy that year, the first constitution was established and remained the law of the sovereign state until St. John Paul II replaced it in 2000.

Duan’s episcopal ordination was the second connected to appointments made public by the Vatican within the space of a week.

The pope also appointed Father Joseph Chang Yanfeng as the new bishop of Chifeng, another diocese in Inner Mongolia, on June 15. Chang was also ordained a bishop Wednesday, although the Vatican announced his appointment on July 22, while Duan’s appointment was made public this week.

The Holy See Press Office said Duan, 45, was appointed coadjutor bishop of Bameng after the Holy Father approved his candidacy through the procedures established by the Vatican-Beijing agreement governing the appointment of bishops in China.

Biography

Duan was born Dec. 6, 1980, in Hangjin Houqi, Inner Mongolia. He studied at the Hebei theological seminary from 2000 to 2007.

He later continued his academic studies at Peking University and Beijing Foreign Studies University between 2008 and 2013.

Duan was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Bameng on Jan. 1, 2011. He subsequently studied at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan from 2013 to 2016.

After returning to his diocese, he served as director of the local formation center from 2016 to 2020. He was later appointed vicar general of the Diocese of Bameng and pastor of the diocesan cathedral, positions he held until his episcopal appointment.

Duan’s ordination represents another step in cooperation between the Holy See and Chinese authorities over the filling of episcopal sees.

The bilateral agreement, first signed in 2018, regulates the process for selecting and recognizing Catholic bishops in China.

The Holy See and China have not maintained diplomatic relations since 1951, following the rise to power of Mao Zedong’s communist government. Chinese Catholics subsequently became divided between the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and an underground Catholic community that remained loyal to Rome.

The full text of the 2018 agreement has never been made public. It was renewed every two years until 2024, when the two sides extended it for four years, through 2028.

Under the publicly understood terms of the agreement, the pope retains the final decision on episcopal appointments in China and may reject candidates proposed by Beijing. The Holy See, for its part, agreed not to appoint bishops without the prior approval of the Chinese government.

Tensions during papal interregnum

During the period between the death of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo XIV, Chinese authorities unilaterally selected two bishops, including one for a diocese already led by a prelate recognized by the Vatican.

On April 28, 2025, Father Wu Jianlin was elected auxiliary bishop of Shanghai by Church organizations controlled by the Chinese state. The following day, Father Li Jianlin was selected as bishop of Xinxiang in Henan province.

Li’s selection caused controversy because the Holy See already recognized Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu as the legitimate bishop of the diocese.

Although the selections may have been planned before Francis’ death, their timing attracted the attention of observers.

AsiaNews reported that the decisions conveyed a clear message from the Chinese Communist Party: A vacant papal see would not affect the operation of the Catholic Church in China.

With Duan’s appointment and episcopal ordination, 16 Chinese Catholic bishops have now been ordained under the provisional agreement signed by China and the Holy See during the pontificate of Francis.

Chinese episcopal appointments under Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo XIV has closely followed the appointment and ordination of Chinese bishops. Drawing on his years of missionary and pastoral service, the pope has shown particular concern that Catholics in China be able to practice their faith in peace, proclaim the Gospel, and help heal divisions that remain within the local Church.

He has also emphasized the importance of safeguarding ecclesial communion and unity with the successor of Peter as the visible guarantee of communion between the bishops and the universal Church.

Since the beginning of his pontificate, Leo has advanced several episcopal appointments in China and entrusted new responsibilities to bishops who had already been ordained.

On June 11, 2025, the Vatican announced the civil recognition and installation of Bishop Joseph Lin Yuntuan as auxiliary bishop of Fuzhou in Fujian province. Pope Leo XIV had made the appointment on June 5. Lin welcomed the decision and expressed his willingness to cooperate in the diocese’s pastoral mission.

On July 8, 2025, Leo suppressed the Dioceses of Xuanhua and Xiwanzi, which Pope Pius XII had established in 1946, and created the new Diocese of Zhangjiakou as a suffragan see of Beijing.

Two months later, on Sept. 10, Father Joseph Wang Zhengui, whom the pope had appointed to lead the new diocese, received episcopal ordination.

Father Ignatius Wu Jianlin was ordained auxiliary bishop of Shanghai on Oct. 15, 2025, after Leo appointed him to the position on Aug. 11.

Father Francis Li Jianlin was ordained bishop of Xinxiang in Henan province on Dec. 5, 2025, after being appointed by the pope on Aug. 11.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

“We are absolutely sure that his possible visit would be a great input into the process of reaching peace there,” Ambassador Andrii Yurash said in an interview with “EWTN Noticias,” the Spanish-language broadcast edition of EWTN News.

He said the presence on Ukrainian soil of “probably the most respectable spiritual leader of the world,” carrying “a message of peace” and “a message of justice,” would be “the greatest input into this process.”

Yurash spoke after Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s secretary for relations with states and international organizations, said the Vatican was seriously considering the possibility of a papal visit to Ukraine.

Gallagher spent six days in the country last week. On July 20, he met in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who thanked the Holy See for its continued support for Ukraine amid the war with Russia.

“We continuously express our wish to have His Holiness as quick as possible in Ukraine,” Yurash said.

The diplomat said expectations among the Ukrainian population for a papal visit were extremely high.

“The pope is the most wanted foreign representative in Ukraine,” he said, adding that Ukrainians would like to receive and embrace him and “listen to his messages expressed directly on the Ukrainian land.”

Yurash said he was confident the pope understood those expectations.

“I hope he is thinking very seriously about that, and I hope he is looking for some really appropriate moment when it can be realized,” he said.

Repeated invitations

Pope Leo XIV has received several official invitations to visit Ukraine.

Yurash said the invitations had been extended at every level since Zelenskyy first met the pope on the day of his inauguration. The Ukrainian president and the pontiff have since held two other meetings, according to the ambassador.

The latest invitation came on Good Friday, when Zelenskyy formally asked Pope Leo XIV to make an apostolic visit to the country.

During the conversation, the pope expressed his closeness to Ukrainians suffering because of the war and emphasized the urgent need to guarantee humanitarian assistance. He also expressed his hope for an end to hostilities and a just and lasting peace with Russia.

Gallagher’s visit was preceded by a second mission to Ukraine by Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, the pope’s special envoy.

The archbishop of Bologna recently completed a four-day visit to Lviv and Kyiv, during which he emphasized the exchange of prisoners, the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia, and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Yurash said the missions demonstrated the Holy See’s commitment to Ukraine.

“I think the message is very obvious,” he said.

“The message is that His Holiness understands realities of the war in Ukraine, and in this way of sending two very high representatives of the Holy See, he is trying to show that he is supporting Ukraine in general and any attempts to reach, to achieve just peace for Ukraine, as he expressed many, many times,” Yurash said. “So I think the message is absolutely clear.”

Ukraine is not alone

The ambassador also highlighted the moral and spiritual support that he said the Holy See continues to offer Ukraine.

“The Holy See shows that Ukraine is not alone, that the Holy See is trying to do everything possible to support spiritually Ukrainian people, to give some hope, to inspire people to be strong,” he said.

Yurash said that support was also rooted in the defense of international law and Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

“The value of international law is recognized by everybody, and the Holy See always repeatedly speaks that the Holy See supports territorial integrity of Ukraine,” he said.

“The Holy See, the whole civilized world, is against the violation of international law,” Yurash continued. “And in this spiritual, Church way, the Holy See expressed one more time this very concrete message for us.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The pontiff made these remarks in an interview with Tom Llamas of NBC News on July 29 at Castel Gandolfo. The interview followed the “Canticle of Peace” music prayer service for peace at the Borgo Laudato Si’, part of the Pontifical Gardens at Castel Gandolfo, featuring music by the renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.

Leo, in discussing his love for America, clarified that his identity is now of a universal pastor.

“I have great love for America,” Leo told NBC News. “But I understand my mission as having a very important dimension, which is precisely being pastor of a universal church.”

“I think of myself more as the pope who happens to be American.”

The pope also acknowledged the historic significance of being the first U.S.-born bishop of Rome.

“I will acknowledge that for myself, as well as for the people of the United States… that there is great significance in being the first American pope,” Leo said.

He also outlined his favorite aspects of the U.S., including a sense of freedom and opportunity for generations of migrants, including his ancestors, some of whom were enslaved.

“We have people who were both slaves and slave owners.”

“I come from a family [where] my grandparents were immigrants on my motherʼs side,” the pope said. “There’s a history, if you will, of growing up in the kind of experience that helps me recognize myself, one of the greatest wealths of the United States.”

Addressing the likelihood of a future visit to the U.S., Leo explained that the Vatican was considering the timing of such a visit.

“Today we were looking at the calendar for the next couple of years. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I certainly hope to be there soon,” Leo said.

The pontiff briefly returned to Castel Gandolfo on July 29 for the “Canticle of Peace” after recently concluding his vacation there from July 5–27 and returning to the Vatican.

Leo XIV also prayed for peace to reign “in all those places in the world that continue to suffer from violence.

The gathering, organized by the Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education and the Andrea Bocelli Foundation (ABF), took place as part of the celebrations marking the eighth centenary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi.

