Pope Leo XIV venerated a first-class relic of St. Thérèse of Lisieux during his December 31 general audience, much as Pope Francis had done in December 2024.
The relic, a bone of the saint’s foot, was venerated at the French national church in Rome during the 2025 jubilee year. “And now, after this ‘encounter’ with Pope Prevost, it will return home at the end of the jubilee,” said Father Emmanuel Schwab, rector of the Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse in Lisieux.