VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has called for “deep reflection” in the United States about the treatment of migrants held in detention, saying that “many people who have lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what is going on right now.”
The Chicago-born pope was responding Tuesday to a variety of geopolitical questions from reporters outside the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, including what kind of spiritual rights migrants in U.S. custody should have, U.S. military attacks on suspected drug traffickers off Venezuela and the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East.
Leo underlined that scripture emphasizes the question that will be posed at the end of the world: “How did you receive the foreigner, did you receive him and welcome him, or not? I think there is a deep reflection that needs to be made about what is happening.”
He said “the spiritual rights of people who have been detained should also be considered,’’ and he called on authorities to allow pastoral workers access to the detained migrants. “Many times they’ve been separated from their families. No one knows what’s happening, but their own spiritual needs should be attended to,’’ Leo said.
Leo last month urged labor union leaders visiting from Chicago to advocate for immigrants and welcome minorities into their ranks.
Asked about the lethal attacks on suspected drug traffickers off Venezuela, the pontiff said the military action was “increasing tension,’’ noting that they were coming even closer to the coastline.
“The thing is to seek dialogue,’’ the pope said.
On the Middle East, Leo acknowledged that the first phase of the peace accord between Israel and Hamas remains “very fragile,’’ and said that the parties need to find a way forward on future governance “and how you can guarantee the rights of all peoples.’’
Asked about Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, the pope described the settlement issue as “complex,’’ adding: “Israel has said one thing, then it’s done another sometimes. We need to try to work together for justice for all peoples.’’
Pope Leo will receive Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the Vatican on Thursday. At the end of November he will make his first trip as Pope to Turkey and Lebanon.
SAN JOSÉ — Leo Carlsson scored 46 seconds into overtime and the Ducks overcame a two-goal, third-period deficit for a 7-6 win over the San José Sharks on Saturday night.
After San José missed an empty-netter late in the third period, Kreider knocked in his second goal with 49.5 seconds remaining to force overtime.
The Sharks won the face off in the extra period, but Macklin Celebrini missed a high shot and the Ducks recovered to set up Carlsson’s winner from the left circle.
Tyler Toffoli, Ryan Reaves, Mario Ferraro, John Klingberg, Adam Gaudette and Jeff Skinner all had goals for San José. Yaroslav Askarov had 36 saves.
The Sharks led 2-0 midway through the first period on goals by Toffoli and Reaves. Both shots came in front of the Ducks’ net, with Reaves racing in from the left untouched before flipping the puck past Ducks goalie Petr Mrazek (17 saves).
The Ducks responded with Gauthier scoring 40 seconds after Reaves’ score before Sennecke tied it on power-play goal, his second in as many games.
After the two teams traded goals early in the second period, Klingberg scored in a five-on-three situation to give San José the lead.
Gauthier’s first goal of the night came on Alexander Wennberg’s pass from behind the net before Kreider’s first goal of the season with 31 seconds left in the second period trimmed the Sharks’ lead to 5-4.
Skinner scored after maneuvering around three defenders in front of the Ducks goal to put the Sharks ahead 6-4.
Up next for the Ducks: Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins in their home opener at Honda Center.
You’re ready to break long-standing bonds and make some fresh new ones – at home, at work and in love.
This can mean a total overhaul of feelings, to make more space for your own needs.
Pluto’s positive power is strong to support you in this.
A super-sensitive moon makes this a week of flashes of insight – do tune in to these.
Your learning style is updating, too.
AUTUMN LOVE FORECAST
What does Venus have in store for Leo over the next three months?
OCTOBER
Talk, talk – then talk some more.
This is your month to eliminate guesswork from love, set up clear new boundaries for both partners.
If you’re single, a voice that instantly intrigues you, even on a recording, can be your passion hot pick.
What is your star sign’s element?
In astrology, the elements — Air, Water, Earth, and Fire signs — serve as foundational principles that influence the characteristics and behaviours associated with the twelve star signs.
Earth signs: Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn
The Earth signs are grounded in the tangible and practical aspects of life, embodying the stable and nurturing qualities of their element. These signs are known for their pragmatism, reliability, and strong connection to the physical world, often excelling in matters that require patience and persistence.
