Posted on 05/7/2026 08:41 AM ()
Pope Leo XIV holds an audience with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Vatican, with discussions including countries marked by war.
Posted on 05/7/2026 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
May 8, 2025
U.S. Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, a Chicago-born Augustinian, is elected as Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first American pope in history. "Together we must try to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges and always dialogues, that is always open to receiving everyone like this square with its arms open to everyone, everyone in need," he told the crowd. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
June 22, 2025
Pope Leo leads a Corpus Christi procession through streets of Rome, saying it presents Jesus "to the hearts of those who believe, so that they may believe more firmly" and "to the hearts of those who do not believe, so that they may reflect on the hunger present within them and the bread that alone can satisfy it." (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
June 29, 2025
He blessed and imposed the pallium on 54 new metropolitan archbishops, including eight from the United States, in St. Peter’s Basilica. He said archbishops around the world can provide by their example the fraternity and unity in diversity the entire Catholic Church needs today. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
July 9, 2025
Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass for the Care of Creation on the grounds of the Borgo Laudato Si' ecology center in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, where he will also spend time during the summer and Tuesdays during the rest of the year for rest and reflection. (CNS photo/Cristian Gennari, pool)
August 2, 2025
He leads an evening prayer vigil at Tor Vergata in Rome for the Jubilee of Youth, attended by more than 1 million young people. He urged them to make courageous choices and seek authentic relationships rooted in Christ rather than fleeting online connections. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
Sept. 7, 2025
He canonizes his first saints, Sts. Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, in St. Peter's Square, praising their devotion to the Eucharist, prayer and serving the poor. The pope urged the faithful, especially young people, to follow their examples and live the great "adventure" of following God's plan. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
Oct. 4, 2025
He signs his first apostolic exhortation, "Dilexi Te" ("I Have Loved You"), focusing on the Christian obligation to love the poor and decrying the injustice of the global market system. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Nov. 27 - Dec. 2, 2025
He makes his first international apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon, marking the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. The friendship and respect, especially between Christians and Muslims, he saw in these countries could be a helpful example for people in North America and Europe, too, he said. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
Jan. 6, 2026
Pope Leo closes the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, formally concluding the 2025 Jubilee Year dedicated to hope. During Mass, he criticized the way "a distorted economy" has tried to exploit and profit from everything, including the human desire for joy and true fulfillment -- gifts that God offers freely to everyone. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Feb. 18, 2026
Pope Leo begins the season of Lent by highlighting how people, especially younger generations, are looking for an "authentic, honest and attractive" way to take ownership and responsibility in the world, which starts with humble repentance. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
March 14, 2026
He moves into the newly renovated apartments traditionally set aside for the pope in the Apostolic Palace with a small number of his confreres to continue the community-focused style of the Augustinian order. In the photo, he visits the chapel May 11, 2025, before the renovations. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
April 13-23, 2026
He travels to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea to amplify the voices of the local people and to highlight their faith, dreams and the challenges remaining. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
May 8, 2026
Pope Leo marks the first anniversary of his May 8, 2025, election, which fell on the day of the Supplication to Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii, by visiting Naples and Pompeii to visit the Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii. “I therefore had to come here, to place my service under the protection of the Blessed Virgin,” he said in his homily. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
Posted on 05/7/2026 08:05 AM ()
In the first year of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV has appealed hundreds of times for a reconciliation that is “unarmed and disarming,” and urged the “lords of war” to listen to “a melody greater than ourselves.”
Posted on 05/7/2026 06:00 AM ()
Our Editorial Director reflects on the message and impact of the first year of Pope Leo XIV's pontificate.
Posted on 05/7/2026 06:00 AM (Catholic Online > Saint of the Day)
Posted on 05/7/2026 05:33 AM ()
Pope Leo XIV emphasizes the importance of reading and reflects on three enriching aspects of books during his encounter with members of the editorial offices of the Vatican Publishing House (LEV).
Posted on 05/7/2026 05:12 AM ()
Pope Leo XIV meets with members of the Pontifical Swiss Guards and their families, expressing his hopes that their years of service to the Holy See may bear spiritual riches as they build an atmosphere of harmony and joy.
Posted on 05/7/2026 04:27 AM ()
Pope Leo XIV receives the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, Donald Tusk, in the Vatican on Thursday.
Posted on 05/7/2026 04:07 AM ()
The Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, in the United States, announces plans to build a shrine to Venerable Father Augustine Tolton, whose story of overcoming racial discrimination and divisions in his time continues to be a source of inspiration to promote peace and unity.
Posted on 05/6/2026 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church is the guardian of hope, whose members are called to speak clearly against all evil and in defense of human life, Pope Leo XIV said.
The Church, as "the pilgrim people of God on earth," he said during his general audience in St. Peter's Square May 6, "reads and interprets the dynamics of history through the Gospel, denouncing evil in all its forms and proclaiming, in word and deed, the salvation that Christ wishes to bring about for all humanity and his kingdom of justice, love and peace."
"As the guardian of a hope that enlightens the path," he added, the Church is "invested with the mission of speaking clearly to reject everything that mortifies life and prevents its development, and to take a position in favor of the poor, the exploited, the victims of violence and war, and all those who suffer in body and in spirit."
The pope's remarks were part of his continuing series of reflections on the documents of the Second Vatican Council, specifically, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, "Lumen Gentium." His May 6 catechesis was dedicated to the Church's eschatological dimension, that is, the transcendent, transtemporal and transhistorical nature of the kingdom of God.
"This is an essential dimension which, however, we often overlook or downplay, because we are too focused on what is immediately visible and on the more concrete dynamics of the life of the Christian community," the pope said.
"The Church is God’s people journeying through history, which has the kingdom of God as the purpose of all her action," he said. "We are therefore called to consider the community and cosmic dimension of salvation in Christ and to turn our eyes to this final horizon, to measure and evaluate everything from this perspective."
The Catholic Church lives in human history at the service of the coming of the kingdom of God in the world, he said. "She proclaims the words of this promise to all and always."
That means the Church is not proclaiming herself, he said. "On the contrary, everything within her must point to salvation in Christ."
Despite being at the service of the kingdom of God, "the Church is called to recognize humbly the human fragility and transience of her own institutions," which can never be treated as "absolute," he said.
"Indeed, since they exist within history and time, they are called to continual conversion, to the renewal of forms and the reform of structures, to the continual regeneration of relationships, so that they may truly fulfil their mission," Pope Leo said.
As members of the same body, he said in a summary of his remarks in English, "we too are called to renewal. We do this by remaining in communion with Christ and one another. The entire Church is most closely united in our praise of God in the liturgy."
The Church "does not identify perfectly with the Kingdom of God, but is its seed and beginning, for its fulfilment will be granted to humanity and the cosmos only at the end," he said in his main catechesis.
Those who believe in Christ can walk this pilgrimage on earth, marked by injustices and suffering, without being either deluded or despairing, he said, as "they live guided by the promise received from the One who will 'make all things new.'"
That is why the church, as a guardian of hope, urges her members to clearly reject evil and promote God's kingdom of justice, love and peace, he said.
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