OSV News

It came the day after Easter, when — barely able to raise his hands — he gave his blessing urbi et orbi (to the city and the world). Looking drawn and worn, the 88-year-old pope from Argentina took his final ride in the popemobile, spending about 15 minutes among the crowd.

Catholic leaders in the Holy Land expressed their "unreserved condemnation" after a picture of an Israeli soldier striking the head of a statue of Jesus in Debel, a Christian village in southern Lebanon, went viral on social media.

Pope Leo XIV has donated $100,000 to provide access to clean water in El Salvador, supporting a program launched by the papal nuncio to that nation and by the U.S. bishops' Catholic Relief Services.

The decision about the Polish American priest who ministered for years in Soviet captivity "does not diminish the enduring spiritual value of his life, witness, and legacy," the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, said. 

"The church urges governments to exhaust every other possible means before going to war and before using force to achieve a noble end," said the chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Doctrine.

"Pope Francis always stressed that the church was not a building or a symbol but the actual teachings of Jesus," filmmaker Martin Scorsese said. "I believe that Pope Leo shares that view."

President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House April 16 that he does not see a meeting with Pope Leo XIV as "necessary" after the president lashed out at the pontiff on social media and in verbal remarks over the pontiff's opposition to the Iran war over the course of several days starting April 12.

A prayerful public witness outside Deportation Depot got a moving response from detainees on Good Friday, April 3.

The Trump administration has canceled an $11 million contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami for sheltering unaccompanied migrant children, leaving just three months to place an unspecified number of children.

Pope Leo XIV sent a letter to the College of Cardinals thanking them for their participation in the January consistory and preparing the conversation for their next gathering June 26-27 — right before the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Several prominent American Catholics have launched a petition calling for the end of Russia's religious persecution in occupied areas of Ukraine.

Iraqi Archbishop Amel Shamon Nona, who until now led the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle of Australia and New Zealand, was elected patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, succeeding Cardinal Louis Sako.

Two U.S. bishops, who lead the U.S. Catholic bishops' efforts on pro-life and migration concerns, have advised the new head of the Department of Homeland Security of their "grave concern" over the treatment of pregnant and postpartum women in immigration detention.

The letter was commended by Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, who extended Pope Leo XIV's blessing to the bishops.

Lebanese Christians are reeling from the death and destruction wrought on their community, caught in the crossfire between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, a side deadly conflict in the U.S. and Israel-Iran war.

Pope Leo XIV is renewing urgent calls for peace, following a powerful April 11 prayer vigil where he warned that "war divides," "arrogance tramples," and only God's truth can enlighten hearts. Speaking at the Regina Caeli on April 12, he expressed deep solidarity with people suffering in conflict zones, especially Lebanon and Sudan.

"In the early weeks of the long Major League Baseball schedule," writes John Knebels, the promise of Easter "is already being tested.  … Hope is no longer theoretical. It's in motion." 

Bishop Antonio Santasiero Rosa of Huacho "categorically" denies the allegations published by Spanish Catholic news site.

Parishes and dioceses throughout the nation are taking up Pope Leo XIV's call to pray for peace, holding April 11 vigils coinciding with the pope's own at St. Peter's Basilica.

As U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited Hungary to support its government ahead of April 12 parliamentary elections, local Catholics voiced anxieties about their country's future after a bitterly fought campaign.