TAG · Religion & Society
Pope Leo XIV marked the U.S. 250th anniversary on Saturday with a morning visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa and, later that day, a Liberty Medal address broadcast from the Vatican to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.…
2026-07-04 · 4 MIN READIran began final preparations Friday for a six-day funeral for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli attack on the country in February. The ceremony, which organizers say will be the most…
2026-07-03 · 3 MIN READCardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik said Friday that a potential visit by Pope Leo XIV to North Korea depends on the position of the North Korean authorities and the state of relations between the United States and North Korea, adding that he…
2026-07-03 · 3 MIN READLarge crowds of Shiite Muslims gathered Friday in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and other parts of the Muslim world for Ashoura, the annual commemoration of the seventh-century death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, as the recent…
2026-06-26 · 4 MIN READIllinois State Treasurer Mike Frerichs delivered a certificate to Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Thursday, authorizing the pontiff to reclaim $8.65 that had been sitting in Illinois' unclaimed property account — a sum once held by the…
2026-06-05 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV released his first encyclical on May 25, warning that unregulated artificial intelligence could weaken democracy by eroding the distinction between fact and fiction. The document, titled 'Magnifica Humanity: On Safeguarding…
2026-06-03 · 3 MIN READCardinal Robert McElroy, the Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., on Wednesday removed a well-known priest from his role as an exorcist of the archdiocese after the priest publicly suggested that UFO sightings were the work of demons.
2026-06-03 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV issued a historic apology Monday for the Holy See's own role in legitimizing slavery, calling the Vatican's record a 'wound in Christian memory.' The apology, delivered in the pontiff's first encyclical, directly addressed…
2026-05-27 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV will unveil his first encyclical on artificial intelligence on May 25, the Vatican announced. The document, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), is centered on the care of human dignity in the era of AI, and the Vatican…
2026-05-17 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV on Thursday condemned the growing use of artificial intelligence in warfare, warning that investments in high-tech weaponry are leading the world into a “spiral of annihilation.” Speaking at Rome’s La Sapienza University, the…
2026-05-15 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV on Thursday warned that investments in artificial intelligence and high-tech weaponry were pushing the world toward a “spiral of annihilation,” while he called for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine at Rome’s La Sapienza…
2026-05-15 · 3 MIN READThe Vatican on Wednesday issued a final warning to the breakaway traditionalist Society of St. Pius X that its planned consecration of four bishops without papal approval would be a schismatic act incurring automatic excommunication, the…
2026-05-14 · 5 MIN READROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV carried a wooden cross for all 14 stations of the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum on his first Good Friday as pontiff, a first for the pope in decades, according to the Associated Press. Speaking to reporters at…
2026-04-04 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV’s Vatican issued a final warning to the Society of St. Pius X on May 13, saying its planned July 1 consecration of four bishops without papal consent would be a schismatic act that carries automatic excommunication. The…
2026-05-14 · 3 MIN READ
Pope Leo XIV has spent his first year in the papacy focused on consolidating his approach and making targeted changes to carry forward decisions on governance, finances and Church priorities, the Associated Press reported. In the coming…
2026-05-09 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV prayed Friday for political leaders to end the “fratricidal hatred” in the world as he marked the anniversary of his election with a visit to Pompeii, Italy. The pope traveled to the ancient city for a daylong visit to honor…
2026-05-08 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV, one year into his papacy, has focused on shaping church leadership through planned appointments and on managing divisions left by Pope Francis, particularly over the Latin Mass and Vatican financial governance. The Vatican…
2026-05-08 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV prayed for political leaders to end “fratricidal hatred” during an anniversary visit to Pompeii on Friday, the first-year milestone since his election. Speaking at a sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady of Pompeii, the pope also…
2026-05-07 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV will travel to Spain for a June 6-12 visit that includes inaugurating the central tower of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia and meeting with migrants at reception centers in the Canary Islands, the Vatican said May 6. The trip will…
2026-05-06 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV will travel to Spain for a June visit that includes inaugurating the central tower of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica and meeting migrants at reception centers in the Canary Islands, the Vatican said Wednesday. The…
