Justin McLellan

In his homily in Annaba, Algeria, Leo held out the saint as a model for renewal in the church and the world and said the doctor of the church is revered "for his conversion even more than for his wisdom."

Arriving in Algeria, Pope Leo XIV stepped into uncharted territory for a pope, becoming the first leader of the Catholic Church to visit Algeria and bringing with him a message of reconciliation, justice and unity.

Pope Leo XIV told reporters en route to Algeria that he has "no fear of the Trump administration," hours after President Donald Trump lodged a vicious attack on the pontiff via social media.

Pontiff tells world leaders: "Stop! It is time for peace! Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation, not at the table where rearmament is planned and deadly actions are decided!" 

Of the four nations Pope Leo XIV will visit during his trip to Africa, Cameroon and Angola have been particularly impacted by the cuts to USAID operations which began at the start of President Trump's second term.

"[St.] Augustine was a bridge-builder and Leo sees himself also as a bridge-builder, so going back to Hippo is really him enacting what is important to him in a symbolic gesture," said Augustinian Fr. Kevin De Prinzio. 

Leo framed Christ's resurrection on Easter as a counterexample to a world that exerts power through force.  
 

War was among the many forms of suffering mentioned in Leo's first Good Friday procession as pope.

 Pope Leo speaks with Israeli, Ukrainian presidents on Good Friday
 

After 12 years in which Pope Francis celebrated the Mass of the Lord's Supper in prisons, washing the feet of incarcerated people, women and non-Catholics, Leo opted to open the Easter Triduum in the Basilica of St. John Lateran and to wash the feet of 12 priests.

"His call for the laying down of arms and the renunciation of violence resonated profoundly with me," the Tibetan Buddhist leader wrote. 

 In his Palm Sunday homily, Leo rejected religious language used to bless violence, contrasting with rhetoric from Trump administration officials. 

During his nine-hour visit to Monaco, the second international trip of his pontificate and the first time a pope has set foot in the principality since the 16th century, Leo made the case for Catholic social teaching.

The microstate, which the pope will visit March 28, offers a rare example of religion exerting a visible influence in Western civic society today.

As he continues to shape his inner circle at the Vatican, Leo appears inclined to bypass traditional channels of information and hear firsthand accounts on the state of the church, even from its critics.

A new initiative invites Catholic organizations to review where their resources are invested and to divest from companies linked to harmful mining practices.

Pope Leo XIV has called the presidents of the world's bishops' conferences to Rome for an October 2026 summit aimed at assessing how the Catholic Church engages with families in a rapidly changing world.

States have a moral obligation to develop universal health care systems, Pope Leo XIV said, stating that health cannot be "a luxury for the few."

The pontiff told an Italian television program that it is up to journalists "to show the face of war and to relate it through the eyes of the victims, so as not to transform it into a video game."

The pontiff's public restraint in denouncing the conflict has opened space for other church leaders to lead that moral charge. So far, several cardinals have moved quickly to fill it.