Air Signs: Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius
The Air signs are characterised by their intellectual, communicative, and social nature. This reflects the light and dynamic essence of their elemental influence. Overall, these signs tend to excel in the realms of ideas, relationships, and innovation, bringing a breath of fresh air to their interactions and thought processes.
Water Signs: Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces
The Water element signs are profoundly impacted by their element. With each astrological sign, water gives way to emotional depth, strong intuition, and a capacity for deep empathy and connection.
Fire Signs: Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius
Fuelled by the element of Fire, these fire signs in astrology are known for their passion, boldness, energy, enthusiasm, courage, and a zest for life that often leads them to adventurous and creative endeavours.
NOVEMBER
Staying in, and cuddling up, may be a million miles from the social scene you adore, but it’s so worthwhile in November.
Two people can reconnect, and realise both want more from the future.
DECEMBER
Now the fun can start – surprise gifts and celebration gestures are just one aspect of this pro-active passion month.
For single Leos, saying yes to every invite is the key to meeting someone special – so is a hand-made card, or display of creative work.
Fabulous is the home of horoscopes, with weekly updates on what’s in store for your star sign as well as daily predictions.
ROME — Pope Leo XIV urged labor union leaders from Chicago on Thursday to advocate for immigrants and welcome minorities into their ranks, weighing in as the Trump administration crackdown on immigrants intensifies in the pontiff’s hometown.
“While recognizing that appropriate policies are necessary to keep communities safe, I encourage you to continue to advocate for society to respect the human dignity of the most vulnerable,” Leo said.
The audience was scheduled before the deployment of National Guard troops to protect federal property in the Chicago area, including a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building that has been the site of occasional clashes between protesters and federal agents.
Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, who accompanied the labor leaders, said that Leo was well aware of the situation on the ground. In an interview with the Associated Press, Cupich said Leo has made clear, including in recent comments, that migrants and the poor must be treated in ways that respect their human dignity.
“I really didn’t have to tell him much at all, because he seemed to have a handle on what was going on,” Cupich told the AP afterward.
He said that Leo had urged U.S. bishops in particular to “speak with one voice” on the issue. Cupich said he expected the November meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops would make immigration a top agenda item.
“This has to be front and center right now. This is the issue of the day. And we can’t dance around it,” Cupich said.
Catholic leaders in the U.S. have denounced the Trump administration’s crackdown, which has split up families and incited fears that people could be rounded up and deported any time. The administration has defended the crackdown as safeguarding public safety and national security.
Leo “wants us to make sure, as bishops, that we speak out on behalf of the undocumented or anybody who’s vulnerable to preserve their dignity,” Cupich said. “We all have to remember that we all share a common dignity as human beings.”
Cupich said he was heartened by Leo’s remarks last week, in which the pope defended the cardinal’s decision to honor Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin for his work helping immigrants. The plans drew objection from some conservative U.S. bishops given the powerful Democratic senator’s support for abortion rights, and he ultimately declined the award.
It was the second meeting in as many days that history’s first American pope has heard firsthand from a U.S. bishop on the front lines of the migration crackdown. On Wednesday, El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz brought Leo letters from desperate immigrant families.
Cupich was in Rome for Vatican meetings and to also accompany a group of Chicago schoolchildren who got a special greeting from Leo during his Wednesday general audience. The kids had staged their own “mock conclave” in school this past spring, and footage of their deliberations went viral online as the real conclave unfolded in Rome. They arrived at the audience Wednesday dressed as cardinals, Swiss Guards and the pope himself.
Pope Leo XIV on Thursday published his first major document, called Dilexi te, which calls on Christians to do more to love the poor, as Christ teaches. File Photo by Stefano Spaziani/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 9 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV on Thursday released his first major document, calling on Christians and others not to become indifferent to hunger and extreme poverty across the world.
The pope’s first apostolic exhortation, called Dilexi te, builds on the final text published by Leo’s predecessor Pope Francis, which highlighted the “close connection” between love for God and love for the poor, according to the Vatican.
“With this document, signed on Oct. 4, the feast of Saint Francis of Assis, Pope Leo situates himself firmly on the path laid out by his predecessors, including Saint John XXIII, with his appeal … to wealthier countries not to remain indifferent to nations oppressed by hunger and extreme poverty,” the Vatican said in a news release.
Titled “I Have Loved You,” Leo wrote that Francis had started preparing the document and he had finished it, saying that he is “happy to make the document my own — adding some reflections,” The New York Times reported.
