Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV on Monday praised the missionary legacy of Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the famed American evangelist who will be beatified Sept. 24 in St. Louis, calling him “a light of faith, hope, and love.”The pope made his remarks June 1 during an audience with participants in the general assembly of the Pontifical ... read more

Pope Leo XIV said Sunday that the mystery of the Holy Trinity teaches Christians to see every creature as made for communion — and warned that division, polarization, and contempt for differences leave the world spiritually barren.Speaking before the Angelus on May 31, the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, the pope reflected on Jesus’ ... read more

Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, is a paean to peace that warns of the danger of “a world in a permanent state of belligerence" even more threatening than the Cold War era.In that era, the pope writes, despite the existence of grave conflicts, “the awareness persisted that a new global conflict had to ... read more

Pope Leo XIV this week received as a gift the steering wheel of the Ferrari Luce, the Italian brand’s first fully electric car.Leo also had the opportunity to sit in the driver’s seat of the new vehicle, presented by Ferrari as “not only the ‘electric Ferrari,’ but an entirely new Ferrari.”In a statement, the Italian ... read more

Pope Leo XIV will travel to the Republic of San Marino, an independent sovereign state within the Italian peninsula, on Aug. 22 as part of his trip to the Italian province of Rimini.The Vatican announced the visit in a statement from the Prefecture of the Papal Household, noting that the trip is part of his ... read more

Pope Leo met with the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, at the Vatican on May 28.Johnson, who has served as mayor since 2023, met with the pontiff for the first time since his election. He also used the occasion to formally invite the pontiff to visit his native city, Chicago.In a press briefing to journalists ... read more

Pope Leo XIV warned Thursday against the temptation to make Christianity more attractive by diluting its content or softening its demands, telling Vatican evangelization officials that the faith is transmitted above all through credible Christian witness.“It is certainly not by watering down the content or softening the demands that Christianity can be made attractive but ... read more

On June 9, as part of his apostolic journey to Spain, Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to visit Barcelona. There, he will inaugurate the Tower of Jesus Christ at the Basílica de la Sagrada Família and celebrate a Mass commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of its first architect and designer, Antoni Gaudí.Interest in ... read more

The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has presented a pastoral aid or kit on Magnifica Humanitas with the aim of making the new encyclical by Pope Leo XIV more easily understood.On May 27, the dicastery explained on social media how the pastoral kit is structured and provided a link to it. The material includes ... read more

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday created a commission to identify solutions for long-term sustainability at the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, a major hospital complex founded by St. Pio of Pietrelcina and directly overseen by the Vatican Secretariat of State.The Catholic hospital — which is located in the southern Italian region of Puglia — is facing ... read more

At the general audience on May 27, Pope Leo XIV urged priests to respect the “norms of the liturgy” and not to make changes to the Mass “on their own initiative,” in order to avoid confusing the faithful.“I encourage all priests to respect the texts and norms of the liturgy with openness, humility, trust in ... read more

During the presentation of Pope Leo XIVʼs first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, the co-founder of Anthropic, Christopher Olah, pointed to three major ethical challenges posed by the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and called for a profound discernment regarding its future.On May 25, addressing representatives from the realms of academia, diplomacy, and religion gathered in the ... read more

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) announced the names of four priests to be consecrated as bishops on July 1 without the permission of Pope Leo XIV. The general house of the society published the announcement on May 26 after being warned by the Vatican on May 13 that its plan to consecrate bishops ... read more

Pope Leo XIV decried a rejection of Christian values in European institutions, leading to what he characterized as “a time of drastic sterility” and “purportedly family-friendly policies” that also support abortion.In a May 25 audience with members of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Demography, the pope underscored the central place of the family — founded ... read more

The Vatican Museums and the Archdiocese of Sydney have launched an immersive experience of the Sistine Chapel in Sydney, Australia.The exhibit will enable visitors to experience Michelangeloʼs world-famous Renaissance frescoes beyond the Vatican ahead of the International Eucharistic Congress in Sydney in 2028.A conference was held in Rome on May 22 to celebrate the initiative ... read more