2026-05-05 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pontiff, encouraged wealthy American Catholics to continue funding papal charitable works during a Saturday audience in Rome, as the U.S.-based Papal Foundation announced a record $15 million in grants for…
2026-05-03 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV on Saturday encouraged some of the wealthiest U.S. Catholics to keep donating to support his charitable works, telling stewards of the Papal Foundation that the giving allows “countless people” to experience God’s “goodness…
2026-05-03 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV appointed Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, an El Salvador-born advocate for immigrants and a critic of the Trump administration’s deportation policies, as the new bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West…
2026-05-02 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV met in the Vatican on Monday with Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, the first female leader of the Church of England, and prayed with her as the two vowed to keep working to overcome differences “no matter how…
2026-04-30 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV told inmates at a prison in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, on Wednesday that “You are not alone,” urging them and their families with a message of hope as he neared the end of a four-nation Africa tour. The visit brought renewed…
2026-04-23 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV prayed Sunday at a Catholic shrine in Angola that was a major hub of the African slave trade, but did not explicitly reference slavery during his visit to the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima. The American pope spoke of the 'sorrow…
2026-04-19 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV arrived in Angola on Saturday as the third leg of his four-nation African tour. In his first speech to government authorities, he challenged the country's leaders to break what he called the "cycle of interests" that has…
2026-04-18 · 4 MIN READPope Leo XIV said Saturday that it was "not in my interest at all" to debate U.S. President Donald Trump about the Iran war, even as he reaffirmed his commitment to preaching peace. Speaking aboard the papal plane as it flew from Cameroon…
2026-04-18 · 4 MIN READChinese authorities are escalating pressure on underground Catholic communities to join the state-controlled official church, according to Human Rights Watch. The rights group released a report Wednesday documenting a decade-long campaign…
2026-04-16 · 4 MIN READPope Leo XIV on Wednesday reinforced his call for peace and dialogue as U.S. President Donald Trump continued a week of public attacks on history's first American-born pope, accusing him of weakness on crime, claiming him as a political…
2026-04-15 · 6 MIN READPope Leo XIV visited the archaeological ruins in Annaba, Algeria, on Tuesday, making a pilgrimage to the birthplace and legacy of St. Augustine, his spiritual father. The pope arrived with tight security amid rain and said the visit…
2026-04-15 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” fueling the U.S.-Israel war in Iran and urged political leaders to stop and negotiate peace, in remarks during an evening prayer service at St. Peter’s Basilica on April 11. The Vatican…
2026-04-14 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV has directly criticized President Donald Trump’s conduct over the Iran war as a fragile ceasefire took hold this week, saying Trump’s belligerence was “truly unacceptable.” The Vatican’s pope and the U.S. administration have…
2026-04-11 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV ended an 11-day visit to four African countries, using the tour to call for peace and to denounce issues he described as driving conflict and exploitation on the continent. Before returning to Rome on Thursday, the Vatican…
2026-04-10 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV returned to Rome after an 11-day tour of Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, his last stop in Equatorial Guinea’s western coast after visits to four countries meant to spotlight war, migration, corruption and the…
2026-04-09 · 4 MIN READPope Leo XIV washed the feet of 12 priests in the Holy Thursday ritual inside Rome’s Archbasilica of St. John Lateran on April 2, restoring a tradition that his predecessor had expanded to include laypeople and non-Christians. The 12…
2026-04-03 · 3 MIN READLeaders in Milwaukee on Thursday called for the release of the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, saying federal immigration agents detained him because of his criticism of Israel. Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent…
2026-04-03 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV urged Monaco’s residents to use the principality’s wealth and influence for good and to reject what he called the “idolatry of power and money” that he said is fueling wars worldwide. The pope made a one-day visit to the…
2026-03-29 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV has installed Bishop James Golka as Denver’s new archbishop, marking a leadership transition in a Catholic archdiocese known for conservative influence but also for internal tensions over culture-war issues. Golka was…
2026-03-29 · 4 MIN READPope Leo XIV will travel to the site of the Council of Nicaea on Nov. 28 to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the church meeting that helped define the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith still recited by millions, the Vatican…
2026-03-25 · 3 MIN READ
