At the conclusion of the General Audience on October 22, the Pope greeted and thanked the members of "The Friends of the Holy Father", an association founded in 1979 in response to the appeal of Saint John Paul II.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The pursuit of synodality should strengthen the Catholic Church's mission of proclaiming the Gospel and help all Catholics learn to collaborate to make the world a better place, Pope Leo XIV said.

"As Pope Francis reminded us on numerous occasions," the pope said, the purpose of synodality "is to help the church fulfill its primary role in the world, which is to be missionary, to announce the Gospel, to give witness to the person of Jesus Christ in every part of the world, to the ends of the earth."

That witness includes speaking up for justice, caring for the planet and promoting peace, Pope Leo said during a meeting late Oct. 24 with participants in the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies. 

"The church has a voice, and we need to be courageous in raising our voice to change the world, to make it a better place," he told the pilgrims, who included about 150 representatives from the United States with 15 U.S. bishops.

During the evening meeting, the pope listened to seven regionals reports on the implementation of the 2021-2024 Synod of Bishops on synodality and answered a question from each regional representative. Pope Leo took notes during the presentations, and his responses appeared to be unscripted. 

Two questions drew strong applause from participants, a reaction Pope Leo noted in his responses. The first applauded question was about changing the minds of "bishops and priests who are concerned that synodality may diminish their authority as pastors"; and the second was whether the pope believed "equality between men and women in the church can become a lived reality in the future."

Canadian Bishop Alain Faubert of Valleyfield, Quebec, gave the North American report, which ended with the question about getting all bishops and priests onboard.

Pope Leo said there is a need "to invite the priests, particularly, even more so than the bishops, I think, to somehow open their hearts and take part in these processes. Oftentimes, the resistances come out of fear and the lack of knowledge."

The synodal process of listening to one another without immediately judging or defending one's position has practical applications, he said. 

Apparently referring to the breakdown of U.S.-Canada talks about trade and tariffs, the pope noted that the two countries "are experiencing even great difficulties. Two countries that were once considered the closest allies, at times, become separated from one another, and it's another proof, another expression, of why synodality -- listening and dialogue -- are so important, and how they have concrete applications in our daily lives."

People committed to synodality in the church need to be patient, though, he said. "We have to understand that we do not all run at the same speed, and sometimes we have to be patient with one another, rather than a few people running ahead and leaving a lot behind, which could cause even a break in an ecclesial experience."

Presenting the European report, Klara-Antonia Csiszar, a professor of theology in Linz, Austria, told Pope Leo that "the question of women remains an important issue throughout Europe. In many local churches in the West, impatience for greater female participation is an open reality, while elsewhere, debates on the diaconate or on women's leadership encounter resistance, skepticism or fear."

Responding, the pope began by telling the delegates that sometime in the 1970s he remembers asking his mother if she wanted to be equal to men. "And she said, 'No, because we are already better.' And she was not joking."

"Leaving aside the most difficult themes that are being studied by study groups," particularly the question of ordaining women to the diaconate, Pope Leo said he believed the lack of equality for women in the church is due mainly to "cultural obstacles." 

"I mean women could play a key role in the church, but there are priests and bishops who hesitate," he said. "There are cultures in the church where women still suffer because of inequality. In some cultures, women are considered as second-class citizens and in reality, do not enjoy the same rights as men."

A challenge for the church, Pope Leo said, is to "understand how we can promote respect for the rights of everyone, men and women. How can we promote a culture in which these things become not only possible, but they become a reality, a culture in which there is co-participation of all the members of society, each according to their vocation, so everyone can play a role, can have a role of responsibility in the church."

The church, he said, must find ways to "to transform cultures according to the values of the Gospel. Unfortunately, often the way which we live out our faith is influenced more by our culture than by Gospel values."

In L’Osservatore Romano, the renowned American writer William Vollmann - whose career has been dedicated to the wretched of the earth: the poor, the homeless, prostitutes - reflects on Pope Leo's apostolic exhortation 'Dilexi te'.

