Associated Press

"Great things happen in Chicago," the pope said on the plane to France.

About 2,000 people who reported being sexually abused by priests or other church representatives have sought reparations from a French independent body created to address decades of abuse, the organization said Tuesday as it prepares to end its five-year mission.

Pope Leo XIV, during his four-day visit to France beginning Friday, will meet privately with seven survivors of sexual abuse by priests and other Catholic personnel. The outcome will be closely watched by critics who say the church hasn't done enough to confront the problem.

The Vatican has published a papal decree repealing 2021 salary cuts that Pope Francis had imposed on many Vatican employees as part of the Holy See's COVID-19 cost-saving measures.

Pope Leo XIV's forthcoming trip to France, which marks the first official papal state visit to the country in 18 years, is expected to attract more than 1 million people, according to the Bishops' Conference of France (CEF).

The 94-year-old prelate appeared in court with a walking stick in his hand. He and four others were first arrested in 2022 on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces under a Beijing-imposed national security law.

"He was probably the best and, in many ways, the first televangelist in the United States," said Msgr. Jason Gray, executive director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation, which advocates for his sainthood.

"She was not elected because she is Jewish, but because she is an exceptional scholar and has played a very important role in Catholic-Jewish dialogue," said a joint statement by the association's executive board chair and executive director.

Using the micro state as an example, the pontiff argued that small political communities can offer lessons in public service and social cohesion at a time of growing division and distrust.

Lech Walesa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership of the Polish anti-communist resistance as the head of the Solidarity trade union, and was later Polish president, had a front row seat during the ceremony.

An Australian jury on Thursday convicted a former Catholic bishop renowned for hosting alcohol-fueled house parties of sexually abusing two young Indigenous men.

"I hope the pope comes to help the poor like me," said María Ruíz Díaz, a 70-year-old retiree.

Pope Leo XIV will meet with survivors of clergy abuse during a four-day trip to France next month that will include a visit to UNESCO headquarters, a meeting with French bishops in Lourdes and an interreligious meeting in the border city of Metz.

A federal judge tossed out a lawsuit Monday from an interfaith group that challenged the legitimacy of President Donald Trump's Religious Liberty Commission, dismissing claims that its overwhelmingly conservative Christian makeup lacked a legally required balance of viewpoints.

Donated Marian icons line the walls inside the Ephesus House. At the center stands a statue of Mary modeled after the one in Turkey, alongside a relic said to be from her veil.

The artistic phenomenon of irony collapsing into sincerity is being interpreted by some as a way for younger generations to grapple with ritual, meaning and authenticity, even as participation in organized religion in the United States has dropped dramatically in recent decades.

For traditionalist Catholics who worship at churches affiliated with the breakaway Society of St. Pius X, Sunday Mass now comes with an extraordinary question.

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.

St. Agnes in St. Paul is not affiliated with SSPX, but parishioners said they were saddened by the schism and would continue to pray for a united church.

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