Junno Arocho Esteves

Welcoming U.S. Jewish leaders at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the church's commitment to fostering friendship between the two faiths and to rejecting all forms of ethnic and religious discrimination.

In an Oct. 20 statement, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said the attack reflected broader settler violence affecting Palestinian villages and peaking during harvest season, when families gather olives that support their livelihoods and ties to the land.

The Vatican meeting of the world's bishops' conference presidents and the heads of Eastern Catholic churches marking the 10th anniversary of Amoris Laetitia concluded on the evening of Oct. 14 with prayers for Pope Leo XIV's recovery from lung cancer surgery.

Church and world leaders offered prayers and wishes for a speedy recovery to Pope Leo XIV following the Vatican's announcement that he was diagnosed with lung cancer after undergoing surgery to remove part of his right lung.

The pastor of Gaza's only Catholic parish revealed that Pope Leo XIV sent a personal condolence message following an Israeli missile strike that killed five people, including a Christian mother and daughter.

Pope Leo XIV named Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, who has served for over five years as archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and the pope's vicar for Vatican City, as archbishop of the central Italian Archdiocese of Chieti-Vasto.

Archbishop Hubertus van Megen warned German bishops against charting a separate course for the local church, reminding them that Catholic unity relies on fidelity to the papacy and the Eucharist.

In a letter dated Sept. 8 and addressed to the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, the pope cited the example of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, the Spanish missionary bishop who evangelized Peru in the 16th century, and urged them to place the good of the faithful above all else.

Quoting Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, the visiting prelate said, "In the church, there are no borders. That is how Catholicism is brought to life."

For Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali, the resumption of classes at Holy Family Parish's school offers a small but significant step toward normalcy for dozens of children living amid ongoing conflict in Gaza.

When motivated by love, the pontiff noted, caring for others "not only helps those in need, but also opens the heart of the giver to God's grace."

"The position of the Holy See remains clear: the conflict cannot be resolved by military means," said the Vatican's secretary for relations with states and international organizations.

One priest told Valencia's archbishop: "We cannot go rescue people; we do not have the machinery, and we do not know how to rescue those who might be under the rubble. But we can, and we do know how to console people."

"Every technological achievement also confronts humanity with a moral question: not merely what can we do, but what ought we to do?" the pontiff said.

War and environmental destruction are not just political failures, but symptoms of a deep moral crisis in the human heart, Pope Leo XIV said in his message for the 2026 World Day of Prayer for Creation.

Dozens of clergy from the Archdiocese of Bogotá embarked on a five-day pastoral mission to cities in Colombia devastated by the Aug. 10 earthquake.

The pope's appeal came amid reports of violent attacks by Israeli settlers, including in Taybeh, one of the last remaining Christian villages in the West Bank.

The pontiff prayed for peace in the Holy Land, and in Ukraine and Russia. He also prayed for Colombia following an earthquake there.

Messages of solidarity from bishops' conferences across Latin America poured in as rescue workers race against time to save victims still trapped beneath the rubble in multiple cities across Colombia.

Pope Leo XIV said he was deeply saddened by the loss of life and destruction following a powerful earthquake that struck Colombia, leaving more than 100 dead and dozens of collapsed buildings.