At the Wednesday General Audience, Pope Leo XIV highlights that Christ’s Resurrection can bring direction to our daily lives, fulfill our thirst for meaning, and transmit hope to the world.

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In remarks to journalists in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo calls for “deep reflection” on the treatment of migrants in the United States, urges "dialogue" between the US and Venezuela, warns that the Israel-Hamas peace deal is "very fragile", and expresses his hope that the trial of ex-Jesuit Marko Rupnik will "bring clarity and justice for everyone involved".

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This week, as the world shifted its gaze from post-electoral turmoil in Cameroon to Tanzania, the Archbishop of Bamenda and President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya, shares some of his thoughts with Vatican News on what could be the way forward for Cameroon. Archbishop Nkea was in Rome recently, leading over 100 “Pilgrims of Hope" visiting Rome and other holy sites for the 2025 Jubilee of Hope. The pilgrimage, which started on 24 October, conclude

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While praising devotion to Mary, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith firmly rejected moves to formally proclaim Mary as "co-redemptrix" or "co-mediatrix."

In a lengthy doctrinal note titled "Mater Populi Fidelis" ("Mother of the Faithful People of God"), the dicastery said the title co-redemptrix or co-redeemer "carries the risk of eclipsing the exclusive role of Jesus Christ" in salvation.

And, regarding the title co-mediatrix or co-mediator, it said that Mary, "the first redeemed, could not have been the mediatrix of the grace that she herself received."

However, it said, the title may be used when it does not cast doubt on "the unique mediation of Jesus Christ, true God and true man." 

Pope Leo XIV approved the text Oct. 7 and ordered its publication, said the note, which was released Nov. 4. 

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the doctrinal dicastery, presented the document during a conference at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome and said its teaching becomes part of the church's "ordinary magisterium" and must be considered authoritative.

For more than 30 years, some Catholics, including some bishops, have asked for formal dogmatic declarations of Mary as co-redemptrix and co-mediatrix, the document's introduction said. But Msgr. Armando Matteo, secretary of the dicastery's doctrinal section, told the conference that the Vatican's first study of the doctrinal implications of the titles goes all the way back to 1926. 

Cardinal Fernández said that one time, when St. Peter's Basilica was closed, he spent a long time in front of Michelangelo's Pietà. The sorrow on Mary's face because of the death of her son and, at the same time, her obvious strength, he said, "was so beautiful it was understandable why people would want to say everything and more about Mary."

The new document said that titles used for Mary should speak of her motherly care for all people and her place as the first and perfect disciple of Jesus but must not create any doubt that Catholics believe Jesus is the redeemer of the world and the bestower of grace.

"Any gaze directed at her that distracts us from Christ or that places her on the same level as the Son of God would fall outside the dynamic proper to an authentically Marian faith," it said, because Mary always points to her son.

The titles co-redemptrix and co-mediatrix have been used in reference to Mary by theologians and even popes in the past millennium, the doctrinal dicastery said, but without elaborating on the precise meaning and the extent to which those titles could describe Mary's role in salvation history. 

St. John Paul II "referred to Mary as 'Co-redemptrix' on at least seven occasions," the note said, but after consultation with the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and its prefect, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in 1996, he did not issue a dogmatic declaration and stopped using the title.

Citing Scripture and tradition, the future Pope Benedict XVI said, "The precise meaning of these titles (co-redemptrix and co-mediatrix) is not clear, and the doctrine contained in them is not mature."

"Everything comes from Him -- Christ -- as the Letter to the Ephesians and the Letter to the Colossians, in particular, tell us; Mary, too, is everything that she is through Him. The word 'Co-redemptrix' would obscure this origin," Pope Benedict said.

Pope Francis, at a general audience in 2020, said that Jesus entrusted Mary to humanity as a mother, "not as a goddess, not as co-redemptrix," adding that love motivated some people to call her co-redemptrix, but love often leads people to "exaggerate."

"Given the necessity of explaining Mary's subordinate role to Christ in the work of Redemption, it would not be appropriate to use the title 'Co-redemptrix' to define Mary's cooperation," the doctrinal note said.