In the document, Leo noted the existence of moral, spiritual and cultural poverty, in addition to the poverty of poorer people and nations lacking the material means of subsistence and calls the world’s commitment to the poor “insufficient.”
Leo wrote that the modern world continues to measure poverty using outdated criteria that “do not correspond to present-day realities,” which the “dictatorship of an economy that kills” has exponentially grown the gap between the rich and poor.
Noting that a “throwaway culture” tolerates indifference toward the poor, Leo called for a change in mentality for people to move away from the “illusion of happiness derived from a comfortable life … centered on the accumulation of wealth and social success at all costs, even at the expense of others.”
“The poor are not there by chance or by blind and cruel fate,” Leo wrote. “Nor, for most of them, is poverty a choice. Yet, there are those who still presume to make this claim, thus revealing their own blindness and cruelty.”
Oct. 8 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV reportedly opposed U.S. mass deportation efforts after meeting with El Paso, Texas, Bishop Mark Seitz and members of the Hope Border Institute on Wednesday.
The pope hosted Seitz, institute members and others in Vatican City to discuss the Trump administration’s efforts to deport potentially millions of “migrants” who no longer have legal standing to remain in the United States, according to the Holy See Press Office.
Seitz said the meeting was to enable Pope Leo to see and hear the “stories and fears of our immigrant sisters and brothers from across our country,” USA Today reported.
The meeting included showing a four-minute video of migrants recounting their experiences amid the Trump administration’s efforts to deport those without legal standing to remain in the United States.
“He watched the whole thing, and his eyes at the end were filled with tears,” Dylan Corbett, executive director of the Hope Border Institute, told Politico.
“As the meeting came to an end, he said, ‘You stand with me, and I stand with you, and the church will continue to accompany and stand with migrants.'” Corbett said.
The Vatican has not confirmed that Pope Leo made those comments, but many U.S. Catholic leaders have denounced the Trump administration’s deportation of an estimated 2 million “migrants.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Oct. 1 rejected claims that those being deported are subject to “inhumane treatment” and said the Trump administration is enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.
The Hope Border Institute is an El Paso-based non-profit that says its mission is “pursuing justice at the U.S.-Mexico border.”
While the pope reportedly stands with Seitz and the Hope Border Institute, Vatican City enforces its borders and punishes illegal crossings by fining and imprisoning offenders for between one and four years, according to the Catholic News Agency.
ROME — Pope Leo XIV has intervened for the first time in an abortion dispute roiling the U.S. Catholic Church by raising the seeming contradiction over what it really means to be “pro-life.”
Leo, a Chicago native, was asked late Tuesday about plans by Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich to give a lifetime achievement award to Illinois Senator Dick Durbin for his work helping immigrants. The plans drew objection from some conservative U.S. bishops given the powerful Democratic senator’s support for abortion rights.
Leo called first of all for respect for both sides, but he also pointed out the seeming contradiction in such debates.
“Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion but says I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life,” Leo said. “Someone who says that ‘I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”
Leo spoke hours before Cupich announced that Durbin had declined the award.
Church teaching forbids abortion but it also opposes capital punishment as “inadmissible” under all circumstances. U.S. bishops and the Vatican have strongly called for humane treatment of migrants, citing the Biblical command to “welcome the stranger.”
Pope Leo says mutual respect is needed
Leo said he wasn’t familiar with the details of the dispute over the Durbin award, but said it was nevertheless important to look at the senator’s overall record and noted Durbin’s four-decade tenure. Responding to a question in English from the U.S. Catholic broadcaster EWTN News, he said there were many ethical issues that constitute the teaching of the Catholic Church.
“I don’t know if anyone has all the truth on them but I would ask first and foremost that there be greater respect for one another and that we search together both as human beings, in that case as American citizens or citizens of the state of Illinois, as well as Catholics to say we need to you know really look closely at all of these ethical issues and to find the way forward in this church. Church teaching on each one of those issues is very clear,” he said.
Cupich was a close adviser to Pope Francis, who strongly upheld church teaching opposing abortion but also criticized the politicizing of the abortion debate by U.S. bishops. Some bishops had called for denying Communion to Catholic politicians who supported abortion rights, including former President Joe Biden.
