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Pope Leo XIV appeals to international community to respond to crisis in Sudan

Pope Leo XIV launches an appeal to the international community to provide humanitarian aid for the suffering people in war-ravaged Sudan, and asks for prayers for those affected by devastating mudslides in the country’s Darfur region.

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Pope at Audience: ‘I thirst’ is Jesus' cry for love and relationship

At the weekly General Audience, Pope Leo XIV reflects on Jesus’ final words on the Cross, and recalls that human fragility “is a bridge towards heaven.”

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Vatican to host seminar on “Creation, Nature, Environment for World Peace”

The meeting will take place 11-12 September at the Casina Pio IV at the Vatican and will be opened by Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The event is organized by the Council of Higher Studies of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, with the participation of ecclesial, business, social, and cultural experts worldwide.

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Palestinian Foreign Minister: ‘Peace is possible and justice can prevail'

A meeting with Holy See officials was on the agenda at the tail-end of a humanitarian and diplomatic tour to several European nations for the Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs this week. During her days in Rome, she made time to visit Palestinian children receiving treatment in Italian and Vatican Hospitals.

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Pope asks his Augustinian confreres to listen, be humble, promote unity

ROME (CNS) -- Twelve years after ending two terms as prior general of the Augustinian order, Pope Leo XIV encouraged his confreres in the order to pray to the Holy Spirit for the gifts of listening, being humble and promoting unity.

Presiding at a Mass of the Holy Spirit Sept. 1 to open the order's general chapter meeting, the pope had a prepared homily in Italian but chose to speak first in English.

"For those of you who understand English but don't understand Italian," he said, "pray for a gift of the Holy Spirit."

After some laughter, he prayed that members of the general chapter would not necessarily receive the spiritual gift of speaking and understanding all languages but "the gift to listen and the gift to be humble and the gift to promote unity within the order and through the order, throughout the church and the world."

Pope Leo, the former Father Robert F. Prevost, served two six-year terms as prior general of the order, leading the Augustinians from 2001 to 2013.

He was succeeded by Spanish Father Alejandro Moral Antón, who was to finish his second term during the general chapter meeting. 

Pope Leo XIV blesses Augustinian friars before joining them for dinner
Pope Leo XIV blesses his Augustinian confreres and their meal as he joins them for dinner Sept. 1, 2025, in a hall of the Italian attorney general's office next to the Basilica of St. Augustine in Rome. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

After the Mass, Pope Leo joined the chapter members for dinner in a large hall in the Italian attorney general's office, which is housed in a building next to the basilica that formerly belonged to the Augustinian order.

In his homily in Italian, the pope spoke more in-depth about his prayer that the Holy Spirit would bless the general chapter members with the ability to listen, to be humble and to promote unity.

"The Holy Spirit speaks today as in the past," the pope said. "He does so in the 'penetralia cordis' (the depth of the heart) and through brothers and sisters and the circumstances of life. This is why it is important for the atmosphere of the chapter, in harmony with the centuries-long tradition of the church, to be an atmosphere of listening: of listening to God and to others."

St. Augustine, the pope said, taught that the multiplicity of the gifts of the Holy Spirit was "an invitation to us to make ourselves small in the face of the freedom and inscrutability of God's action." 

Pope Leo XIV begins Mass with the Augustinians
Pope Leo XIV presides over the opening Mass for the Augustinians’ general chapter meeting at the Basilica of St. Augustine in Rome Sept. 1, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

"Let no one think they have all the answers. May each person openly share what they have. May everyone welcome with faith that which the Lord inspires," the pope told the friars.

The first reading at the Mass was from 1 Corinthians 12:4-13, which explains how the Spirit gives people different gifts but gives them all to build up the one body of Christ.

"Let unity be an indispensable goal of your efforts, but not only that: may it also be the criterion for evaluating your actions and your work together, because what unites is from him, but what divides cannot be," Pope Leo told his confreres.
 

Pope Leo to Augustinians: Listen, be humble, promote unity

Pope Leo to Augustinians: Listen, be humble, promote unity

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass Sept. 1 for the opening of the Augustinians general chapter meeting.

CELAM Theological Center presents Pan-American ecosystem project

Last week, a member of the Theological Center presented the initiative, called "Together", to the Pope, explaining that it offers training and practical programs on synodality for the Pan-American region in various languages.

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Archbishop Gallagher stresses need for dialogue and rebuilding consensus

On the final day of the Bled Strategic Forum taking place in Bled, Slovenia, the Holy See's Secretary for Relations with States and International Organisations, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, underscores the need for dialogue and consensus building in an increasingly divided world.

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Pope's September prayer intention: For our relationship with creation

In his prayer intention for September 2025, Pope Leo XIV invites us to pray that we might experience our interdependence with all creatures, who are loved by God and worthy of love and respect.

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On plans for a ‘new Middle East’ without the Palestinian people

Our Editorial Director criticizes plans to forcibly displace Palestinians from their land, calling for respect for the obligation to protect civilians.

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Pope Leo to meet with Israeli President Herzog and Polish President Nawrocki

The Holy See Press Office announces that Pope Leo XIV will receive Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Polish President Karol Nawrocki in audience later this week.

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