In a joint statement, the Holy See and the State of Kuwait emphasize the importance of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence among religions, at the start of Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin's visit.

Read all

 

Also known as Paul the First Hermit and Paul of Thebes, an Egyptian hermit and friend of St. Jerome. Born in Lower The baid, Egypt, he was left an orphan at about the age of fifteen and hid during the persecution of the Church under Emperor Traj anus Decius. At the age of twenty two he went to the desert to circumvent a planned effort by his brother in law to report him to authorities as a Christian and thereby gain control of his property. Paul soon found that the eremitical life was much to ...

Pope Leo XIV meets with family members of those killed in a tragic fire that struck Crans-Montana, Switzerland, on New Year's Day, and offers words of faith and consolation.

Read all

 

Lured by advertising, easy mobile access, and hopes of quick money in an economically struggling country, gambling and betting are becoming a growing crisis among Africa’s youth. The situation is leading many young Africans toward addiction, financial ruin, and mental health challenges. In some parts of Malawi, young people have even turned to betting as a means of survival.

Read all

 

Pope Leo XIV sends his best wishes for the 50th anniversary of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, expressing his hope that the press will “always promote communication that is free and dialogical, animated by the search for truth and without prejudice.”

Read all

 

The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka has mobilized nationwide humanitarian and pastoral support to help communities recover from deadly floods caused by Cyclone Ditwah, which killed more than 600 people and affected millions late last year.

Read all

 

As Open Doors releases its World Watch List 2026, reporting a new record in violence against Christians, Cristian Nani, the association’s director, tells Vatican News that many of the victims were women and minors, noting particular concern for sub-Saharan Africa.

Read all

 

Amid ongoing threats to peace worldwide, Archbishop Gintaras Grušas, President of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, invites Christians to pray for peace during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, held annually on 18-25 January.

Read all

 

Almost 10 million people attend the Masses and procession for this year's Feast of the Black Nazarene —one of the most popular Christian festivals in Asia—in Manila.

Read all

 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- If Christians are to speak about God, then they must dedicate time each day and week to listening to God's word in prayer and the liturgy, Pope Leo XIV said.

"We are called to live and cultivate friendship with the Lord" through prayer, he said Jan. 14 during his weekly general audience.

"This is achieved first of all in liturgical and community prayer, in which we do not decide what to hear from the Word of God, but it is he himself who speaks to us through the Church," he said. "It is then achieved in personal prayer, which takes place in the interiority of the heart and mind."

"Time dedicated to prayer, meditation and reflection cannot be lacking in the Christian's day and week," he said. "Only when we speak with God can we also speak about him." 

Speaking to visitors gathered in the Paul VI Audience Hall for the general audience, the pope continued a new series of talks dedicated to the Second Vatican Council, which "rediscovered the face of God as the Father who, in Christ, calls us to be his children," Pope Leo said in his first talk introducing the series Jan. 7.

He dedicated his Jan. 14 catechesis to the Vatican II Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, "Dei Verbum," calling it "one of the most beautiful and important" documents of the council.

The document, published in 1965, affirms "a fundamental point of Christian faith," that "Jesus Christ radically transforms man's relationship with God," who is no longer invisible or distant, but has been made flesh, he said.

Out of the abundance of his love, the Lord "speaks to men as friends and lives among them, so that he may invite and take them into fellowship with himself," he said. "The only condition of the New Covenant is love." 

While the Covenant is eternal, and "nothing can separate us from his love," the revelation of God has "the dialogical nature of friendship," which "does not tolerate silence, but is nurtured by the exchange of true words," he said.

Just as human friendships can end with "a dramatic gesture of rupture or because of a series of daily acts of neglect that erode the relationship until it is lost," one's friendship with Jesus must be cultivated and cared for daily, Pope Leo said.

Therefore, the first step is to cultivate an "attitude of listening, so that the divine Word may penetrate our minds and our hearts," he said. "At the same time, we are required to speak with God, not to communicate to him what he already knows, but to reveal ourselves to ourselves."

"If Jesus calls us to be friends, let us not leave this call unheeded," he said.

"Let us take care of this relationship, and we will discover that friendship with God is our salvation," he said.