The title, it said, "risks obscuring Christ's unique salvific mediation and can therefore create confusion and an imbalance in the harmony of the truths of the Christian faith, for 'there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.'"

"When an expression requires many repeated explanations to prevent it from straying from a correct meaning, it does not serve the faith of the People of God and becomes unhelpful," the dicastery concluded. 

The use of the title "co-mediatrix" is more complicated, the doctrinal note said, because the word "mediation" often is "understood simply as cooperation, assistance or intercession" and easily could apply to Mary without calling into question "the unique mediation of Jesus Christ, true God and true man."

Mary's role in salvation history is unique, the document said. She willingly accepted to become the mother of Jesus the savior, she raised him, traveled with him and stood at the foot of his cross.

While Christ, fully human and fully divine, is the one mediator between God and humanity, it said, "he enables various forms of participation in his salvific plan because, in communion with him, we can all become, in some way, cooperators with God and 'mediators' for one another."

"If this holds true for every believer -- whose cooperation with Christ becomes increasingly fruitful to the extent that one allows oneself to be transformed by grace -- how much more must it be affirmed of Mary in a unique and supreme way," the doctrinal note said.

The church believes that those in heaven can pray and intercede for people still on earth and, "among those chosen and glorified with Christ, first and foremost is his Mother," the note said. "Therefore, we can affirm that Mary has a unique collaboration in the saving work that Christ carries out in his Church. With this intercession, Mary can become for us a motherly sign of the Lord's mercy."
 

November 4, 2025

 

WASHINGTON - Since 2016, the Catholic Church has observed the World Day of the Poor on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time as way for Catholics to reflect more deeply on our call to love the poor as our brothers and sisters. On November 15-16, parishes in many Catholic dioceses throughout the United States are able to observe this year’s World Day of the Poor by taking a collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the domestic anti-poverty initiative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

 

“Jesus reminds us that faith, even as small as a mustard seed, holds within it the power to transform the world. From something seemingly insignificant can grow a tree that offers shelter, hope, and new life. In many ways, that is the story of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, founded by the bishops of the United States in 1969. Through CCHD, the Church lives out the Gospel call to solidarity, fostering the capacity of people experiencing poverty to work together to confront the roots of injustice and build stronger, more just communities,” said Bishop Timothy Senior of Harrisburg, chairman of the bishops’ Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. “This same spirit of faith takes root in our own communities, where twenty-five percent of every CCHD collection stays within the diocese. These funds support local efforts that uplift our neighbors, strengthen families, and help build a future of hope.” 

 

CCHD provides crucial support to both growing and longstanding organizations that promote justice, neighborhood improvement, and job creation for marginalized groups in both urban and rural communities across the United States. 

 

Bishop Senior cited four organizations as examples that illustrate the wholistic efforts of CCHD to help communities improve nutrition, reduce violence, prepare for natural disasters, and combat environmental pollution. One counters violence and pollution on Chicago’s South Side, two support small farmers and ranchers in contrasting climates, and one saves lives in hurricane zones:

 

• Together New Orleans was able to partner with local government officials and improve hurricane response with a CCHD grant that allowed installation of commercial-grade solar arrays on strategically-located churches and other community buildings that serve as emergency shelters. The pilot project of 15 “Community Lighthouses” is now so successful that Louisiana has allocated $200 million to build 345 statewide.
• In Minnesota’s Twin Cities, the Sustainable Farming Association offers workshops and mentoring to help small farmers and ranchers build thriving, environmentally-sound businesses. A CCHD grant has increased events that address issues such as soil improvement, financial management, and mental health.
• In New Mexico, La Cosecha Community-Supported Agriculture -- a cooperative farming network – used a CCHD grant to help run a food coop for the poor, market locally-grown organic vegetables to institutional buyers, and provide food education to local students.
• On Chicago’s South Side, a CCHD grant underwrote the Alliance of the Southeast as it trained teenagers in community leadership. Those teens have had key roles successfully opposing plans for a nearby toxic waste dump, launching violence-prevention initiatives in schools, and instigating the renovation of moldy, rat-infested public housing.