Addressing the young members of the ABF Voices Of choir who came from Uganda, the Holy Land, and Italy, Leo XIV assured them: “Know also that the Holy Father loves you and prays for you, for your families, and for your countries.”

After listening to the performance by tenor Andrea Bocelli and the choir, the pope thanked them for the effort put into preparing the recital and congratulated their conductors, noting that “music has the extraordinary capacity to bring different voices together in unison, where each contributes something unique to the whole.”

“In this sense, the choir becomes an ideal symbol of harmony and cooperation,” he added.

In his message, Leo XIV noted the significance of the fact that sacred Scripture and the Church’s liturgy speak of “choirs of angels and saints” when describing the joy of heaven.

This does not mean, he explained, that they are “literally singing all the time” but rather that, “united in love, they contemplate God together and find the fullness of happiness in him.”

The Holy Father then invited the young people to reflect on what had taken place during their performance: “As you sang, did you notice how music drew all of us into a new experience — something greater than anything any one of us could have created alone?”

“This is the experience of beauty. It opens up a new horizon before us and awakens within us the desire to move towards it,” he continued.

The pope explained that “when we journey toward that horizon, we do not simply discover something, but Someone. We encounter God, our Creator.”

Leo XIV encouraged the young people to continue cultivating the gifts God has bestowed upon them and to allow those talents to lead them to him, for “he is all we seek in life, the only one who can calm our restless hearts.”

The pontiff also reminded them that “you were made for great things and that the whole world is not enough to satisfy your thirst for meaning and happiness.”

Before concluding, Leo XIV thanked the Andrea Bocelli Foundation for its work on behalf of young people facing educational and social disadvantages, and highlighted that “through the power of music, you are contributing to the Church’s mission of promoting the integral development of every human person in service of the common good. May God bless your efforts.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The annual report for Talitha Kum, the international network of consecrated life against human trafficking, founded by the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), was published on July 29. The initiative is led by Catholic nuns, and the report details their efforts to prevent trafficking, protect and care for survivors, and build international partnerships.

An accompanying press release from the UISG stated that, according to the International Labour Organization, about 50 million people are living in situations of human trafficking, and exploitation generates over $236 million every year.

Against this exploitation, Talitha Kum reached 1.21 million people through various programs, including prevention activities and survivor protection. This represents a 29.6% increase in the number of people reached compared with 2024.

Talitha Kum also expanded its outreach in other areas, including global partnerships, access to justice, networking, and engagement with young people.

Its efforts with young people are particularly noteworthy. Of the 928,972 people reached through its prevention efforts in 2025, 303,359 were women and girls, and 262,621 were children under the age of 18.

Sister Abby Avelino, MM, international coordinator of Talitha Kum, spoke of the growth of the network as necessary to confront new forms of exploitation, particularly online.

“Human trafficking continues to evolve in increasingly complex ways,” Avelino said in the press release. “Thousands of young people from Africa, Asia, and other regions have been deceived by false promises of employment, trafficked across borders, and forced into cyber-enabled criminal activities through violence and coercion.”

The Talitha Kum network, founded by the UISG in 2009, has expanded its anti-trafficking efforts across 113 countries. Pope Leo XIV addressed them and others in a message sent for the 12th World Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking in February.

On July 15, several UISG representatives met with Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom to share with her the impact of Talitha Kum’s work in 2025.

The Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the U.N. made these remarks in a message for the 2026 High Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the New Urban Agenda, which took place in New York from July 16–17. The message also marked the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the New Urban Agenda at the U.N.

As reported by Vatican News on July 29, the Holy See stated that adequate housing is not merely a commodity but a fundamental part of a society committed to the common good.

“Everybody deserves a place to call home, where they can build relationships, nurture family life, and participate fully in their community,” the message wrote. “Housing should therefore be viewed not just as a commodity or financial asset, but as a cornerstone of society at the service of the common good.”

The Holy See also referenced Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, emphasizing that “development is truly human when it places people at the center.” It also explained that homelessness, beyond merely lacking a home, prevents people from exercising their fundamental human rights.

“Not having a home means more than just lacking shelter; it means being deprived of security, stability, privacy, and a sense of belonging,” the message said. “Homelessness undermines the ability to exercise many fundamental human rights and often traps individuals and families in cycles of exclusion and poverty.”

The message concluded by noting that a city’s development cannot be evaluated by its buildings or economy but by its ability to enable individuals to flourish.

The homelessness epidemic, however, is not only a concern for the Holy See; politicians are voicing similar concerns. United Kingdom Prime Minister Andy Burnham, the first to publicly identify as a Catholic, has made addressing homelessness a key part of his agenda.

The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue will hold the colloquium “Dialogue on the Contribution of Christianity and Confucianism to an Ideal Society: New Heaven, New Earth, and Great Unity” in South Korea from Aug. 4–5. As reported by Union of Catholic Asian News, it will convene clergy and scholars at Sogang University in Seoul to discuss universal fraternity, virtuous leadership, and ecological responsibility.

Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, is expected to attend along with other dicastery officials.

The event is also organized by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea.

The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue has participated in similar conferences, including the 2025 workshop “Christians Fostering Dialogue with Confucians: Guidelines and Prospects” in Taiwan and the 2024 study group that developed guidelines for Confucian-Catholic dialogue.

Confucianism developed from the ethical teachings of the Chinese philosopher Kong Qiu, known in the West as Confucius. He emphasized filial piety, ancestor veneration, moral self-cultivation, and harmonious social relationships rather than devotion to a creator god.

According to 2025 estimates from the World Religion Database, approximately 8.75 million Confucianists live worldwide. The largest populations are in South Korea, with 5,616,520 people; China, with 1,737,191; Myanmar, with 813,322; Thailand, with 261,330; and Japan, with 162,179.

According to Vatican News, at the 2025 workshop, Father Paulin Batairwa Kubuya, undersecretary of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, explained that certain Confucian teachings are already consistent with Christianity.

“Christianity and Confucianism are wisdom traditions,” Kubuya said. “Confucian ethics is very strong on how people should comport themselves, how to be good citizens, and how to organize their lives. We find that these aspects correspond to Christianity.”

Kubaya also expressed his hope that the future of Confucian-Christian dialogue would help Christians “look at our Confucian neighbors, look at how we can develop a better way of living together, [and] how we can enrich one another.”

Irish Bishop Paul Tighe, secretary of the Culture Section at the Dicastery for Culture and Education, told EWTN News that contemporary artists can reach people in ways that the Church cannot.

“Contemporary artists have their fingers on the pulse of humanity,” Tighe told EWTN News. “We want to honor their lives, encourage them, and show them we are listening.”

“They use different idioms — sometimes strange, sometimes difficult — to communicate and alert us to profound realities. We want artists to know the Church’s engagement with art isnʼt just in the historical past tense; it’s an ongoing dialogue today.”

Why the Vatican is turning to contemporary artists

The Holy See, through the Dicastery for Culture and Education, has a pavilion at the Venice Biennale — which runs through Nov. 22 — featuring the work of American punk-rock singer Patti Smith and soft brutalist Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao.

This initiative is among several in recent years that reflect the Vatican’s focus on promoting contemporary art. On Sept. 14, Pope Leo XIV will inaugurate an exhibit on water at the Vatican Apostolic Library. In 2025, the Vatican hosted contemporary art exhibits during the jubilee year, including a gallery space on the main road leading to St. Peter’s Basilica, which still features works by contemporary artists.

Tighe defended the Vatican’s partnership with contemporary artists, saying that the Church has learned from them since its beginning.

“The Church has been both inspiring artists and encouraging artists, but also learning from artists,” Tighe said.

“If you think of something like the Biennale, there are lots of younger people from the worlds of the arts. Many of them are probably not overly engaged with religion or with faith. There is the kind of art that speaks the language of today because of the concepts the artists of today are using. We need to engage with them.”

In describing the Vatican’s focus on contemporary art, Tighe likened its appeal to that of sports, encouraging Catholics to use it to open conversations about faith.

“We have given a lot of attention and emphasis to sport because, in reality, there are more people on any given Sunday engaged with sport than are engaged with faith. [We Catholics] could lament that, or we can say, ‘Well, letʼs try and speak to them,’” he said.

In a video message to participants at the 2026 Halleluya Festival in Fortaleza, Brazil, the pontiff proposed St. Carlo Acutis, known for using digital technologies to evangelize, as a model for new generations.

“He shows how to keep Christ always at the center, even when using technology,” he noted.

Taking that example as a reference, Leo XIV, who published his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on AI in May, advised young people to use both social media and artificial intelligence appropriately.

“I advise you to use social media and artificial intelligence well, employing these tools in a moderate and disciplined manner, because they can immerse us in an unreal world where the ephemeral, mere appearance, and deception end up taking the place of true values ​​and what really matters,” he warned.

Addressing the participants at the youth evangelization event, which combines music, praise, and worship, the pontiff highlighted the spiritual fruits the initiative has yielded over the years, mentioning “confessions, conversions, and priestly and religious vocations.”

“Today, I would like to say once again how good it is to be with young people. Your enthusiasm is contagious and awakens a renewed apostolic zeal in all of us,” the Holy Father stated.

He also noted that young Catholics possess “a missionary vigor indispensable for transforming this world, which is in such need of the Gospel.”