Biden met on several occasions with Francis and told reporters in 2021 that Francis had told him to continue receiving Communion. During a visit to Rome that year he received the sacrament during Mass at a church in Francis’ diocese.
Durbin was barred from receiving Communion in his home diocese of Springfield in 2004. Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki has continued the prohibition and was one of the U.S. bishops who strongly objected to Cupich’s decision to honor the senator. Cupich claims Durbin as a member of the Chicago Archdiocese, where Durbin also has a home.
Senator Durbin declines his award
In his statement announcing that Durbin would decline the award, Cupich lamented that the polarization in the U.S. has created a situation where U.S. Catholics “find themselves politically homeless” since neither the Republican nor the Democratic party fully encapsulates the breadth of Catholic teaching.
He defended honoring Durbin for his pro-immigration stance, and said the planned Nov. 3 award ceremony could have been an occasion to engage him and other political leaders with the hope of pressing the church’s view on other issues, including abortion.
“It could be an invitation to Catholics who tirelessly promote the dignity of the unborn, the elderly, and the sick to extend the circle of protection to immigrants facing in this present moment an existential threat to their lives and the lives of their families,” Cupich wrote.
Paprocki, for his part, thanked Durbin for declining the award. “I ask that all Catholics continue to pray for our church, our country, and for the human dignity of all people to be respected in all stages of life including the unborn and immigrants,” Paprocki said in a Facebook post.
The dispute came as President Donald Trump’s administration maintains a surge of immigration enforcement in the Chicago area.
Believers hold a banner with a picture of Pope Leo XIV in front of the cathedral of Chiclayo, Peru, on May 8, 2025, the day that Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as the 267th pope of the Catholic Church. File Photo by Mikhail Huacan/EPA
Sept. 20 (UPI) — The election of Pope Leo XIV in carried special meaning for Peru, particularly for the city of Chiclayo in the Lambayeque region, where the then-priest Robert Francis Prevost spent decades as a missionary and nearly 10 years as bishop.
Although Prevost was born in Chicago, he became a Peruvian citizen in 2015 when he was named bishop of what he called his “beloved diocese of Chiclayo,” a phrase he delivered in Spanish in his first words to the world after being elected pope.
The impact of his election has been not only spiritual, but also economic, with a significant boost to tourism in the city.
Lambayeque Gov. Jorge Pérez said Thursday that the region recorded an additional $42 million in revenue from tourism tied to the pope’s history in the area.
“No marketing agency, not even the most powerful in the world, could have achieved what Pope Leo has accomplished,” Pérez said in a television interview with CanalB.
Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism officially launched the “Path of Pope Leo XIV” tourist route in late July, highlighting the Peruvian cities in which the pontiff carried out his missionary and pastoral work.
“This tourist route is not just an itinerary of more than 35 attractions in the regions of Lambayeque, La Libertad, Piura and Callao. It is a spiritual path and an invitation to rediscover who we are, where we come from and what unites us as Peruvians,” the ministry said.
As part of its plan to promote the route, the Peruvian government released a promotional video titled The Route of Leo, aimed at encouraging both domestic and international tourists to visit the destinations.
The official route includes historic churches, landmark museums and natural sites, such as the Santa María Cathedral in Chiclayo, the Pómac Forest Historic Sanctuary, the adobe pyramids of Túcume, the ruins of the former San Agustín Convent in Zaña, the Royal Tombs of Sipán Museum and the Chaparrí Ecological Reserve.
This is complemented by the rich cuisine of northern Peru, known for its diverse flavors and ancestral traditions, with dishes that blend seafood, agriculture and the pre-Hispanic heritage of the Mochica and Chimú cultures.
Some of the region’s most famous dishes include arroz con pato (rice with duck), cabrito a la norteña (northern-style goat and one of Pope Leo XIV’s favorites), stingray omelet and black clam ceviche.
For the first stage of the route, which required coordination across four regions and 20 municipalities, the Peruvian government allocated $151 million.
The Ministry of Culture also announced a second stage of the project, with $2.5 million set aside to upgrade the Sicán National Museum and to reinforce the preservation of Chiclayo’s Cathedral and La Verónica Chapel.
In addition, plans are underway to expand the Royal Tombs of Sipán Museum, one of Peru’s most important archaeological museums, which is known for its historical value, the preservation of its artifacts and the quality of its exhibits.
