“The emphasis is less on the church itself and more on what the visit represents for the country: a gesture of peace, dialogue and international recognition,” Algeria’s Bishop Diego Sarrió Cucarella said in an interview.
Pope Leo XIV
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Pope Leo amplifies criticism of Iran war and says ‘God does not bless any conflict’
Pope Leo XIV amplified his condemnation of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran on Friday, saying that “God does not bless any conflict” and certainly doesn’t side with those who drop bombs.
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Podcast: Pope Leo denounces Trump’s Iran threats
This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen and Gerry recap a packed two weeks of Vatican news, covering Pope Leo’s first Holy Week celebrations and his comments on President Trump’s threat to wipe out ‘an entire civilization.’
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Dioceses, parishes take up Pope Leo’s call to pray for peace, plan vigils for April 11
Parishes and dioceses throughout the nation are taking up Pope Leo XIV’s call to pray for peace, holding April 11 vigils coinciding with the pope’s own at St. Peter’s Basilica.
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Catholics hope Pope Leo’s Africa trip will uplift countries suffering from U.S. aid cuts
As Pope Leo XIV visits, Africa’s often interrelated crises of armed conflict, poverty and displacement have been worsened by the withdrawal of development and humanitarian aid by the United States and other donor nations.
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Pope Leo’s first Holy Week and Easter in a world at war
This week on “Jesuitical,” Ashley and Sebastian discuss Leo’s first Holy Week and Easter as pope and his calls for peace amid war in the Middle East.
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Pentagon disputes report senior officials lectured Vatican diplomat about Pope Leo
The top Vatican diplomat in the U.S. was brought to the Pentagon in January for a “bitter lecture” about comments from Pope Leo XIV that some senior U.S. defense officials perceived as criticism of the Trump administration, The Free Press reported April 6.
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Pope Leo praises U.S.-Iran ceasefire as ‘sign of genuine hope,’ presses for peace
Pope Leo XIV welcomed the newly announced ceasefire in the Middle East as “a sign of genuine hope” after what he described as “hours of extreme tension,” while urging a return to negotiations and calling the faithful to prayer.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo: Trump’s threat to destroy Iran ‘truly unacceptable’
Speaking in English, Leo called on the citizens of the countries involved “to contact the authorities, political leaders, congressmen—to ask them, tell them, to work for peace and to reject war always.”
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US bishops’ leader rebukes Trump after he threatens Iran’s ‘whole civilization will die tonight’
In a post the same day on his social media website, Truth Social, Trump said, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”