He thus strongly urged them: “Never lose this missionary zeal!”

The pope emphasized that there are still many people who need to discover that Christ answers the deepest aspirations of the human heart. In this context, he invited young people to proclaim the Christian faith without fear.

“Proclaim with courage that a life without Christ is a life without grace. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” he declared, quoting the Gospel of St. John.

León XIV drew upon one of St. John Paul II’s most well-known expressions to invite young people to place their full trust in the Lord.

“Do not be afraid of Christ. He takes nothing away; he gives everything,” he affirmed, noting that whoever gives himself to the Savior “receives a hundredfold” and “always emerges victorious.”

The pope asked the Holy Spirit to rekindle in young people a love capable of transforming their youth into an evangelizing force and to turn them into “living stones” for the building of a “city of peace.”

Pope Leo XIV imparted his apostolic blessing to all the participants and organizers of the Halleluya Festival: “May God always be with you.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

“Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift” is the first anthology to bring together the pontiff’s principal texts on peace since his election May 8, 2025.

Published last week in Italian by the Vatican Publishing House, the volume contains speeches, messages, and other interventions on one of the central themes of Leo’s pontificate. It also includes a previously unpublished foreword written by the pope.

An English-language edition is expected soon.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Banfi said the project was intended to provide “an agile volume, accessible to everyone, that would bring together the great teaching of the first year of this pope’s pontificate on the subject of peace.”

Banfi said the book’s introduction offers one of the principal keys to understanding Leo’s thought.

Christ’s peace passes through suffering

“When we carefully reread the opening lines of his introduction, we see something very significant,” Banfi said. “He says that he began his ministry by proclaiming to the world the risen Christ, the Prince of Peace. But he immediately recalls that the peace of Christ passes through suffering, through the Passion and through the cross.”

That statement, Banfi said, reveals the depth and scope of the pontiff’s proposal.

“The peace proposed by the pope is not the abstract, naive, or ideological concept of the hippies,” he said. “It is a peace that passes through the pain, contradictions, and wounds of the world.”

Responding to those who dismiss pacifism as unrealistic or merely idealistic, Banfi said the Christian vision of peace is grounded in a concrete experience.

“Pacifism is often ridiculed because it is considered utopian or unrealistic, incapable of confronting the complexity of reality,” he said. “But the peace proposed by the Church is born of a concrete experience. Before anything else, it is the proclamation of a gift that precedes us. Peace is a gift.”

Building peace therefore requires both personal and collective responsibility, he said.

“We have the responsibility to build it, to pray for it, to promote interreligious dialogue and to ask the powerful of the earth to work for it,” Banfi said. “We must act concretely to influence societies and states. But it is equally important not to forget interior peace.”

Banfi said Leo’s positions on peace did not begin with his election as pope but form part of a personal journey shaped by Augustinian spirituality and his missionary experience in Peru.

A pope shaped by St. Augustine

Banfi situated Leo’s thinking within the Augustinian tradition, pointing in particular to the pope’s reference to “The City of God” in his address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.

St. Augustine contrasts the earthly city, directed toward power, wealth, and pleasure, with the city of God, made up of those who live in hope, Banfi explained.

“Leo XIV bears witness to a man of great interior freedom in the face of the pressures of the world, the problems of the Church and even its internal divisions,” he said. “Amid the noise of the Church and the world, this pope conveys extraordinary serenity and interior freedom.”

Banfi also recalled that during the years of terrorism by Peru’s Shining Path guerrilla movement, the then-missionary priest Robert Prevost refused to go into hiding or accept a security escort despite threats against members of the clergy.

“I think we often assume that a commitment to peace is limited to opposition to war, but he was also a great witness in the face of terrorism,” Banfi said.

He also cited a photograph from the 1980s showing the young Augustinian taking part in a peace demonstration in Comiso, Sicily, against the deployment of NATO missiles. Prevost appears alongside other priests holding a banner reading “Young Augustinians for Peace.”

Banfi cautioned, however, against confusing the Church’s mission with the promotion of a merely pacifist movement.

The Church, he said, is “the bearer of a proposal for peace that is born of faith in Christ.”

A message for an age marked by war

Banfi said Leo’s message has particular relevance amid a global increase in armed conflicts.

“Today, more than 100 countries are involved in some way in wars or conflicts,” he said. “It gives the impression that the pope is almost the only voice that continues to call for peace, that still believes in the possibility of peace.”

In the book’s unpublished introduction, Leo refers to the Global Peace Index 2026, an annual assessment of peace levels around the world produced by the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace.

Banfi said the pontiff is challenging the growing conviction that war is inevitable and that rearmament is the only way to guarantee security.

“What is happening today is that the idea seems to have taken hold that war is inevitable, even necessary, and that rearmament is indispensable,” he said. “The pope is fighting precisely against this dominant mentality.”

Banfi also highlighted the pope’s reference in the introduction to a Bob Dylan song against nuclear war, written in 1962 during the Cuban missile crisis.

“It was a moment of enormous risk for humanity, but it was also a time when there was a widespread sense that peace could be built, nuclear arsenals could be reduced, and negotiated disarmament could advance even in the midst of the Cold War,” Banfi said.

Against today’s backdrop of prolonged conflicts and growing international tensions, Leo takes up Pope Francis’ warning about “a third world war fought piecemeal” and points to the increasing difficulty of bringing contemporary wars to an end.

The conscience that can change history

One passage that particularly struck Banfi was the pope’s reference to Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov, who in 1983 helped prevent a possible nuclear war after suspecting that a warning of an American attack was a false alarm.

The pope writes that “the conscience of one man can be worth as much as the entire world,” Banfi noted.

For Banfi, the statement expresses “a truth that applies to all of us.”

“Society is mistaken when it stops believing that,” he said.

Banfi linked that idea to another major theme of the papal text: a radical confidence in the human person’s capacity to choose what is good.

“It is the same message as his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: an irreducible optimism about humanity,” he said. “It is like when he asks in another passage of the introduction: ‘Is humanity really seriously considering destroying itself?’ It is a profoundly prophetic question.”

The book also addresses disarmament, the importance of dialogue, international law, and the role of multilateralism.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The General Secretariat of the Synod published the document “Recollecting” on July 27, providing diocesan synodal teams with a resource to draft their reflections on their progress since the diocesan phase began in October 2021.

In the accompanying press release, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the synod, explained that the notes are intended to help local Churches “recollect” their synodal journey with gratitude.

“Evaluation is not a technical exercise but an experience of gratitude and truth,” Grech said. “Recollecting means recognizing what the Lord has brought to maturity in the journey of our communities and allowing ourselves to be guided towards the next steps.”

The recollecting phase is part of the 2028 preparation for synodal teams and will culminate in a broader reflection during the first half of 2027. Each diocese is to prepare two documents around that time: a narrative report and a letter to the other Churches.

The document “Recollecting” called for discussions about the challenges facing synodality at the local level, including resistance.

“Particular attention should be given to the difficulties encountered, resistance to renewal, obstacles that have hindered the journey, unsuccessful attempts and questions that remain open,” the document stated.

The recollecting phase of the synod’s implementation path is one of four preparatory stages before the ecclesial assembly in 2028. The other three are “Interpreting” in the second half of 2027, “Orienting” in the first four months of 2028, and “Celebrating” in October 2028.

Cordileone has led the Archdiocese of San Francisco since 2012. Previously an auxiliary bishop of San Diego and bishop of Oakland, California, he is known for his public defense of contested Catholic teachings, including the Church’s teaching on marriage. In 2025, he was appointed to the advisory board of the U.S. Religious Liberty Commission.

Lohse, the bishop of Kalamazoo and apostolic administrator of Steubenville, Ohio, previously worked at the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy from 2010 to 2015. He holds a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

The pope also appointed Spanish Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru, the former secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, where he served for nearly 20 years, from 2007 until June 2026.

Arrieta, a priest of Opus Dei who was ordained in 1977, has also served as coordinator of the commission that reformed the Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican Bank, and as a consultant to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. He holds doctorates in canon law and civil law from the University of Navarra in Spain.

Another Spanish appointee, Father Eduardo Baura de la Peña, is an Opus Dei priest and professor in the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. He also holds doctorates in canon law and civil law.

The three other new members are German Jesuit Father Ulrich Rhode, a professor in the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University; Bishop Krzysztof Nitkiewicz of Sandomierz, Poland; and Italian Father Gianpaolo Montini, also a professor in the Gregorian’s Faculty of Canon Law.

The Apostolic Signatura serves as the Church’s supreme tribunal and oversees the proper administration of justice throughout the Catholic Church.

Its members, who include cardinals, bishops, and priests, are appointed by the pope for five-year terms. The court is led by its prefect, French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, who, as cardinal protodeacon, announced the election of Pope Leo XIV on May 8, 2025.

Among its responsibilities, the Signatura hears challenges to certain decisions of the Roman Rota, including petitions for nullity and requests for the complete restoration of a case. It also considers appeals in cases concerning the juridical status of persons.

The tribunal judges administrative disputes referred to it by the pope as well as jurisdictional conflicts between Vatican dicasteries and between dicasteries and the Secretariat of State.

