On Tuesday evening, Oct. 28, Pope Leo made a forceful appeal for peace at Rome’s Colosseum and in the presence of representatives of the world’s main religions.
Gerard O’Connell
Gerard O’Connell is America’s senior Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo and King Charles make history with first-ever joint prayer service in Sistine Chapel
For the first time in history, a British monarch and a pope prayed together in the Sistine Chapel in an event of great ecumenical significance.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo says religious freedom is ‘not optional but essential’ as new report documents global persecution
Almost two-thirds of humanity—more than five billion people—live in countries where serious violations of religious freedom are taking place, according to the 2025 “Religious Freedom in the World Report.”
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo declares seven new saints, including first from Venezuela and Papua New Guinea
Pope Leo XIV spoke about the central importance of faith in today’s world as he declared that the Catholic Church has seven new saints—two from Venezuela, one from Papua New Guinea, one Armenian and three from Italy—on Sunday, Oct. 19.
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King Charles to visit Pope Leo: here’s what to expect
Pope Leo XIV will receive King Charles III and Queen Camilla in a private audience on Oct. 23 and, afterward, for the first time, a British monarch and a pope will pray together in the Sistine Chapel.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo says global hunger is a sign of ‘soulless economy’ and a ‘collective failure’
In a forceful speech on Oct. 16 to the general assembly of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, Pope Leo XIV called out the failure of the international community to eliminate hunger in today’s world and strongly denounced “the use of hunger as a weapon of war.”
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Pope Leo appoints Cardinal Cupich to commission for Vatican City State
Today’s appointment is seen in Rome as a sign of the esteem that Pope Leo has for the cardinal archbishop of Chicago, who recently came under fire from a number of U.S. bishops for giving a lifetime achievement award to Illinois’s Senator Dick Durbin.
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Pope Leo pleads for a just peace as cease-fire in Gaza holds
As ceasefire in Gaza holds, Pope Leo XIV urges a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land and the ’disarming’ of our hearts.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo in first major document: Love for the poor is not optional for Christians
“I often wonder, even though the teaching of Sacred Scripture is so clear about the poor, why many people continue to think that they can safely disregard the poor,” Pope Leo XIV states in his first magisterial document, known by its Latin title, “Dilexi Te.”
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo tells border bishop: The American church needs ‘to be united’ on migration
“You stand with me, and I stand with you,” Pope Leo told El Paso’s Bishop Mark Seitz, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ committee on migration, when he met him and a U.S. delegation in the Vatican today.