After the number of people detained by the U.S.’ immigration enforcement agency hits record high, U.N. High Commissioner Volker Türk says "demonizing migrants and refugees collectively as criminals, threats, or burdens on society – based on their origin, nationality or migration status – inhuman, wrong".

Read all

 

The constant strikes on the energy distribution network have caused operational damage far worse than expected, leaving thousands of households without heating or electricity.

Read all

 

St. Francis de Sales was born to a noble family at Chateau de Sales in the Kingdom of Savoy near Geneva, Switzerland on August 21, 1567. He was a Bishop and Doctor of the Church. Francis was both intelligent and gentle. From a very early age, he desired to serve God. He knew for years he had a vocation to the priesthood, but kept it from his family. His father wanted him to enter a career in law and politics. In 1580, Francis attended the University of Paris, and at 24-years-old, he received ...

As the Church celebrates the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Fr. Luke Gregory, OFM, reflects on the theme: “The here and now significance of Jesus’ ministry in Capernaum.”

Read all

 

Following a tradition begun with his predecessor, Pope Leo meets with a small group of business leaders from the energy and critical minerals sectors operating in Latin America and the Caribbean. Their focus ranges from building bridges to territorial needs and aspirations for care of our common home and decent work.

Read all

 

In his message for the 60th World Day of Social Communications, Pope Leo XIV highlights the importance of ensuring that technological innovation, particularly artificial intelligence, serves the human person rather than replacing or diminishing human dignity.

Read all

 

The Vatican Secretary of State is visiting Denmark as Papal Legate for the 1,200th anniversary of the beginning of Saint Ansgar’s mission. His programme also includes diplomatic meetings, among them visits with King Frederik X and Foreign Minister Rasmussen.

Read all

 

Amid mounting geopolitical tensions, Fr. Tomaž Majcen, the Slovene Franciscan priest who leads the small Catholic community on the Arctic island, tells Vatican News that Greenlanders “want to be seen as a people with their own story, language, culture, and faith.”

Read all

 

In this week’s news from the Eastern Churches, produced in collaboration with L’Œuvre d’Orient, we go to the Ethiopia and Eritrea, where Christians are commemorating the Epiphany and the baptism of Christ.

Read all

 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Advocating for unborn children is fulfilling the Lord's command to serve him in the most vulnerable, Pope Leo XIV told those taking part in the March for Life.

"I would encourage you, especially the young people, to continue striving to ensure that life is respected in all of its stages through appropriate efforts at every level of society, including dialogue with civil and political leaders," he said in a written message released by the Vatican Jan. 22.  

"May Jesus, who promised to be with us always, accompany you today as you courageously and peacefully march on behalf of unborn children," he wrote. "By advocating for them, please know that you are fulfilling the Lord’s command to serve him in the least of our brothers and sisters." 

The March for Life is held every year in January in Washington, D.C., to march on Capitol Hill to remember the anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide in 1973. While the Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022, abortion policy is now determined at the state and federal levels.

Addressing his message to all people taking part in the Jan. 23 March for Life, Pope Leo sent his "warm greetings" and expressed his "heartfelt appreciation."

He assured them "of my spiritual closeness as you gather for this eloquent public witness to affirm that 'the protection of the right to life constitutes the indispensable foundation of every other human right,'" quoting from his Jan. 9 address to members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. 

"Indeed, 'a society is healthy and truly progresses only when it safeguards the sanctity of human life and works actively to promote it,'" he wrote.

"With these sentiments, I entrust all of you, as well as those who support you with their prayers and sacrifices, to the intercession of Mary Immaculate, patroness of the United States of  America, and I gladly impart my apostolic blessing as a pledge of abundant heavenly graces," his message concluded.