Catholic News

• For 1st time, Pope Leo consecrates a bishop (Dicastery for Communication (Italian))
  Pope Leo XIV ordained Msgr. Mirosław Stanisław Wachowski to the episcopate during a Mass in St. Peter’s Square, a month after the prelate’s appointment as apostolic nuncio in Iraq. It was the first time that Pope Leo was the principal consecrator of a bishop; before becoming Pope, he was principal co-consecrator of four Augustinian confrères. The “first lesson for every bishop,” the Pope preached, is “humility. Not the humility of words, but the humility that dwells in the heart of those who know they are servants, not masters; shepherd, not owner of the flock.” The Pope asked Archbishop Wachowski to “guard the shoots of hope, to encourage peaceful coexistence, to show that the Holy See’s diplomacy is born of the Gospel and is nourished by prayer ... In Iraq, the people will recognize you not by what you say, but by how you love.” Born in Poland in 1970 and ordained to the priesthood in 1996, Archbishop Wachowski entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 2004. Pope Francis appointed him Undersecretary for Relations with States in 2019.
• Popular movements issue statement: 'Organizing Hope through an Alliance against Exclusion' (Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development)
  Participants in the recent Fifth World Meeting of Popular Movements issued a final statement, “Organizing Hope through an Alliance against Exclusion,” which the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has published in English. After lamenting “a fractured world, wounded by violence, injustice, and contempt for human dignity,” participants agreed to four steps: Commit to Structural, Economic, and Political Actions that Unite Us Strengthen Our Platforms as Popular Movements and Church Design New Public Policy Strategies Globalize the Struggle of Popular Movements and Strengthen Our Communicative Capacity and Unity Pope Leo and Cardinal Michael Czerny addressed the fifth world meeting. The first world meeting was held in Rome in 2014; the Vatican’s press office described the meetings as a “platform built by various movements around Pope Francis’s invitation for the poor and organized peoples not to resign themselves but to become protagonists of change.”
• USCCB president: Fund SNAP, end government shutdown (USCCB)
  The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said that as the “government shutdown continues, the US bishops are deeply alarmed that essential programs that support the common good, such as SNAP, may be interrupted.” “This would be catastrophic for families and individuals who rely on SNAP to put food on the table and places the burdens of this shutdown most heavily on the poor and vulnerable of our nation,” said Archbishop Timothy Broglio. “I urgently plead with lawmakers and the Administration to work in a bipartisan way to ensure that these lifesaving programs are funded, and to pass a government funding bill to end the government shutdown as quickly as possible.”
• Pope condemns anti-Semitism on anniversary of Nostra Aetate (Vatican Press Office)
  Pope Leo XIV dedicated his weekly public audience on October 29 to the Vatican II declaration Nostra Aetate, marking the 60th anniversary of its promulgation. The Pope said that inter-religious dialogue, the focus of Nostra Aetate, reflects the Gospel encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well, in which the Lord “overcomes the barriers of culture, gender, and religion.” He said: This luminous document teaches us to meet the followers of other religions not as outsiders, but as travelling companions on the path of truth; to honor differences affirming our common humanity; and to discern, in every sincere religious search, a reflection of the one divine Mystery that embraces all creation. Noting that the Vatican II declaration gives special emphasis to dialogue with the Jewish faith, the Pontiff hailed the development of a closer relationship between Catholic and Jews. He also denounced anti-Semitism, saying that “the Church does not tolerate anti-Semitism and fights against it, on the basis of the Gospel itself.”
• Pope addresses 7 questions on synodality (Dicastery for Communication (multilingual))
  During the recent Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies, Pope Leo XIV addressed questions from seven participants. “The synodal process, as Pope Francis reminded us on numerous occasions, was intended to help the Church fulfil her primary role in the world, which is to be missionary: to announce the Gospel and to give witness to the person of Jesus Christ in every part of the world and to the ends of the earth,” Pope Leo said. In addressing the questions, the Pope referred to the importance of listening to the Word of God, listening to one another, and prayer. “The Jubilee is an invitation to conversion, reconciliation and new life that we have received from Jesus Christ,” he said. “These are aspects that can truly inspire us to continue being Church (siendo Iglesia) and building paths of inclusion, inviting many more—everyone—to accompany us, to walk with us.”