The museum houses the funerary treasures of the Lord of Sipán, a Moche ruler from the third century A.D., which were discovered in 1987 at Huaca Rajada near Chiclayo.
The discovery is considered one of the most significant in the Americas because it was the first intact royal Moche tomb found without looting, offering researchers a detailed view of the hierarchy and splendor of that culture.
Carlo Acutis, a digital pioneer, used his computer skills to spread Catholic teaching globally.
Published On 7 Sep 20257 Sep 2025
A London-born Italian teenager, known as “God’s influencer”, who was an early adopter of the internet to spread Catholic teachings, has been made the church’s first millennial saint at a ceremony led by Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican.
Leo canonised Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 aged 15, in a ceremony attended by thousands on Sunday in St Peter’s Square. At the Mass, the pontiff also canonised Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died in 1924 but was widely recognised for his charitable work.
During a speech at the event, Leo credited Acutis and Frassati for making “masterpieces” out of their lives, warning congregants that the “greatest risk in life is to waste it outside of God’s plan”.
Often seen photographed in his casual outfits, with scruffy hair, T-shirts and sunglasses, Acutis cuts a different figure from the church’s saints of the past who were often depicted in solemn paintings. This has built a global following for Acutis, with the church intending him to be a more relatable saint for digitally-focused young people today.
Leo said Acutis and Frassati’s lives are an “invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces”.
Acutis was born in London in 1991 but moved early on in his life to the northern Italian city of Milan with his family, where he lived until he died of leukaemia in 2006.
As a teenager, Acutis taught himself coding and programming, using the skills he had acquired to document recognised church miracles to spread Catholic teaching globally. His pioneering digital efforts took place at a time when literacy around those subjects was not widespread.
He was also believed to have regularly attended church services, been kind to the homeless and children who suffered bullying, which endeared him to Catholic youth globally.
Shortly after he died, Antonia Salzano, Acutis’s mother, began advocating globally for her son to be recognised as a saint, which requires that he carry out miracles during his life.
Pope Francis, whose death in April this year led to a delay in the saint-making ceremony for Acutis, said the teenager carried out two miracles during his life. According to the Catholic News Agency, Acutis healed a boy who had a birth defect affecting his pancreas and a girl who sustained an injury in Costa Rica.
In a 2019 letter to Catholics, Pope Francis acknowledged Acutis’s efforts, saying, “It is true that the digital world can expose you to the risk of self-absorption, isolation and empty pleasure.” He added, “But don’t forget that there are young people even there who show creativity and even genius. That was the case with the Venerable Carlo Acutis.”
Acutis’s body, encased in wax, lies in a glass tomb in Assisi, a medieval town in central Italy, which is a pilgrimage site visited by hundreds of thousands of people annually. Our Lady of Dolours Church in London, where he was baptised, has also attracted growing numbers of visitors. A part of his heart has been removed from his body as a relic and has been displayed at churches globally.
Sept. 1 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV confirmed his intent to include LGBTQ parishioners within the Catholic Church ahead of their planned Holy Year pilgrimage to Vatican City.
The pope met editor and author the Rev. James Martin of New York for 30 minutes and said he intends to continue Pope Francis‘ policy of inclusion for all, the National Catholic Reporter reported Monday.
Pope Francis refused to judge and expel a gay priest in 2013 and afterward allowed priests to bless same-sex couples.
Francis did not change the Catholic Church’s policy of teaching parishioners that homosexual acts are “disordered,” though.
Martin co-founded Outreach, which is a Catholic ministry that promotes LGBTQ inclusion, and will participate in the Holy Year pilgrimage to Vatican City on Friday and Saturday.
An estimated 1,200 people are expected to participate in the pilgrimage, which is not sponsored by the Vatican.
Leo and Martin met in the library of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, where the Pope clarified his position of inclusion for LGBTQ church members.
The pontiff’s position was in doubt after he criticized what he called the “homosexual lifestyle” in 2012 while serving the church and was still known as the Rev. Robert Prevost.
After being elevated to a cardinal in 2023, Prevost told Catholic News Service he did not oppose Pope Francis’ inclusion of members due to the choices that they make in their personal lives.
He confirmed the Catholic Church’s policy regarding homosexuality had not changed.
Leo also said church leaders were “looking to be more welcoming and more open and to say all people are welcome in the church,” the Catholic News Service reported.
