Pope Leo doesn't take sides, but teases his loyalty in Villanova-Notre Dame matchup

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV appears to have fully bounced back from the lung operation that sent him to the hospital less than three weeks ago: On the stage of the Vatican's Paul VI Auditorium, he dribbled a basketball to the delight of 7,000 fans of Villanova University and the University of Notre Dame. 

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Vatican News

Pope Leo's Latin America trip is a high-stakes homecoming

Justin McLellan
Guest Voices

Podcast: Pope Leo XIV is calling us to peace, says professor Ken Butigan

John Dear

This All Souls' Day, consider the Christian call to tend our dead

Joseph Orso

Editors' Choice

Pedestrians walk past street signage on the first day of early voting in New York, on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP/Heather Khalifa)

In Focus

In lead-up to midterms, Catholic prayer vigils and novenas spread across US

As the November midterm elections approach, Catholics across the United States are preparing to pray and keep vigil, asking for peaceful polling places, honest vote-counting, and protection for voters.

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Vatican

People walk past a mural dedicated to Pope Leo XIV in Chiclayo, Peru, Sept. 2, 2026, ahead of his scheduled November visit to Peru. (OSV News/Reuters/Angela Ponce)
Vatican News

Pope Leo's Latin America trip is a high-stakes homecoming

Latin America is where the U.S.-born future pope spent more than two decades as a missionary priest and bishop. His homecoming in Peru and to the city of Chiclayo in particular, has been highly anticipated.

Pope Leo doesn't take sides, but teases his loyalty in Villanova-Notre Dame matchup

Pope Leo XIV appears to have fully bounced back from the lung operation that sent him to the hospital less than three weeks ago: On the stage of the Vatican's Paul VI Auditorium, he dribbled a basketball to the delight of 7,000 fans of Villanova University and the University of Notre Dame. 

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Pope Paul VI rides in a Mercedes-Benz 300 d Pullman Landaulet (W189) on his return to Rome from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Jordan in 1964. (RNS/©Mercedes-Benz AG)

Vatican Museum exhibit celebrates almost a century of popemobiles

"The exhibition offers an opportunity to reflect on the remarkable advances in automotive technology, as well as the deeper significance of the journeys undertaken by the Successors of Peter," Pope Leo said in a speech.

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Pope Leo XIV smiles and waves from the popemobile while riding around St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican before his weekly general audience Oct. 28, 2026. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

In a papal first, Leo votes in US midterms

Pope Leo XIV became the first pope to vote in a U.S. election by submitting a mail-in ballot in his native Chicago, the Vatican has confirmed. 

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Representatives from the five dioceses in Indiana prepare to receive a first-class relic of St. Theodore Guerin during an Oct. 11, 2026, gathering at St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind. (OSV News photo/Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods)

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