• At jubilee Mass, papal tribute to three 20th-century Italian laymen (Dicastery for Communication (Italian))
  Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for participants in the Jubilee of Instiutional Ceremonial Offices and upheld three Italian laymen as “shining examples of hope and justice, of humility and dedication to the State”: the Servant of God Alcide De Gasperi (1881-1954), Ven. Salvo D’Acquisto (1920-1943), and Blessed Rosario Livatino (1952-1990). “If a state does not convert from the injustices that threaten it and from the corruption that ruins it, it risks dying,” Pope Leo preached. “May the memory of their life and death spur us on to the conversion that they themselves experienced.” The jubilee was not announced on the Vatican’s jubilee website, and the number of participants was even smaller than the 2,000 who attended the concurrent Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies. The papal Mass did not take place in a church, but in the Hall of Benediction of the Apostolic Palace.
• Pontiff says he will do everything possible to end Russo-Ukrainian war (Odessa Journal)
  During a recent meeting with the Latin-rite bishop of Kyiv-Zhytomyr, Ukraine, Pope Leo XIV said he would do everything possible to bring the Russo-Ukrainian war to an end. “It was a very warm and inspiring meeting with the Holy Father,” said Bishop Vitaliy Kryvytskyi. “We had half an hour to talk about Ukraine, the war, and the path toward a just peace. The Pope knows our situation well, is deeply concerned about it, and is seeking ways to resolve it.” “I also asked him to continue praying for Ukraine and to urge others to do the same, especially on the eve of another difficult winter,” the bishop added. “The Pope assured [me] that he will continue to pray and do everything possible to bring the horrors of war to an end as soon as possible.”
• Papal prayers for Jamaica as hurricane strikes (Vatican Press Office)
  At the conclusion of his public audience on October 29, Pope Leo XIV encouraged prayers for the people of Jamaica, which had been hit by the violence of hurricane Melissa, and for Cuba, next in the storm’s path. The Pope offered “his closeness and prayer to the populations affected” by the hurricane.
• 'We don't already have the answers to all the questions,' Pope says in tribute to Nicholas of Cusa (CWN)
  In the seventh special jubilee audience of 2025, Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to Nicolas of Cusa (1401-1464), a Renaissance cardinal and scholar whose works included De docta ignorantia [On learned ignorance].
• Holy See concerned about nuclear facilities in war zones, Vatican diplomat says (Holy See Mission)
  Addressing a UN meeting on the effects of atomic radiation, a leading Vatican diplomat said that the Holy See is “particularly concerned about the risks posed by nuclear facilities in zones of conflict.” “The ongoing hostilities around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant serve as a stark reminder of the grave dangers that arise when civilian nuclear infrastructure becomes entangled in war,” said Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations. “Urgent preventive measures must be taken to guarantee the safety of civilians and protect creation.” The prelate concluded: Addressing the effects of atomic radiation is not only a scientific or technical matter, but also a moral imperative. Protecting humanity from the harmful effects of ionizing radiation, ensuring assistance for victims and caring for our wounded environment all form part of this moral responsibility. The Holy See therefore calls on the international community to intensify its efforts to prevent and mitigate the effects of radiation, in order to safeguard present and future generations.
• Cardinal Czerny speaks to popular movements about 'dream come true' (Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development)
  Speaking to the recent Fifth World Meeting of Popular Movements, the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development delivered an address entitled “Dream Come True.” “Three dreams come together into one,” said Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ. “The Word of God takes up the cry of those crushed by the system and demanding change. This is the ancient dream of Jubilee, and this is what Jesus did; this is Pope Francis’s dream of world meetings to plant the flag here in Rome at the Vatican; and this is Pope Leo’s invitation to both the Popular Movements and the Church to walk together in the third millennium.” Pope Leo XIV also addressed the gathering.
