Vatican News

A conference in Rome last week brought together clergy, pastoral workers, and mental health professionals to discuss how to overcome the stigma surrounding mental health in the Church.The conference, “A Healing Presence: The Church’s Call to Mental Health Ministry,” held in Rome from Oct. 9–10, responded to Pope Leo XIV’s October prayer intention for mental ... read more

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, a 61-year-old Italian Franciscan, as the new archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica.The appointment also includes the positions of vicar general for Vatican City and president of the Fabric of St. Peter, the body responsible for the conservation of the basilica.Viola thus leaves the Secretariat of the ... read more

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Bishops from around the world asked for prayers for Pope Leo XIV after he announced on Sunday, Oct. 11, that he will undergo surgery to remove a nodule on one of his lungs in the coming days.In the United States, Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, said the prelates would join “the ... read more

The news that Pope Leo XIV will have surgery next week left many asking what a lung nodule is.He confirmed at the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday that the lesion was caught early and is well localized. “The doctors consider it advisable to intervene. I have decided to have the operation to remove ... read more

VATICAN CITY — Why are fewer young people choosing to marry in the Catholic Church, and how does contemporary society understand the relationship between sexuality, procreation, and the sacrament of marriage?Those are among the questions being addressed at an international gathering on the family at the Vatican, taking place behind closed doors through Oct. 14 ... read more

ROME — Pope Leo XIV will open an international congress on fertility and infertility on Oct. 16, bringing together specialists from a range of disciplines to address the scientific, anthropological, and ethical challenges related to sexuality and human reproduction.The conference, titled “The Splendor of the Human Person: Safeguarding Fertility, Healing Infertility,” will be held Oct. ... read more

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has been elected dean of the College of Cardinals, succeeding Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who has held the position since 2020. The Filipino prelate is the first Asian to serve as dean.The Vatican announced Tagle’s appointment on Oct. 9. In the same announcement, Pope Leo XIV approved Tagle’s election one ... read more

Pope Leo XIV urged students and faculty at Rome’s pontifical universities to “guard your hearts” and warned against reducing intellectual activity to the collection of data during a Mass Thursday marking the opening of the academic year.Celebrating the Eucharist in St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope emphasized the mission of pontifical universities, the importance of critical ... read more

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has appointed Sister Mary Teresa Barron as adjunct secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization in the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches, while also entrusting her with leadership of the Pontifical Mission Societies.According to the Holy See Press Office, the Irish religious sister will assume her new ... read more

VATICAN CITY — Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis’ 2016 apostolic exhortation on the family, is consistent with the Church teaching and practice that came before it, Sister Helen Alford, OP, said at the opening of a Vatican meeting about the papal document on Wednesday.Like an earlier document on the family by St. John Paul II, Amoris ... read more

Pope Leo XIV received a relic of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen from leaders of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, this month, marking a poignant moment involving the Catholic Church’s first American-born pope and one of the nation’s most iconic modern evangelists.Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria, accompanied by Monsignor Jason Gray, executive director of the Archbishop ... read more

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday urged patrons of the Vatican Museums to rediscover beauty in an era dominated by technology.The pontiff held a private audience on Oct. 7 at the Vatican with the Louisiana chapter of the patrons during their pilgrimage to Rome. The Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, founded in 1983, ... read more

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday called on Christians to be capable of “viewing the world in a positive light,” while urging them to be actively committed to transforming society according to the spirit of the Gospel, without watering down the Christian message.“It is certainly not by watering down the content or softening ... read more