It also supervises the proper administration of justice in ecclesiastical tribunals and may take action concerning ministers, advocates, or procurators when necessary.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

As announced on July 27 by the Holy See Press Office, the pontiff will lead a moment of prayer at the “Canticle of Peace,” sponsored by the Andrea Bocelli Foundation (ABF) and hosted by the Borgo Laudato Si’, part of the Pontifical Gardens at Castel Gandolfo. The pontiff will have recently concluded his vacation there, having stayed from July 5–27.

The music will feature Bocelli and the ABF Voices Of choir, comprising 164 children and young people from war-torn regions, in an effort to promote peace through song.

The event also marks the 15th anniversary of the foundation and the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi. The pope’s reflection and prayer during the event will draw inspiration from St. Francis’ famous “Canticle of the Creatures.”

In a separate July 22 press release by the ABF, Bocelli described the initiative as an opportunity to transform differences into a harmonious peace-building effort.

“Music has this gift. It does not erase differences but transforms them into harmony,” Bocelli said.

The “Canticle of Peace” will be Leo XIV’s second summer concert at Castel Gandolfo, the other being a July 18 concert in his honor offered by the nearby Diocese of Albano. It will also be Bocelli’s second performance for the pope, having sung at the inauguration of the Borgo Laudato Si’ in 2025.

“I continue to follow with deep concern the ongoing and escalating violence in the Holy Land where, in recent days, many civilians, both in the West Bank and in Gaza, have once again fallen victim,” the pope said July 26 after leading the Angelus from the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo.

His remarks followed one of the most tense days in the West Bank in recent months. A shooting in Tell, southwest of Nablus, reportedly killed at least four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers and was followed by attacks by Israeli settlers against several Palestinian communities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz subsequently announced that military operations would be intensified in areas Israel considers centers of terrorism.

“I make a heartfelt appeal for a return to negotiations to achieve a just political solution, founded on the equal dignity and equal rights of every human person,” Pope Leo said.

“At the same time, I urge the rejection of further military actions and unilateral decisions, especially those that violate the respect for and the status quo of the holy places of every religion.”

The pope also renewed his appeal concerning the wider Middle East, where he said intensified military operations had “again wreaked violence and destruction, endangering the lives of countless civilians and further aggravating the shortages of drinking water and electricity.”

“From the depths of my heart, I exhort all parties involved to suspend the attacks and urgently reopen paths of dialogue and diplomacy, so that the longed-for peace for the entire region may be achieved without delay,” he said.

Pope Leo invited the faithful to continue praying for people throughout the world who are suffering because of war.

“May the Lord touch the hearts and enlighten the minds of those in power, so that reconciliation and peace may soon prevail,” he said.

Prayers for wildfire victims

The pope also expressed his closeness to people affected by devastating wildfires in France and Spain and called for prayers for both the victims and emergency workers involved in relief efforts.

The fires have forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes, while forecasts of temperatures reaching approximately 108 degrees Fahrenheit were expected to increase the danger in the affected areas.

Beatification of Elias Hoyek

Pope Leo recalled the July 25 beatification in Lebanon of Elias Hoyek, who served as Maronite patriarch of Antioch from 1899 to 1931 and founded the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family.

“For more than 30 years, he led the Maronite Church with great dedication and pastoral sensitivity,” the pope said.

“A man of dialogue and hope, he was an outstanding ecclesial, social, and political leader, so much so that he came to be known as the ‘Father of Greater Lebanon.’”

The pope prayed that the new blessed’s intercession would accompany Maronite Catholics throughout the world and obtain peace for Lebanon, “a country dear to my heart.”

World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly

Pope Leo also marked the sixth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, whose theme was drawn from the words of the prophet Isaiah: “I will never forget you.”

“Together, let us give thanks to the Lord for the gift that the elderly are to the Church and society,” he said.

“Let us also commit ourselves to respecting and valuing the precious role they play and to ensuring that they always receive the care, attention, and assistance they deserve.”

The kingdom of God enlarges life

During his Angelus reflection, Pope Leo focused on the Gospel’s images of the kingdom of God as a hidden treasure and a pearl of great price.

“The parables convey the surprise of those who find something far beyond what they could have hoped for, so much so that selling or leaving everything behind no longer seems a sacrifice but a gain,” he said.

The pope said the evangelists present Christ’s call to discipleship as irresistible.

“It is a free choice, yet also urgent and capable of eliciting a ready and wholehearted response,” he said. “Encountering his kingdom marks a turning point that does not limit life but enlarges it.”

“If anything must change on our part, it is only so that our lives may be opened to greater possibilities, not fewer.”

Pope Leo noted that the figures appearing in Christ’s parables include peasants, merchants, travelers, fishermen, scribes, shepherds, farmers, and women carrying out ordinary household tasks.

“In short, the kingdom of God reveals its inestimable beauty in different ways but calls everyone — men and women, young and old, rich and poor — to a profound renewal,” he said. “Everyone is capable of understanding it and is drawn to it.”

The pope said the Church likewise brings together people with different backgrounds, cultures, abilities, and responsibilities.

“Yet all are called to recognize themselves as ‘one’ in Jesus Christ: He is the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, the net that gathers those who are scattered,” he said.

“From the beginning, Jesus called and gathered around himself people who would otherwise never have come to know one another. In this way, he demonstrated that God has no favorites but instead offers his love freely, especially to the little ones or those cast aside.”

Pope Leo concluded by urging Catholics to ask for the wisdom sought by the young King Solomon: the ability to recognize what is truly valuable.

“While the consumer culture influences our tastes, constantly creating new needs only to sell us solutions that never satisfy, and that sometimes even poison the heart, we must learn to grasp what truly matters,” he said.

That treasure, the pope continued, is “a relationship with God that opens us to joy and helps us to live our relationships with one another more fully.”

The July 26 Angelus was Pope Leo’s final Sunday appearance during his summer stay at the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo. He was scheduled to return to the Vatican on Monday, July 27.

The pope was expected to return to Castel Gandolfo on Wednesday, July 29, to meet young choristers participating in the Andrea Bocelli Foundation’s Voices Of Global Gathering at the Borgo Laudato Si’. Bocelli was scheduled to perform a musical work titled “Cantico di Pace.”

This story was first published in two parts by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Gallagher, the Holy See’s secretary for relations with states and international organizations, said the possibility of a papal visit was among the questions he heard most frequently during his stay.

“Almost everyone I met asked me that question. My answer is very simple. The Holy Father takes this invitation very seriously,” Gallagher told Vatican Media in Kraków, Poland, before returning to Rome.

“For our part, we will continue to study the conditions necessary to determine the right time and the most appropriate way for such a visit to bear the greatest possible fruit for Ukraine and for peace in the world,” he said.

Gallagher spent six days in Ukraine, which has been at war since 2014 and has endured Russia’s full-scale invasion since February 2022. He held political, institutional, and Church meetings and took part in several pastoral events.

He met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on July 20. Zelenskyy expressed gratitude for the Holy See’s continuing support for Ukraine amid the war with Russia.

The principal purpose of Gallagher’s visit was to participate in celebrations marking the 35th anniversary of the restoration of the Latin Catholic Church’s structures at the Marian shrine of Berdychiv. Thousands of faithful attended the celebrations July 19.

Gallagher said Ukrainian authorities had expressed appreciation for the Holy See’s support.

“In our meetings with the authorities, we encountered profound gratitude for the Holy Father’s appeals and his words, and that is a source of encouragement for us,” he said.

“They feel supported by the closeness shown first by Pope Francis and now by Pope Leo. This encourages the Holy See to renew its commitment to dialogue with the international community and with the Russian authorities, and to continue its humanitarian efforts, such as the mission entrusted to Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, who continues working for the return of children, prisoners, and civilians.”

Pope Leo XIV has received several official invitations to visit Ukraine. Zelenskyy renewed the invitation during a conversation with the pope on Good Friday.

During that exchange, Pope Leo expressed his closeness to the Ukrainian people amid the suffering caused by the war and emphasized the urgency of ensuring humanitarian assistance. He also expressed his hope for an end to hostilities and a just and lasting peace with Russia.

A just and lasting peace

Asked about the prospects for a ceasefire, Gallagher said he had seen a strong willingness on the Ukrainian side to work toward that goal.

“During these days I have seen a strong determination on the Ukrainian side to work towards that goal. It is difficult for me to say whether this can be achieved in the immediate future, but we must continue to work in that direction,” he said.

“At the same time, as we saw at the shrine of Berdychiv — and as the history of this remarkable place of Marian devotion reminds us, renowned for many reported healings — we should never rule out the possibility of a miracle.”

Gallagher also reflected on what he had witnessed during the mission.

“For me, this has been a profoundly positive experience. Beyond the logistical effort and the long journey required to reach Ukraine, it has allowed me to touch the reality of today’s world with my own hands,” he said.

“We must remember that not everyone lives as we do in Italy or in my native England. There is a dark and troubling reality in our world today. We must not give in. In our own way, we too are called to strive, doing our part with the means available to us, in order to build peace.”

Zuppi’s humanitarian mission

Gallagher’s visit followed Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi’s second mission to Ukraine as Pope Leo XIV’s special envoy.