• Philadelphia archdiocese moving to smaller office space (Philadelphia Today)
  The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is moving its chancery offices from the 13-story building that it has owned and occupied since 1971, in a cost-cutting move. The archdiocesan headquarters will be relocated to three floors of a nearby building, where the space will be rented. Archdiocesan officials explained that the move will eliminate most maintenance expenses. The smaller office space reflects cuts in the archdiocesan staff, which has dropped to 250 employees, from a high of 450 a decade ago.
• Dilexi Te is a beacon for Haiti, prelate says (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
  In a front-page article in the Vatican newspaper, a Haitian bishop lauded Dilexi Te, Pope Leo’s apostolic exhortation on love for the poor. “For us in Haiti, Dilexi Te truly represents a prophetic text,” said Pierre-André Dumas of Anse-à-Veau-Miragoâne, the vice president of the episcopal conference, who is recovering in the US following an attack by criminal gangs. The document “goes beyond the theoretical: it is a beacon on our path that illuminates a wounded people, crucified by their history.”
• Vatican official: Married couples are called to holiness as workers in the harvest (Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life)
  Addressing a conference on the 10th anniversary of the canonization of St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s parents, a Vatican official said that Christians spouses “have a specific mandate to evangelize and to transmit the faith to new generations, to be a ‘sign’ of the presence of God’s love through their human love, expressed in marriage.” We should proclaim “the vocation of marriage and the path of holiness it opens to those who choose to embrace it,” said Gabriella Gambino, undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. “When in the Gospel of Luke we hear the Lord ask to send out workers into his harvest field, we must not think that these workers are only pastors or religious,” but “above all, Christian spouses.”
• Pope rips inequalities in global economy (Vatican News)
  Pope Leo XIV denounced inequalities in the world economy, using unusually strong language, in an October 24 address to the Fifth World Meeting of Popular Movements. The Pontiff was particularly harsh in his words on the treatment of migrants. “Ever more inhuman measures are being adopted—even celebrated politically—that treat these “undesirables” as if they were garbage and not human beings,” he charged. The Pope decried “systematic arbitrariousness” in the distribution of wealth, and said that “by not having human dignity at its center, the system fails also in justice.” In his talk the Pope spoke out against the promotion of a gaudy and expensive lifestyle, the encouragement of online gambling, and the “cult of physical wellbeing, almost an idolatry of the body, in which the mystery of pain is reduced to something totally inhuman.”
• Pope, at jubilee Mass, calls for a servant Church that is 'entirely synodal' (CWN)
  Preaching at Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica yesterday (booklet, video), Pope Leo XIV called for “a Church that is entirely synodal, ministerial and attracted to Christ and therefore committed to serving the world.”
• 'The Church will forever be our last and only home,' Gaza Christian youth says (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
  In a column published in the Vatican newspaper, Suhail Abo Dawood, a Christian young adult who was severely injured during an Israeli attack on Gaza’s sole Catholic parish, looked back on two years of war. “On October 25, 2023, we lost our home,” he recalled. “Then we also lost our grandparents’ home, so we live in the church compound as our only home. Because of the lack of medicine in hospitals, my uncle died of kidney problems, and then my grandfather also died of his illness.” “On July 17, 2025, an attack suddenly struck our church compound: I was seriously injured, and sadly, my grandmother also died,” he continued. “The Church will forever be our last and only home; it is the House of God! Thank you, God, for allowing us to live in your warm home; you are generous.” “We always pray for peace and love in our land and in the world,” he added, as he thanked Pope Leo for “his efforts to spread peace throughout this devastated world.”
• King Charles joins Pope in Vatican prayer service (Vatican News)
  King Charles III and Queen Camilla joined with Pope Leo XIV in an ecumenical prayer service in the Sistine Chapel on October 23. Anglican Archbishop Stephen Cottrell of York, the Primate of England, presided at the midday service alongside the Roman Pontiff. Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, the president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, also particiapated, as did Archbishop Leo Cushley of Edinburgh, Scotland.
• More...