President Herzog’s visit comes at a very delicate political moment, as Israeli forces have laid siege to Gaza City in an attempt to take full control of it and have already reduced parts of it to rubble.
Pope Leo XIV
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo meets with Father James Martin, seen as a sign of support for ministry with L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics
“He made clear that he wants everyone to feel welcome,” Father James Martin, S.J., said after his private audience with Pope Leo.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo calls for stop to ‘the pandemic of arms’ after Minnesota Catholic school shooting
Speaking in English, Pope Leo XIV asked people “to plead with God to stop the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world” as he prayed for “the victims of the tragic shooting during a school Mass” in Minnesota last week.
Posted inNews
Pope Leo talks about what St. Augustine has given him in new video message
“So much of who I am I owe to the spirit and the teachings of St. Augustine,” Pope Leo XIV told his Augustinian confreres and their benefactors who were celebrating the saint’s feast day in Philadelphia.
Posted inNews Analysis
After the Catholic school shooting, will Pope Leo weigh in on America’s divisive gun debate?
In the midst of the loss—of life, of innocence and likely of a church, if not a school—some are looking to Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pope, for leadership in response to the overwhelmingly American problem of school shootings.
Posted inFaith in Focus
Fasting for peace in Gaza: What Pope Leo’s call really means
I can’t will myself into a spiritual experience, into a sense of solidarity or meaning or nobility or deep and somber union with God and man. I can will myself into doing regular daily things and recording them and seeing what comes of it all.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo warns against the ‘forced displacement of populations’ in Gaza
The pope called for “humanitarian law to be fully respected—especially the obligation to protect civilians and the prohibitions against collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations.”
Posted inNews
Pope Leo’s first World Peace Day message draws from his first public greeting
The Vatican announced the theme of Pope Leo’s 2026 World Peace Day message will be: “Peace be with you all: Towards an ‘unarmed and disarming’ peace.”
Posted inNews
Pope Leo encouraged vocations to the priesthood in meeting with French altar servers
“I speak to your young, enthusiastic and generous consciences,” the pope said, “and I will tell you something you must hear, even if it may trouble you a bit: the lack of priests in France, and in the world, is a great misfortune!”
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo sends letter to Zelensky and prays for peace on Ukraine’s independence day
Pope Leo XIV marked the 34th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence day—Aug. 24—by sending a message to the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and by telling pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square that he joined Ukrainians in asking the Lord “to grant peace to their martyred country.” Ukraine gained its independence from the former Soviet Union on Aug. […]