Paulina Guzik

Bishop Osório Citora Afonso of Quelimane, a Consolata missionary, was allegedly shot in the chest, near the heart, the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need said.

As Pope Leo XIV prepares for his June 6–12 apostolic visit to Spain, Church leaders say he will encounter a Catholic community at a pivotal moment. While the number of Spaniards identifying as Catholic has declined in recent decades, many observers point to signs of renewed interest among young people. 

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.

After a major diplomatic incident that prevented him from entering the holy site on March 29 to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass, access was granted for Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

In 2023, following a major television documentary claiming that St. John Paul II had covered up clerical sexual abuse when he was leading the Archdiocese of Kraków, Polish experts rejected the claim and urged that archdiocesan records be opened to allow the full context.

As the U.S. and Israel-Iran war enters its fourth week, and amid a deep humanitarian crisis throughout the region, Pope Leo XIV appealed during his Sunday Angelus prayer March 22: "Persevere in prayer, so that hostilities may cease and paths of peace may finally open up, based on sincere dialogue and respect for the dignity of every human person."

After 13 years of daring acts of charity that made him break the law in the name of the Gospel and elevate Rome's homeless to the heart of the church, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the pope's "Robin Hood" leaves Rome after nearly three decades to become archbishop of Lódz, Poland.

Ad limina visits by bishops tend to make headlines in local churches when the bishops involved are in some kind of trouble. This time, however, the Peruvian bishops' visit to the tomb of the apostles made global news for a different reason: an unusual guest at their lunch and fraternal affection from the pope who is claimed by Peruvian faithful as their own.

Pope Leo XIV embraced the youth of Rome — both literally and with his words — during a Jan. 10 meeting with the young people of the Diocese of Rome, telling them to choose real relationships over digital isolation.

Pope Leo XIV strongly condemned the Church's failure to welcome survivors of sexual abuse, calling it a "scandal" that deepens their suffering, even though the issue was not a main topic at the Jan. 7-8 extraordinary consistory in Rome.

Hong Kong's prominent Catholic, media tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai has been convicted of national security offenses under the city's controversial national security law.

Asked how Catholics across the world can help, CNEWA regional director Joseph Hazboun said first of all, with prayers "that this truce, this ceasefire, will hold and move forward towards a permanent peace agreement where Gaza will have the opportunity to flourish."

Historic momentum is felt across the Middle East as thousands gathered Oct. 11 in Tel Aviv, Israel, for the last mass gathering before the hostage release expected to take place Oct. 13, and tens of thousands of Palestinians started to make their way back to their homes in northern Gaza Strip. But those Palestinians have returned to see only mostly rubble left, with Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor of Gaza City's Catholic parish, saying the entire enclave has experienced a "tsunami" of destruction.

Just remember the children that died there, almost 70,000 civilians died, and to this there is no solution," Cardinal Konrad Krajewski said.

As the Pontifical Commission for the Protection Minors concluded its Sept. 29-Oct. 3 assembly in Kraków, "following five days of intensive dialogue, reflection and strategic planning," it prepares to publish its second annual report Oct. 16.

As fall begins, Catholics are watching closely for Pope Leo XIV's first major Vatican appointments. One of the most urgent vacancies to fill is his own former role — prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.

 The publication noted the pontiff's link to Leo XIII, whose 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum "railed against the new machine-driven economic systems converting workers into commodities."

In a quiet but powerful move, Vatican News has begun removing artwork by Fr. Marko Rupnik — the once-renowned mosaicist now accused of abusing over two dozen women — from its website. His mosaics, long used to mark major feast days online, were recently replaced or left blank — a shift many survivors say is long overdue.

In the first week of Leo pontificate, the leading expert on the abuse crisis — as well as several survivors and victims of abuse — has come to the defense of the newly elected Roman pontiff after two organizations advocating for victims of abuse raised concerns regarding Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost's record on the matter not long after he was elected.

As Ukraine experienced a deadly weekend with a barrage of attacks from Russia on Kryvyi Rih and Kyiv, the capital, the papal almoner handed a gift from Pope Francis — four ambulances — to local authorities in Zaporizhzhia. The papal point man on charity was also personally distributing bread to the needy population during his 10th mission to the war-torn country.