The archbishop of Bologna completed four days of meetings in Lviv and Kyiv focused on prisoner exchanges, the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia, and the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

Zuppi met civil and religious authorities, officials responsible for prisoner exchanges and relatives of military personnel and civilians being held in Russia.

Among his principal meetings was an encounter with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who thanked the Holy See for its humanitarian efforts and requested its support in achieving a comprehensive and lasting peace.

Sybiha also raised Kyiv’s concerns about civilians detained in Russian territory and called for a humanitarian corridor to assist thousands of people in the Russian-occupied communities of Oleshky and Hola Prystan in the Kherson region.

Prisoners were a central focus of the mission. Proposals discussed included a possible comprehensive exchange of prisoners of war, continued efforts to locate missing people, and measures to facilitate the return of civilians.

The parties also discussed the situation of Ukrainian children taken illegally to Russia, an issue in which the Holy See has been involved for years through diplomatic and humanitarian initiatives.

Another topic was the protection of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has recently been damaged amid attacks connected to the war. Ukrainian authorities consider its preservation and restoration a priority.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

1. St. Bridget experienced her first vision at age 10.

Bridget, or “Birgitta,” was born to wealthy, devout parents in Sweden in the year 1303. Her mother died early in her life, and she and her siblings were raised by their aunt. At 10 years old, Bridget had a vision of Christ on the cross in his agonizing suffering. In her vision, Bridget saw Christ with his wounds from Good Friday, with the wounds of “The Man of Sorrows” in Isaiah 53. She asked Jesus who hurt him, and he responded: “Those who despise me and refuse my love for them.” She would go on to write about these revelations; her works were published posthumously.

2. Bridget served in the royal court of Sweden.

Bridget was married in 1316 at the young age of 13 to 18-year-old Ulf Gudmarsson, the Swedish prince of Nericia. The two joined the Third Order of St. Francis and dedicated their resources to building a hospital and caring for the needs of the poor. Ulf served on the council of the king of Sweden, Magnus Eriksson, and the king asked Bridget to be a lady-in-waiting for his wife, Queen Blanche of Namur.

3. Bridget was a mother to eight children, and one of them became a saint.

Bridget and Ulf raised a large family together while also serving the poor and managing their duties in court. Of Bridget’s eight children, two died in infancy, and another two died in the Crusades. Two of their surviving children were married, and another two joined religious life. One of those two became a saint and was canonized — St. Catherine of Sweden.

4. Bridget founded a religious order, the Bridgettines, after her husband died.

Bridget and Ulf made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain between 1341 and 1343, but on their return trip, Ulf became ill. The couple stopped in France until Ulf regained his health, but soon after they returned to Sweden, in 1344, he passed away.

After his death, Bridget donated her belongings to the poor and devoted her life to Christ, following a call from God to start a new religious order.

She founded the Order of the Most Holy Savior, now known as the Brigittines, in 1346, and her congregation was approved by Pope Urban V in 1370. The Brigittines were to be led by an abbess and constitute both nuns and priests. The priests, who lived in a separate section, served as chaplains and confessors for the nuns.

King Magnus helped Bridget make the Abbey of Vadstena the home of the Brigittines. He donated a small palace and land for the new monastery.

But Bridget would never see her work come to fruition. She had a vision from Christ calling her to return to Rome and await the pope’s return from France during the Avignon Papacy. She never became a nun herself, and she never saw the monastery in Vadstena. She died several years before the pope’s permanent return to Rome.

But her order spread through Europe and still exists today in both contemplative monasteries and apostolic convents, with branches in 19 countries including Sweden, Norway, Poland, Italy, Israel, India, the Philippines, Mexico, and the United States.

5. St. Bridget is the co-patroness of Europe.

After Bridget died in Rome on July 23, 1373, her children brought her remains back to the headquarters of her religious order. Less than 20 years later, in 1391, Pope Boniface IX proclaimed her a saint. Her revelations and writings on the sufferings of Christ were published after her death. In 1999, St. John Paul II chose her as one of the three female co-patronesses of Europe, along with St. Catherine of Siena and St. Edith Stein.

This story was first published on July 23, 2024, and has been updated.

The question and answer were both published in the July/August 2026 issue of Piazza San Pietro, the official magazine of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

As reported by Vatican News on July 22, Maurizio from Rome asked the pontiff how best to deepen his spiritual life during the summer amid the distractions of daily life. Leo XIV responded that one ought to think of those unable to enjoy the summer, particularly the sick, victims of war, and migrants who do not feel welcomed.

“Holidays should also be for everyone a space of respite from occupations and worries,” Leo wrote.

“Let us think of the sick, of people who have lost faith in life, of those who are overwhelmed by grief over the loss of loved ones, of the victims of wars, of hatred, of terrorism and of violence, of those persecuted for their faith and for justice, of prisoners, of those who have been left without work, without a home, of migrants who have not been humanely welcomed.”

The pope also reminded Maurizio and families of the importance of the elderly, encouraging them to support them during the summer.

“To families I say: Do not leave your elderly alone.”

“Here is the advice I can give to increase our faith. Use the summer time as well to live the gospel of peace and mercy. Let us think of the privilege we have when we support the poor and bear witness to evangelical poverty,” the pope said.

In a recent interview with the Croatian Catholic weekly Glas Koncila (Voice of the Council), Iannone elaborated on the role of the Dicastery for Bishops and its interface with the other dicasteries that make up the Roman Curia.

He explained that “the pope meets daily with bishops, both individually and in groups. In those meetings, he highlights the Church’s current priorities: evangelization, care for creation, and other pastoral challenges.”

The pope “reiterates the fundamental characteristics of a bishopʼs life: nurturing oneʼs inner life, prayer, openness to others, a willingness to collaborate, and attentiveness to the marginalized.”

However, “the essential model for every bishop remains Christ, the Good Shepherd.”

Bishops need ‘support’

Iannone visited Zagreb, Croatia, on May 31, the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to celebrate a solemn Mass in honor of Our Lady of the Stone Gate, the patroness of the Croatian capital, and to lead the traditional procession through the city center.

The following day, he delivered a “lectio magistralis” (a formal academic lecture) at the Catholic University of Croatia, which was celebrating its 20th anniversary. During his stay in Zagreb, he gave the interview, in which he urged people to pray “with greater conviction” for bishops and priests.

Bishops, he noted, “need spiritual and human support.”

“Criticism may be legitimate, but it is not enough: We must also help and pray for them,” he emphasized, noting that “sometimes we forget that bishops are human beings too, with limitations, difficulties, and moments of discouragement.”

Synodality is not a demand for rights

Iannone underscored that synodality “is not a demand for rights.”

“It’s not simply a matter of claiming the right to express oneself. It means feeling part of a whole and assuming responsibility for it. The more a person lives out his faith and participates in the life of the community, the more valuable his voice becomes, because he (or she) speaks from within the Church rather than from a distance,” he stated.

Addressing the subject of synodality, he warned that applying purely political categories to the Church can be misleading, given its distinct nature.

However, he recalled that the Second Vatican Council taught that all the baptized are responsible for the life and mission of the Church. In this regard, he noted that the faithful must assume responsibilities and that those who govern by virtue of the sacrament of holy orders must allow them to exercise them.

He highlighted the existence of bodies established for this purpose, such as pastoral and finance councils. Likewise, he recalled that canon law recognizes the right and, in some cases, even the duty of the faithful to express their concerns and opinions to their pastors.

The prefect made it clear that the bishop should not bear the burden of governing the diocese alone; rather, “all the faithful must share in that responsibility.”

Growing reluctance among priests to become bishops

Iannone also addressed the phenomenon of priests declining appointments as bishops. “I had heard of this phenomenon before; now I am experiencing it firsthand,” he acknowledged.

“I don’t believe it is solely due to the abuse crisis. Today, a bishop’s responsibilities are far greater, and some priests do not feel prepared to take them on. Diocesan life has become more complex, there are fewer vocations, and the demands of the ministry are constantly increasing,” he explained.

The role of the Dicastery for Bishops

Iannone heads the Dicastery for Bishops, the body responsible for all matters concerning the establishment, life, and activity of dioceses, as well as the identification of candidates for the episcopate who are subsequently presented to the pope for appointment. It also supports bishops in the exercise of their ministry within their respective dioceses.

As Pope Francis’ apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium emphasizes, one of the fundamental characteristics of the Roman Curia is collaboration among the dicasteries.

For this reason, the Dicastery for Bishops works closely with other bodies, such as the Dicastery for the Clergy and the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Each dicastery has a basic structure composed of a plenary assembly made up of all its members, who are appointed by the pope.

“The authority of the dicastery resides in this plenary assembly, presided over by a prefect who directs its day-to-day operations with the assistance of a secretary. The most important decisions are made by the plenary assembly, whose members come from various parts of the world,” he explained.

One of the changes introduced by Pope Francis is that members of the dicasteries need not be exclusively bishops. Priests, religious, and laypeople, both men and women, may also serve on them.

The Dicastery for Bishops, like other bodies of the Curia, “relies on the collaboration of apostolic nuncios, who are well acquainted with the reality of the local Churches,” he noted.

Before assuming his current role, Iannone served as prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts. In the interview, he highlighted that the Roman Curia “exists to assist the pope in the exercise of his Petrine ministry.”

