If this is the case, it means I share ancestry with Pope Leo XIV through my great-grandmother Eugenie Lemelle’s paternal lineage going back to where I started the story of my ancestry in this piece—Marie Jeanne Davion. My very, very, distant cousin is the pope!
Pope Leo XIV
Posted inNews
Leo’s new papal staff highlights Christ’s victory over death
While Catholics have been accustomed to the famed silver papal staff featuring the suffering of Christ crucified and used by the pontiffs for decades, a new staff, or crosier, used by Pope Leo XIV, emphasized the victory of the risen Christ over death.
Posted inNews
Vatican completes official mosaic portrait of Pope Leo XIV for papal basilica
Pope Leo blessed artists Jan. 14, smiling at the sight of his own image, even as he battled a cold.
Posted inSpeeches
Pope Leo on the Vatican II document that reminds us: Christ transforms our relationship with God
This is a fundamental point of Christian faith, which Dei Verbum reminds us of: Jesus Christ radically transforms man’s relationship with God, which is henceforth a relationship of friendship. Therefore, the only condition of the new covenant is love.
Posted inCatholic Book Club
George Orwell is more relevant than ever. Just ask the pope.
George Orwell’s crusade against the misuse of language resulted in his name becoming an adjective—and his writing becoming more and more relevant in our age.
Posted inNews
Pope Leo meets with Venezuelan opposition leader Machado
Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado asked for Pope Leo XIV’s help in securing the release of political prisoners in the country following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Posted inPodcasts
What we learned from Pope Leo’s first consistory
This week, Pope Leo XIV convened his first consistory. 170 cardinals from around the world gathered at the Vatican for two days of intense meetings. On “Inside the Vatican” this week, hosts Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell discuss the key takeaways from the consistory and what it signals about the style and substance of Leo’s […]
Posted inNews
Pope Leo to visit Spain this year, with stops in Madrid, Barcelona and Canary Islands, cardinal says
Spain had long lobbied for Francis to visit, but over 12 years he always declined. Francis preferred to travel to smaller countries, oftentimes far away, where Catholics were a minority.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
‘War is back in vogue,’ Pope Leo warns in major foreign policy speech
“War is back in vogue, and a zeal for war is spreading,” Pope Leo XIV said in a forceful address on Jan. 9 to ambassadors from the 184 countries that have full diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo says he will hold consistories with the College of Cardinals every year
Leo XIV clearly does not intend to go it alone as pope.