With Venus now firmly by your side and at your back, you have the courage of your love convictions – and can make a major change.
While the moon guides you to make the best of a cash situation, instead of letting it beat you.
New income streams can link to a special skill you’ve had since childhood – but never really valued before.
A journey towards “S” is so good for you.
DESTINY DAYS
Mix up your timetable on Monday, make space for fun.
Stick to a health promise on Thursday.
Be wise to weekend temptations.
What is your star sign’s element?
In astrology, the elements — Air, Water, Earth, and Fire signs — serve as foundational principles that influence the characteristics and behaviours associated with the twelve star signs.
Earth signs: Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn
The Earth signs are grounded in the tangible and practical aspects of life, embodying the stable and nurturing qualities of their element. These signs are known for their pragmatism, reliability, and strong connection to the physical world, often excelling in matters that require patience and persistence.
Air Signs: Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius
The Air signs are characterised by their intellectual, communicative, and social nature. This reflects the light and dynamic essence of their elemental influence. Overall, these signs tend to excel in the realms of ideas, relationships, and innovation, bringing a breath of fresh air to their interactions and thought processes.
Water Signs: Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces
The Water element signs are profoundly impacted by their element. With each astrological sign, water gives way to emotional depth, strong intuition, and a capacity for deep empathy and connection.
Fire Signs: Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius
Fuelled by the element of Fire, these fire signs in astrology are known for their passion, boldness, energy, enthusiasm, courage, and a zest for life that often leads them to adventurous and creative endeavours.
MAKE THIS THE WEEK YOU…
Be less stubborn about saying sorry.
Allow yourself time off from chores.
Step back from someone else’s squabble.
URANUS SEXTILE NEPTUNE
This rare connection of power planets last happened in 1966 – and sets up two years of joy, generosity and genius thinking.
What does this mean for Leo?
The next two years are all about breaking boundaries that have always held you back – in what you think, how you behave, who you allow yourself to love.
When true freedom comes knocking, you will recognise it, and welcome it.
Time spent abroad, living and working alongside people you admire, can also reshape your future.
Fabulous is the home of horoscopes, with weekly updates on what’s in store for your star sign as well as daily predictions.
Aug. 21 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV is expected to travel to Lebanon before the end of the year on his first international trip.
Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church, said in an interview that Leo would visit Lebanon “sometime between now and December.”
“The visit will happen after a decision from the Vatican about when it will take place, so until now it’s not yet determined. But preparations for the visit are underway, though the exact timing is still unknown, waiting for the Vatican to announce it,” Rai said.
There has been no official announcement from the Vatican about the international trip yet
Archbishop Paul Sayah, deputy to Lebanon’s highest-ranking Catholic leader, told BBC that a trip to Lebanon would be an important visit for the pope.
“Lebanon is a multicultural, multi-religious country and is a place of dialogue,” Sayah said. “It’s one of the rare environments where Muslims and Christians are living together and respecting each other so it sends a message to the region.”
Throughout recent decades, popes have been conducting overseas travels to connect with Catholics worldwide.
Pope Francis during his 12 years, visited 68 countries on 47 foreign trips.
Francis had formerly expressed his desire to visit Lebanon, but the country’s political and economic crisis complicated the planning.
Lebanon is home to more than two million Catholics and has carried symbolic weight for the Church.
In his first public address, Pope Leo XVI said: “We want to be a synodal church, a church that moves forward, a church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close above all to those who are suffering.”
Since that fateful day, the new pontiff has dived headfirst into his holy tenure and is wasting no time to implement change.
On 14 August, the Vatican announced that eight representatives from We are Church (WAC) will participate in a Holy Year meeting of synodal teams and participatory bodies – describing it as “a first for the international church reform movement.”
The landmark Jubilee celebrations are scheduled to take place from 24 October to 26 October.
Shortly after the news was announced, Christian Weisner of We are Church expressed excitement over the group’s inclusion while speaking to Vatican Radio.
“We were pleased that this meeting of synodal teams and bodies of the World Synod will also take place in the Vatican as part of the Holy Year, and that the invitation was open,” he said.
“After two major synodal assemblies in autumn 2023 and autumn 2024, it is important that the synodal spirit and synodal networking remain alive and become even more visible and tangible. This is what we hope for from the meeting, and are happy to contribute to it.