 

While CCHD grant recipients include nonsectarian, ecumenical, and interreligious organizations, all must abide by Catholic moral teaching, including respect for human life from conception until natural death and prioritizing the concerns of the poor. 

 

In 2024, the bishops awarded $2.24 million in grants.

 

“World Day of the Poor is an invitation for us to pray and to act, to build a world that truly recognizes the God-given dignity of our brothers and sisters who are most vulnerable,” Bishop Senior said. “One concrete way to respond to this call is by participating in the collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. I invite you to remember the Lord’s words about the mustard seed: even the smallest act of faith can, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, grow into something that transforms lives and renews communities, both across our nation and within your own diocese.”

 

Some dioceses take the collection on a date other than November 15-16. If you are unable to give to the collection at your parish but wish to support CCHD’s national antipoverty efforts, the online giving platform iGiveCatholic accepts funds for CCHD.

 

More information is at www.usccb.org/cchd. 

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WASHINGTON - As world leaders gather for the 30th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), the bishop chairmen who lead committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that address climate policy were joined by the president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to call for urgent, courageous action to protect God’s creation and people. 

Archbishop Borys Gudziak, Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, and Mr. Sean Callahan’s statement follows: 

“This year’s COP30 convenes while the Catholic Church celebrates the Jubilee Year of Hope.   Pope Leo XIV called for the participants of COP30 to ‘listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, families, indigenous peoples, involuntary migrants and believers throughout the world.’ This jubilee year is a sacred opportunity to restore relationships and renew creation at a time when the gift of life is under grave threat. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation are devastating communities already burdened by poverty and exclusion. Farming and fishing families confront threats to their livelihoods; Indigenous Peoples face destruction of their ancestral lands; children’s health, safety, and futures are at risk. Failing to steward God’s creation, ignores our responsibility as one human family.

“A decade ago, in Laudato si’, Pope Francis reminded us that the climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all, and that intergenerational solidarity is not optional.  We call on world leaders to act urgently and courageously for an ambitious Paris Agreement implementation that protects God’s creation and people. As all of us are impacted, so must we all be responsible for addressing this global challenge. 

“At COP30, countries, along with civil society organizations and corporations, should recommit to implementation that: invests in adaptation efforts to create resilience and foster economic opportunities; commits to bold mitigation efforts that reduce climate warming emissions; pledges loss and damage financing that guarantees priority and direct access to vulnerable affected communities; ensures a just transition to a sustainable economy centered on workers, communities and creation; and makes financing for climate solutions, including debt relief, timely and transparent while at the same time upholding human dignity. Together, these actions can work towards integral ecology and ‘give priority to the poor and marginalized in the process.’

“We offer our prayers of support and solidarity and pledge to work collaboratively to safeguard the future of our common home.” 

Archbishop Borys Gudziak is chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Bishop A. Elias Zaidan is chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace. As president and CEO of CRS, Mr. Callahan leads the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic Church in the United States.

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Pope Leo XIV releases his prayer intention for the month of November, inviting the faithful to pray for 'the prevention of suicide' and for those living in darkness and despair.

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From 28 to 30 November, in Castel Gandolfo, Restarting the Economy — the global meeting promoted by The Economy of Francesco — will take place. An international event aimed at rethinking the economy in light of the Jubilee, focusing on social justice, care for the Earth, and freedom from debt.

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Saint Charles Borromeo was born on October 2, 1538 at the castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore near Milan. His father was the Count of Arona and his mother a member of the House of Medici. He was the third of six children born to the couple. At the age of 12, the young Count Charles Borromeo dedicated himself to a life of service to the Church. His uncle gave to him the family income from the Benedictine abbey of Saints Gratinian and Felinus. Even as a youth, his integrity was obvious. He was ...

The Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona takes record for tallest church in the world as construction nears its end for the central tower, which is set to be finished in 2026.

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