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There is very little known about them. Chrysanthus was an Egyptian, son of a Patrician, Polemius. He was brought to Rome from Alexandria during the reign of Numerian, and despite the objections of his father, who had brought him to Rome, was baptized by a priest named Carpophorus. Chrysanthus refused is father's attempts to get him married, finally married Daria, a Greek and a priestess of Minerva, converted her, and convinced her to live with him in chastity. When they converted a number of ...

At the First Committee of the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly, Archbishop Garbriele Caccia calls for eliminating the use of conventional weapons as "their unchecked spread breeds mistrust, fuels violence, and undermines dialogue between States."

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Prior to Friday’s encounter with Pope Leo, participants in the Jubilee for Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies engage in a dialogue in the Paul VI Hall, with leaders discussing hopes for the future, ongoing tensions, and the place of synodality in the Church and the world.

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Pope Leo XIV receives Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri at an audience on Saturday morning. The Lebanese leaders later met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and other members of the Secretariat of State

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At the Jubilee Audience on Saturday, Pope Leo XIV holds up the example of Nicholas of Cusa, “a great thinker and a servant of unity”, who helps us understand that we can continue to hope even when we do not have all the answers.

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Pope Leo XIV meets and dialogues with members of Synodal teams and participatory bodies here for their Jubilee pilgrimage from 24 to 26 October 2025.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A society cannot pretend to be pro-family if it does not adopt policies that allow parents and children to spend time together rather than always being worried about work, Pope Leo XIV said.

"In a society that often exalts productivity and speed at the expense of relationships, it becomes urgent to restore time and space to the love that is learned within the family, where the first experiences of trust, gift and forgiveness are woven -- forming the very fabric of social life," he said Oct. 24.

Pope Leo made the comments during a meeting with faculty, staff, students and alumni of the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences.

Praising the intuition of St. John Paul II for launching the graduate school and Pope Francis for insisting its curriculum be multidisciplinary, Pope Leo asked for particular attention to drawing from and strengthening reflections on the role of the family in Catholic social teaching. 

The institute, he said, is called to contribute to "the ongoing renewal of dialogue between family life, the world of work and social justice -- addressing issues of pressing relevance such as peace, the care of life and health, integral human development, youth employment, economic sustainability and equal opportunities between men and women, all of which influence the decision to marry and to bring children into the world."

The church and its ministers cannot be "content merely to speak about the truth" concerning marriage and family life, Pope Leo said, but it must "promote concrete and coordinated actions in support of the family," including through government policies.

"In fact, the quality of a country's social and political life is measured above all by how it enables families to live well -- to have time for themselves and to cultivate the bonds that unite them," the pope said.

In "Amoris Laetitia" ("The Joy of Love"), Pope Francis' 2016 post-synodal exhortation on marriage, love and family life, Pope Leo said, the late pope wrote with tenderness to pregnant women, "urging them to cherish the joy of bringing a new life into the world." 

"His words express a simple yet profound truth: human life is a gift and must always be welcomed with respect, care and gratitude," Pope Leo said. "Therefore, in the face of so many mothers who experience pregnancy in conditions of loneliness or marginalization, I feel the duty to remind everyone that both the civil and ecclesial communities must remain constantly committed to restoring full dignity to motherhood."

The pope also spoke about what he called "the growing tendency in many parts of the world to undervalue or even reject marriage."

The church's first response, he said, must be "to be attentive to the action of God's grace in the heart of every man and woman. Even when young people make choices that do not correspond to the ways proposed by the church according to the teaching of Jesus, the Lord continues to knock at the door of their hearts, preparing them to receive a new inner call."

The church's pastoral workers must recognize that "our time is marked not only by tensions and ideologies that confuse hearts, but also by a growing quest for spirituality, truth and justice -- especially among the young," he said. "To welcome and care for this longing is one of the most beautiful and urgent tasks before us all."