World News

Pope Leo XIV with Montserrat Alvarado, at the Vatican on May 12, 2025. Montserrat Alvarado becomes the first lay woman appointed prefect of a dicastery of the Holy See. ... read more

Pope Leo XIV today named Maria Montserrat (Montse) Alvarado, the president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, as prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. From 2009 to 2023, Alvarado worked for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where she served as vice president and executive director. She is a graduate of ... read more

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Maria Montserrat Alvarado, President and Chief Operating Officer of EWTN News, as Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. The appointment will take effect Nov. 1, 2026.Since 2023, Alvarado has overseen EWTN News’ global and multilingual news operations across television, radio, print, digital, and social media platforms. During her tenure, ... read more

This year the Church marks 800 years since St. Francis of Assisiʼs death at the age of 44 — his “Transitus,” as Franciscans call it. Pope Leo declared a special Franciscan Jubilee Year from Jan. 10, 2026, to Jan. 10, 2027, inviting Catholics to visit churches and places linked to Francis’ spirituality, love of animals, ... read more

Pilgrims flock to Italy as the Catholic Church marks 800 years since the death of St. Francis. [...] ... read more

Around 10:30 p.m., as the moon rises over the St. Augustine Institute, Fr. Alex Mugalaasi turns his gaze back again to Our Lady, where he begins his fourth or fifth Rosary of the day. Kampala, Uganda’s wall of noise—incessantly whining engines of boda-bodas (motorcycle taxis), overlapping Muslim calls to prayer, cries of street vendors, the ... read more

Christians in a remote village in the predominantly Hindu Indian state of Chhattisgarh (map) were assaulted on May 31 during a prayer service. Catholic Connect, a website of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, reported that “between 25 and 30 people were physically assaulted. At least five individuals suffered serious injuries.” ... read more

As a mother of five, I have spent many nights sitting in the hallway outside a bedroom door, listening to the angry, frustrated, or sorrowful noises of a child who does not want to go to sleep. Normally, that child has no idea how close I am or that I can hear him or her. ... read more

The Diocese of Buffalo, New York, is encouraging all of the individual parishes in the diocese to file jointly for bankruptcy. Diocesan officials hope that what is described as “rapid prepackage bankruptcy” will allow the diocese itself to emerge more quickly from six years of bankruptcy proceedings. The diocese said in a statement: ... read more

The U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration and Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation published “A Path Toward Justice: A National Prayer Service Honoring the Many Journeys that Shaped America.” The presiding minister is encouraged to offer the following words of welcome: As the United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of the ... read more

In Magnifica Humanitas Leo rejects technocratic paradigms that seek to overcome all human limitation, while at the same time criticizing tech's exacerbation of injustice, moral theologian Daniel Daly writes. ... read more

"One of my missions in the next stage of my life will be trying to awaken in my colleagues on the left an appreciation of religious freedom, for our efforts to rebuild liberal democracy in these trying times." ... read more

Pope Leo XIV accepted Bishop José Moreira da Silva‘s resignation from the pastoral care of the Diocese of Porto Nacional, Brazil. The prelate was 72, three years before the age when bishops are required to present their resignations to the Pontiff. ... read more

Pope Leo XIV received the president of the Community of Madrid on June 1, five days before he is scheduled to begin his apostolic journey to Spain. ... read more

As a strain of Ebola for spreads in the war-torn eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Church officials are urging people to remain vigilant.. ... read more