“As the successor of Peter and the Vicar of Christ, the pope has the responsibility of governing the universal Church, a task he could not perform alone. That is why he needs collaborators, who constitute the Roman Curia,” he stated. Over time, he added, the Curia “has become increasingly internationalized and specialized.”

“Each body places its specific expertise at the service of the pope to assist him in making decisions. Furthermore, any member of the faithful may express his concerns to the pope or a dicastery,” he explained.

The faithful’s access to the dicastery

“I receive many letters from the faithful around the world pointing out problems in the life of their dioceses. We assess whether those concerns are well founded or the result of misunderstandings. When they are well-founded, we try to intervene to restore serenity to the community. That is why, although the dicasteries may seem distant from the outside, in reality, they are at the service of the pope and the particular Churches,” he noted.

Iannone also highlighted that diversity constitutes “a richness when united with communion,” but warned that when it “turns in on itself, it harms the Church.”

“Today, there is great sensitivity toward local traditions. In this context, the principle attributed to St. Augustine remains valid: ‘In essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, liberty; in all things, charity.’ There must be unity regarding the essential elements of the faith, discipline, and the sacraments. Diversity may exist in other pastoral and practical aspects.”

“The bishop has the responsibility to foster relationships among the various groups and to correct any deviations. He must be a father to the entire community,” he stated.

Addressing the balance between local sensibilities and ecclesial unity, he explained that “the Second Vatican Council taught that the universal Church is present in and arises from particular Churches. This means that a particular Church is fully Church insofar as it remains in communion with the other Churches and with the pope.”

The contribution of women to episcopal discernment

Currently, the women serving on the Dicastery for Bishops are Sister Simona Brambilla, prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; Sister Raffaella Petrini, president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State; and the Argentine laywoman María Lía Zervino, former president of the World Union of Catholic Womenʼs Organizations.

Iannone views this positively: “Although I have been heading the dicastery for only a few months, I have been able to see the valuable contribution of these women — two religious sisters and a laywoman. They offer distinct perspectives and specific sensitivities that enrich discernment, especially regarding the selection of candidates for the episcopate.”

However, he noted that consulting women is not a completely new practice. “For some time, apostolic nuncios have consulted various members of the People of God, including women, during the investigations preceding episcopal appointments,” he explained.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, described reports that the judges overseeing the case had reached a final decision as “absolutely unfounded.”

Bruni said the canonical proceedings remain underway and that the tribunal “is examining documentation received from the dioceses involved, the Society of Jesus, the interested parties, and information published by the media.”

Proceedings remain confidential

The Vatican spokesman stressed that no information about the case can be made public while the trial is underway. He said the confidentiality is intended both to protect due process and to prevent further harm to those affected by the case.

“During the trial, as in any judicial proceeding, information regarding the proceedings underway cannot be shared in any way,” Bruni said in the statement.

He added that the tribunal itself will take any necessary steps to obtain additional information should the judges determine that further evidence is required.

Bruni also noted that the investigation into Rupnik is a canonical criminal proceeding that was made possible after the statute of limitations for the alleged offenses was waived.

The tribunal will therefore be able to reach a determination regarding Rupnik’s possible guilt or innocence in accordance with canon law.

Allegations of psychological and sexual abuse

Rupnik is accused of psychological and sexual abuse during the 1990s in a religious community in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The community was founded by a religious sister for whom Rupnik served as a friend and spiritual adviser.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith received a complaint in 2021. The dicastery, now headed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, asked the Society of Jesus to investigate the allegations using an external investigator, who was a Dominican religious.

The Jesuits submitted the findings to the dicastery, which determined in October 2022 that the allegations were barred by the statute of limitations. Pope Francis ordered the case reopened the following year.

After the allegations became public, the Jesuits acknowledged that Rupnik had been excommunicated in 2020 for absolving a woman with whom he had engaged in sexual activity. The Jesuits said he repented and that the penalty was lifted shortly afterward.

In 2021, nine women accused Rupnik of sexually, psychologically, and spiritually abusing them.

The Vatican statement also emphasized that the jurisdiction of Church courts is limited to the Church’s internal legal system. Any potential criminal liability under civil law would depend on the authorities in the countries where the alleged offenses may have occurred and on the applicable statutes of limitations.

Rupnik “remains subject to the laws of the countries in which the alleged crimes may have been committed, and the statute of limitations for those crimes is governed by the law of each country, independently of ecclesiastical authority,” Bruni said.

Frustration over pace of case

The Vatican’s response came after Laura Sgrò, an attorney representing five of Rupnik’s accusers, publicly expressed frustration over the pace of the proceedings and the lack of information about the canonical trial.

Sgrò told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that she had written Tuesday to Fernández, saying her clients felt “deeply discouraged and distressed” by the lack of transparency surrounding the case.

In November 2025, Pope Leo XIV asked Rupnik’s accusers for patience and said that “the Church must respect the rights of all people.”

Sgrò declined to comment in detail on the Vatican’s response, describing it only as “necessary.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Father Joseph Chang Yanfeng was ordained Wednesday as the new bishop of Chifeng in China’s Inner Mongolia region, the Vatican announced. Pope Leo approved the appointment June 15.

The Holy See said the appointment was made within the framework of the provisional agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China, under which the pope approved the candidate presented for the diocese.

Chang had overseen the local Church since October 2021, when he was appointed diocesan administrator.

Formation in China and South Korea

The new bishop was born April 4, 1984, in Beizhen in China’s Liaoning province. He studied at the Shenyang Theological Seminary from 2000 to 2006.

After a period of pastoral work at Lindong Parish, he continued his academic formation at the Catholic University of Daejeon in South Korea, where he earned a degree in biblical theology.

He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Chifeng on Nov. 18, 2010.

During the early years of his ministry, he held several positions in the diocesan curia and served in a number of parishes. He was pastor of Chifeng Cathedral from 2013 to 2019 and later served at Lindong Parish from 2019 to 2021.

He was appointed diocesan administrator of Chifeng on Oct. 15, 2021, a responsibility he held until his episcopal appointment.

Dialogue between Rome and Beijing

The appointment was made through the continuing dialogue over the implementation of the Holy See-China agreement, signed in 2018 to establish a mutually accepted process for selecting bishops.

The appointment of bishops belongs to the pope, while Beijing had for decades regarded papal appointments as interference in China’s internal affairs.

The Holy See and China have not maintained diplomatic relations since 1951, following the establishment of Mao Zedong’s communist government. Chinese Catholics subsequently became divided between communities registered with the state-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association and underground communities that remained loyal to Rome.

The full text of the 2018 agreement has never been made public. It was renewed every two years until 2024, when the two sides extended it for another four years, through 2028.

Under the terms that have become publicly known, the pope retains final authority over episcopal appointments in China and can reject candidates proposed by Beijing. The Holy See, for its part, has agreed not to make episcopal appointments without first obtaining the Chinese government’s approval.

Tensions during the papal interregnum

During the interregnum between the death of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo XIV, Chinese authorities proceeded unilaterally with the selection of two bishops, including one for a jurisdiction already led by a prelate recognized by the Vatican.

On April 28, 2025, Father Ignatius Wu Jianlin was elected auxiliary bishop of Shanghai by state-controlled Church bodies. The following day, Father Francis Li Jianlin was selected to lead Xinxiang in Henan province.

The latter decision caused controversy because the Holy See already recognized Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu as the legitimate bishop of that local Church.

Although the selections may have been planned before Francis’ death, their timing attracted attention. AsiaNews reported that the decisions conveyed the Chinese Communist Party’s position that a vacancy in the Apostolic See would not interrupt the operation of the Catholic Church in China.

With Chang’s appointment and episcopal ordination, 15 Catholic bishops have now been ordained under the provisional agreement signed by China and the Holy See during the pontificate of Francis.

Chinese appointments under Pope Leo XIV

The process leading to Chang’s appointment and ordination took place entirely during the pontificate of Leo XIV, providing another indication that the pope intends to continue the path of dialogue between Rome and Beijing.

Since the beginning of his pontificate, Leo has made several episcopal appointments in China and assigned new responsibilities to bishops who had already been ordained.

On June 11, 2025, the Vatican announced the civil recognition and installation of Bishop Joseph Lin Yuntuan as auxiliary bishop of Fuzhou in Fujian province. Leo had appointed him June 5.

On July 8, 2025, the pope suppressed the dioceses of Xuanhua and Xiwanzi, which Pope Pius XII had established in 1946, and created the new Diocese of Zhangjiakou as a suffragan see of Beijing.

Two months later, on Sept. 10, Father Joseph Wang Zhengui, whom the pope had appointed to lead the new diocese, was ordained a bishop.

Father Ignatius Wu Jianlin was ordained auxiliary bishop of Shanghai on Oct. 15, 2025, after Leo appointed him Aug. 11.

Father Francis Li Jianlin was ordained to lead the Apostolic Prefecture of Xinxiang on Dec. 5, 2025, following his appointment by the pope on Aug. 11.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

As announced by the Holy See Press Office, the pontiff traveled to the two pilgrimage sites on July 22. He first went to Vallepietra, where he visited the Sanctuary of the Most Holy Trinity. While there, he prayed before a famous fresco of the Holy Trinity and afterward greeted the faithful present.

