Justin McLellan

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. 

Fr. Pierre Al-Rahi, who died March 9 during an Israeli attack, "was a true shepherd who always stayed beside his people, with the love and sacrifice of Jesus the Good Shepherd," the pope said at the close of his March 11 general audience.

The unsparing analysis, rare for a Vatican document, came from a study group created as part of the Synod of Bishops on synodality tasked with examining women's participation in the life and leadership of the church.

Leo's decision to send the Vatican's UN envoy to Washington sends a strong signal about his desire to revive diplomacy at a time when the United States has increasingly turned inward. 

A new book suggests that Cardinal Robert Prevost's path to the papacy was shaped by fragile alliances and small human moments that influenced perceptions inside the Sistine Chapel and produced the first U.S.-born pope.

 "The force of law has been replaced by the law of force, with the conviction that peace can arise only after the enemy has been annihilated," said Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Visitors often reach the Sistine Chapel overheated after walking through non-air-conditioned galleries. Combined with rising temperatures those conditions have led to more sweat in the sacred space.

Pope Leo XIV issued a "forceful appeal" to end increasing violence in the Middle East as the United States, Israel and Iran continue to exchange missile strikes and threats of escalations, warning of the risk of a "tragedy of enormous proportions."

Nearly a year into a pontificate largely anchored in Rome, Pope Leo XIV is preparing to launch a sweeping series of international trips that will carry him across Africa, to Spain and to the tiny principality of Monaco. 

NCR Vatican correspondent Justin McLellan sat down with Cardinal Fabio Baggio to discuss global migration trends and the continuity between Pope Leo XIV and Pope Francis on their advocacy for migrants.