Pope Leo XIV began a summer vacation on Sunday, capping a whirlwind finale to the first half of 2026 in which he emerged as a powerful global statesman on issues from artificial intelligence to war and flexed decisive papal muscle to govern internal church problems.

Leo, who said religion must never justify discrimination, symbolically took up the mantle of his predecessor, who placed migration at the center of his pontificate by visiting the island in July 2013.

The ultraconservative Catholics insisted they were merely saving souls and were victims of an unjust sanction by the Holy See.