Vallepietra is a medieval mountainside village about 37 miles east of Rome, and its Sanctuary of the Most Holy Trinity is one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in the Lazio region. The exact dates of its construction are unknown.

There are two main legends associated with the sanctuary’s construction. One tells of a farmer searching for his oxen who found them kneeling before a fresco of the Trinity, prompting the sanctuary’s construction. Another recounts how two men fleeing Emperor Nero’s persecution encountered Sts. Peter and John, were then visited by an angel, and saw a vision of the Trinity.

After visiting Vallepietra, Leo went to the St. Benedict Monastery in Subiaco. During his visit, he prayed before a 13th-century fresco of St. Francis of Assisi, widely regarded as the earliest known depiction of the Italian saint. The pope also visited the Holy Cave (Sacro Speco) in Subiaco, where he recited the Lord’s Prayer and kissed the knee of a statue of St. Benedict of Nursia, who founded the first Benedictine hermitage there in the sixth century.

The pope then went to the Monastery of St. Scholastica, St. Benedict’s sister, where he had lunch with the Benedictine community and visited the convent afterward.

Leo’s visit to Vallepietra and Subiaco follows his July 20 visit to the Benedictine Abbey of Montecassino, where he prayed before the tombs of Sts. Benedict and Scholastica.

The day also marked his fourth day of public appearances (outside his weekly Sunday Angelus) during his Castel Gandolfo vacation, to last from July 5–27. He also held a lunch with the poor on July 11 and attended a summer concert on July 18. Except for his Sunday Angelus, all private and public audiences, including the Wednesday general audience, are suspended during his vacation.

The Vatican published the letter on July 22 addressed to the Conference of Major Superiors of Men in the United States being held in Phoenix from July 20–23. The letter also marks the 70th anniversary of the conference.

The pontiff himself was a former religious superior, serving as the prior general of the Augustinians from 2001 to 2013.

In his letter, Leo congratulated the participants on their milestone and offered reflections on fostering community life, the theme of this year’s conference. Citing an address he delivered to religious institutes in 2025, he encouraged them to view their communities as places of sanctification.

“In reflecting on the theme for this year’s gathering, ‘One in Christ: Communal Life Today,’ I would encourage you to consider community life ‘as a place of sanctification and a source of inspiration, witness and strength in your apostolate,’” the pope wrote.

Leo also praised their efforts to promote religious life in the United States and reminded them that a healthy community life makes their Christian witness more credible.

“Indeed, it is precisely through sharing everything in common, including material goods, spiritual experiences, apostolic ideals and charitable service that the hidden presence of the risen Lord is made manifest among you,” Leo wrote.

Originally published by Vatican News, the pontiff’s text is part of the new book “Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift,” published by the Vatican Publishing House (Libreria Editrice Vaticana) in Italian on July 21. Edited by Alessandro Banfi, the book is a collection of Leo XIV’s addresses and reflections on peace since his election to the papacy in 2025.

The pope also invoked in his foreword American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan as well as Servants of God Dorothy Day, Floribert Bwana Chui, and Giorgio La Pira.

War is an adventure with no return

Leo began the foreword with what had been his first words as pontiff, proclaimed from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica: “Peace be with you.” He explained the theological significance of those words, spoken by Christ after his resurrection, and decried the modern tendency for war.

“This was also the first gift the risen Christ offered to his friends and to the whole world: peace,” Leo wrote. “That gift, however, did not come ‘cheap.’”

“Today, a good 103 states are involved in some way in a war on Earth. Weapons boom and kill in Ukraine, in the Middle East, in Sudan, in Myanmar, in Yemen, in Congo, and in many other situations.”

He also referred to his predecessors Pope Francis and Sts. Paul VI and John Paul II, who also called for peace and nuclear disarmament:

“Especially after the terrible consequences of the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the recourse to war is ever more an ‘adventure with no return,’ as St. John Paul II stressed.”

Invoking Bob Dylan: ‘Man-owned an’ man-handled’

In his foreword, the pope referenced American singer Bob Dylan, who criticized the manufacture of nuclear bombs during the Cold War in his 1963 song “Go Away You Bomb.”

“As singer-songwriter and poet Bob Dylan wrote, figuratively addressing the atomic bomb, in one of his poetic compositions: ‘I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned an’ man-handled,‘” Leo said.

The pope also explained that the threat of nuclear catastrophe looms large unless action is taken.

“History has already seen us come close to nuclear catastrophe.”

“A world in which machines, albeit sophisticated and faster than us, are the ones to decide to bomb defenseless people would be truly frightening,” Leo wrote.

Criticism of the U.S.-Iran war

Leo’s new foreword is emblematic of his stance on peace and nuclear disarmament, including with regard to the U.S.-Iran war.

Pope Leo and other Church officials have criticized the U.S. government under President Donald Trump for attacking Iran. In response, Trump claimed on May 4 that the pope “would rather talk about the fact that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

Leo denied Trump’s accusation that he supported nuclear weapons, stating to journalists at Castel Gandolfo on May 6 that “the Church has spoken for years against all nuclear weapons.”

An English edition of the book “Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift” will be published in the coming months.

As announced by the Holy See Press Office, the pontiff made the trip while on vacation at Castel Gandolfo, where he will remain through July 27. At Montecassino, he prayed at the tomb of St. Benedict, considered the father of Western monasticism, “entrusting him with his plea for peace in those regions of the world marked by bloodshed and conflict.”

The pope also enjoyed lunch with the Benedictine community at the abbey.

Leo’s surprise visit to Montecassino was his first since his election to the papacy in 2025. While on vacation that year, he also made a surprise visit to the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie della Mentorella in Guadagnolo, where he also prayed for peace.

The Abbey of Montecassino, founded by St. Benedict in 529, will celebrate the 1,500th anniversary of its founding in 2029.

Leo’s visit to Montecassino was also his third public appearance (outside his Sunday Angelus) during his Castel Gandolfo vacation, following his lunch with the poor on July 11 and a summer concert on July 18. Except for his Sunday Angelus, all private and public audiences, including the Wednesday general audience, are suspended during his vacation.

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The pontiff will personally present the “Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal” at the International Sustainability Conference, to be held at the Patristic Institute Augustinianum in Rome from Oct. 12–15. The award ceremony will take place on Oct. 13 in the Borgo Laudato Si’ garden, part of the Pontifical Gardens in Castel Gandolfo.

The award and conference were established by Villanova University, a Catholic liberal arts university in Pennsylvania. This is where Leo XIV, formerly Robert Prevost, earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1977 and an honorary doctorate in 2014. The Dicastery for Integral Human Development will also sponsor the event.

The inaugural Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal is a permanent award that will be presented by the university every two years.

An award to reflect the care for our common home

In a July 20 press release, Villanova University’s president, Father Peter Donohue, OSA, explained that the medal will recognize individuals who embody the university’s core belief in ecological stewardship and the common good.

“The Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal reflects a deeply held belief at Villanova University: that care for our common home and care for one another are inseparable,” Donohue said. “By recognizing leaders whose work advances both environmental stewardship and the common good, we hope to inspire meaningful and lasting impact in communities around the world.”

The conference, themed “Responding to the Cries of the Earth and the Poor,” will gather more than 300 academics, Church officials, and stakeholders for discussions on integral ecology.

The recipient of the Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal may come from any field and will be evaluated based on his or her efforts to advance sustainability and equity.

Another Villanova initiative to honor Leo XIV

The medal is not the only recent initiative by Villanova University to honor its most famous alumnus.

In early July, the university co-sponsored the 38th Annual Liberty Medal ceremony in Philadelphia, which awarded the pope the Liberty Medal ahead of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

On Nov. 1, the university’s basketball team will open its NCAA season in Rome with a men’s and women’s doubleheader against the University of Notre Dame. The initiative was also inspired by Leo XIV, who will meet both teams in an audience ahead of the games.

Speaking before the Angelus prayer in Liberty Square at Castel Gandolfo, where he is spending several weeks of rest through Monday, July 27, the pope reflected on the day’s Gospel reading.

Following the parable of the sower, Jesus addresses the crowds through the images of the good wheat and the weeds, the mustard seed, and the yeast in the dough, the pope noted.

“These three short parables recall the coming of the kingdom of God in history, its action in human lives, and the way it grows, expands, and transforms the world from within,” Pope Leo said.

Through these images, he continued, Jesus warns against thinking of God principally in terms of power, domination, and triumph.

“Instead, God favors smallness, a sign of his discreet love, by which he leaves us free to accept or reject him,” the pope said. “His love makes its presence felt even among the weeds, acts in a hidden and invisible way like the smallest of all seeds, and leavens the dough without making a sound.”

God favors smallness

Pope Leo said believers sometimes expect God to act in dramatic and immediately visible ways.

“We sometimes expect God to do something spectacular; we want him to intervene from on high, immediately uprooting the weeds of evil,” he said.

“We imagine a strong and powerful God, and, unfortunately, we also model our way of being Christians and way of being the Church on this image.”

The kingdom of God, however, continues to grow quietly even amid evil, the pope said.

