The Gospel parable of the “wasteful sower” who casts seeds on fertile soil as well as on a rocky path “is an image of the way God loves us,” Pope Leo XIV told 40,000 visitors and pilgrims at his first weekly general audience.

Catholics suffer from widespread ignorance of important, historical precedents of both female and lay ecclesial leadership.

On Monday morning, Pope Leo XIV met JD Vance in the private library of the Apostolic Palace, a day after the pontiff's inaugural Mass.

At his installation Mass, the pope said, "in this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalizes the poorest.”

Tuesday, May 20th at 5:30pm ET: Featuring Sam Sawyer, S.J., James Martin, S.J., Colleen Dulle and Sebastian Gomes.

Pope Leo XIV will formally begin his ministry as bishop of Rome with a liturgy steeped in tradition and rich in symbolism May 18.