“However, the kingdom of God spreads even amidst the weeds, requiring us to train our vision so we can discern the good that sprouts despite the darkness of evil, and avoiding rash judgments,” he said.

The image of the smallest seed, Pope Leo explained, teaches Christians to be patient as God works through ordinary events and gradual processes.

“It comes like the smallest of seeds and thus calls for patience in accompanying these processes, so that we can recognize it in the little things of daily life and in the simplicity of ordinary existence,” he said.

The kingdom also “grows invisibly like yeast in flour,” the pope continued, freeing believers from discouragement and inviting them to maintain faith even when God appears absent.

“In fact, he is always with us, and his love is always ready to help us,” he said.

Pope Leo then urged Catholics to apply this divine way of acting to both their personal lives and the life of the Church.

“God’s way of acting must also become the way in which we live, both as individuals and as the Church, amidst the reality that surrounds us,” he said.

“We are called to adopt a Gospel-centered approach, without hastily opposing others through arrogant judgments, without imposing ourselves through power and force, and without losing trust in God’s work.”

The pope cited a reflection given by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, during the Jubilee of Catechists and Religion Teachers in the Holy Year 2000.

“As the then-Cardinal Ratzinger said, it is a matter of submitting ourselves to the logic of the seed — which is not that of success and greatness but that of making ourselves small and serving others,” Pope Leo said.

By embracing this approach, he concluded, Christians can become instruments through which the Gospel quietly transforms the world.

“In this way, we will become like small seeds of the Gospel that sprout and leavens of love that transform the dough of the world.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The “Concert in Honor of the Holy Father Leo XIV” will take place in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo, where he is staying from July 5–27. The nearby Suburbicarian Diocese of Albano will offer the event as a gift to the pontiff to mark the renewal of the papal presence at the lakeside town, which is part of the diocese.

Leo XIV, as Cardinal Robert Prevost, was the titular cardinal-bishop of the Diocese of Albano before his election to the papacy in 2025.

Bishop Vincenzo Viva of Albano, in a July 16 press release from the diocese, described the concert as an expression of the diocese’s joy and closeness to the pope.

“The renewed presence of the Holy Father in our diocesan territory has filled our local Church and its inhabitants with joy,” Viva said in the statement. “We wish to offer this symphonic concert as a gesture of affection and communion, and the program we have designed reveals pages of rare splendor.”

The concert will feature classical repertoire by Niccolò Paganini and Vincenzo Bellini. It will be performed by the orchestra I Musici di Parma of Parma, Italy.

Pope Leo XIV decided to spend part of this summer on vacation at the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo after Pope Francis opted not to spend his summers there for his entire 12-year pontificate. The complex also includes the Pontifical Gardens, including the Borgo Laudato Si’ garden.

The July 18 concert will be Leo’s second public appearance (outside his Sunday Angelus) at Castel Gandolfo so far, following his lunch with the poor in the Borgo Laudato Si’ garden on July 11. With the exception of his Sunday Angelus, all private and public audiences, including the Wednesday general audience, are suspended during his vacation.

“We must disarm the next arms race, both AI and nuclear, before they define the next century as well,” the declaration stated.

According to Vatican News, the signing of the declaration for “an unarmed and disarming peace in the age of artificial intelligence, nuclear and autonomous weapons, new digital protocols, and emerging models of digital development” took place in the Giulio Cesare Hall at the Palazzo Senatorio, Rome’s city hall atop the Capitoline Hill.

The signing also concluded the Global Nobel Laureates Assembly on Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear War, held July 14–16 at Borgo Laudato Si’, part of the Pontifical Gardens at Castel Gandolfo, where Pope Leo XIV is staying from July 5–27.

Among those present at the signing were the vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Baldassare Reina; the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri; and Hollywood actress Sharon Stone.

For an unarmed and disarming peace

The declaration called on governments and corporations to slow AI development, halt the expansion of nuclear arms, and work toward their total elimination.

“We call on governments, corporations, and international organizations to enable coordinated slowdown of frontier AI development,” the declaration stated. “We call for urgent, sustained, and good-faith negotiations leading, within an agreed and time-bound framework, to the verifiable and irreversible elimination of nuclear weapons.”

According to a July 16 press release, the declaration and summit were inspired by Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas.

“Pope Leo XIV, invoking values shared across religious traditions, has called humanity toward an ‘unarmed and disarming peace.’”

A race for human survival

Speaking at the signing of the declaration, Reina explained its significance for humanity’s survival amid the threats of nuclear war and AI misuse.

"The declaration presented today reminds us with great clarity that no machine, no algorithm, and no autonomous system can be placed at the center of decisions upon which the survival of humanity depends,” Reina said.

Professor David Gross, a Nobel Prize laureate in physics and a professor of theoretical physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, emphasized the need for nuclear nations to adopt policies to reduce the risk of nuclear war.

“We are in the middle of an accelerated arms race,” Gross said.

“We ask that nuclear nations promote policies that reduce the risk of war, nuclear war, and annihilation.”

According to the New York Times last week, U.S. ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch argued that when Pope Leo spoke out against the war in Iran, “he was not doing so as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, the vicar of Christ.”

“When the pope acts as the sovereign leader of the Holy See, he is coequal with world leaders,” Burch is quoted as telling the NYT in an interview published online July 9.

A rare op-ed from the editorial director of Vatican communications, Andrea Tornielli, appeared just days later, stating that “even when he speaks about war and peace … the successor of Peter remains, above all, a spiritual leader.”

While the Vatican News editorial did not mention Burch by name, it addressed the ambassador’s argument in the NYT interview.

“Any glorification or exaggeration of the pope’s role as head of state, any emphasis on the importance of this role, is therefore misleading because it comes at the expense of his one true mission as universal shepherd,” Tornielli wrote.

A spokeswoman for Burch declined to comment.

Expert weighs in

Father Roberto Regoli, an expert on papal history and diplomacy from the 19th to 21st centuries, explained that while the pope is the head of a state, “it is just functional to his personal service as a Church leader.”

“Vatican State is an enclave state … it is functional for the spiritual mission of the popes,” Regoli told EWTN News. “The pope normally speaks as a head of the Church.”

In the Vatican News editorial, Tornielli pointed to the 1929 Lateran Pacts, an agreement that resolved the issue of the temporal power of popes and gave the pope a small territory — less than 110 acres — but said that “does not mean that he acts or speaks as a politician when addressing issues concerning the affairs of humanity.”

Tornielli quoted St. Paul VI, who, in an address to the United Nations General Assembly in 1965, said, referring to himself, that “he is your brother, and even one of the least among you who represent sovereign states, since he possesses — if you choose to consider us from this point of view — only a tiny and practically symbolic temporal sovereignty: the minimum needed in order to be free to exercise his spiritual mission and to assure those who deal with him that he is independent of any sovereignty of this world. He has no temporal power, no ambition to enter into competition with you.”

Regoli noted that the political power of popes was different in the past, such as in the time of the Papal States. Being the head of a state today “is just functional to his personal service as a Church leader” to maintain his independence.

As the sovereign of an independent city-state, the pope has interactions with other states and multilateral institutions via apostolic nuncios and other delegates, who represent him to both the local Church and the state, Regoli said.

He added that these “diplomatic structures are in the function of papal politics,” which are “ecclesiastical politics” — that is, about the Church’s internal government.

Pope Leo himself, at the beginning of a speech to members of the Spanish Parliament in Madrid on June 8, explained in what capacity he addressed the politicians and the role of the Holy See on the international stage.

“I come before you,” he said, “as the bishop of Rome and shepherd of the Catholic Church, aware that the mission entrusted to the successor of the apostle Peter, as the principle and foundation of the unity of the bishops and the faithful, places the Holy See, in a special way, in dialogue with peoples and with states.”

He will succeed Gian Franco Mammì, who has reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 and has led the IOR’s day-to-day operations since 2015.

Boscia, 55, will assume his new role on Oct. 1. According to a July 15 press release from the IOR, his appointment “reflects a robust governance structure based on a clear distinction between the supervisory, governing, and management bodies, and designed to ensure transparency and stability.”

The IOR was founded in 1942 by Pope Pius XII to manage the Holy See’s assets and centralize the worldwide administration of the Catholic Church’s funds. It is also the central financial institution of Vatican City State.

Personnel changes and a mixed year at the IOR

Boscia’s appointment is the second leadership change at the IOR in 2026, following François Pauly’s appointment as its president. Pauly serves as a nonexecutive member assisting with oversight, whereas Boscia will oversee the bank’s daily operations as director general.

The leadership changes come amid a mixed year for the IOR. In its annual reports published in May, the bank reported a net profit of 51 million euros (about $58.4 million) for 2025, up 55.5% from the 32.8 million euros ($37.5 million) recorded the previous year.

In April, the Vatican detected 78 suspicious activities involving accounts linked to the IOR.

More than 3 decades of experience in finance

Before joining the IOR in 2019, Boscia spent more than 30 years in international financial markets across several firms, including Salomon Brothers, Citigroup, RBS, and Credit Suisse First Boston.

He graduated with honors with a master’s degree in finance from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, and an executive MBA from London Business School.

In 2019, he went to Rome to serve at the IOR as its head of finance and chief financial officer. He was promoted to head of investments in 2021 and to deputy director general in 2023.