“Our patient work over 30 years, during which we have often been present in Rome at bishops’ synods, council commemorations, papal elections, and other events, may have contributed to this. I also see the passage through the Holy Door as a sign for the church as a whole: to leave mistakes behind and to set out again and again in Christian hope.”
Founded in 1995, WAC has committed itself to “the renewal of the Roman Catholic Church on the basis of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the theological spirit developed from it.”
The equality group, which is represented in more than twenty countries and has presence in or is cooperating with similar groups, has committed itself to five goals: Shared decision making, full equality for all genders, free choice between a celibate and non-celibate lifestyle, positive evaluation of sexuality and good news instead of a threatening message.
For more information about the LGBTQIA+ and women’s equality group, click here.
July 21 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV spoke with astronaut Buzz Aldrin to discuss the 56th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.
During the call, the two reminisced on the 1969 landing, “reflecting on the mystery of creation, its greatness and fragility.”
“Anca and I were grateful and touched to receive the highest blessing from His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV on the 56th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. What an honor! We prayed for good health, long life, and prosperity for all humankind,” wrote on social media after the conversation.
The pope also recited the midday Angelus and visited the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo for the Anniversary, where he was able to look through the astronomical center’s historic telescopes.
In June, Leo, who graduated from Villanova University with a degree in mathematics, hosted participants in the Vatican Observatory Summer school, asking them to never forget “that what they do is meant to benefit everyone.”
Catholic pontiff says international rules have been ‘replaced by the presumed right to overpower others’.
Pope Leo XIV has lamented what he described as the rise of blunt power over the rules of international law as conflicts rage around the world and global institutions continue to fail to end abuses and war crimes.
“It is disheartening to see today that the strength of international law and humanitarian law no longer seems binding, replaced by the presumed right to overpower others,” the pontiff said in a social media post on Thursday.
“This is unworthy and shameful for humanity and for the leaders of nations.”
Leo did not elaborate on his remarks, but his statement comes amid growing calls for ending the Israeli assault on Gaza, which leading rights advocates and United Nations experts have described as a genocide.
Israel has faced growing accusations of violating international humanitarian law, a set of rules meant to protect civilians in conflict, during its conflict with Palestinians.
Backed by the United States, the Israeli military has levelled large parts of Gaza, displaced nearly its entire population and killed at least 56,156 in the territory, according to health officials.
Earlier this month, former US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller, who spearheaded Washington’s defence of Israel’s conduct during the Joe Biden administration, acknowledged that the Israeli military has “without a doubt” committed war crimes in Gaza.
Israel stands in defiance of several international resolutions, including rulings by the International Criminal Court, the top UN tribunal, against the Israeli blockade and killings in Gaza.
Last year, the ICJ also declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory – East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza – unlawful and called for its end “as rapidly as possible”.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over possible war crimes in Gaza, including using starvation as a weapon of war.
But most members of the ICC, especially in Europe, have maintained their deep trade and military ties to Israel despite the charges.
After succeeding the late Pope Francis in May, becoming the first pontiff from the US, Leo pleaded for an end to the war on Gaza.
“Ceasefire now,” Leo, the top spiritual authority for about 1.4 billion Catholics around the world, said in May.
“From the Gaza Strip, we hear rising ever more insistently to the heavens, the cries of mothers and fathers who clutch the lifeless bodies of their children, and who are continually forced to move about in search of a little food and water and safer shelter from bombardments.”
As the war in Gaza continues, deadly conflicts and reports of abuses in Sudan and Ukraine have also persisted.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV urged the warring sides in the Israel-Iran war to “reject the logic of bullying and revenge” and choose a path of dialogue and diplomacy to reach peace as he expressed solidarity with all Christians in the Middle East.
Speaking at his weekly Wednesday general audience, the American pope said he was following “with attention and hope” recent developments in the war. He cited the biblical exhortation: “A nation shall not raise the sword against another nation.”
A ceasefire is holding in the 12-day Iran-Israel conflict, which involved Israel targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites and the U.S. intervening by dropping bunker-buster bombs on Iranian nuclear sites. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful.
“Let us listen to this voice that comes from on High,” Leo said. “Heal the lacerations caused by the bloody actions of recent days, reject all logic of bullying and revenge, and resolutely take the path of dialogue, diplomacy and peace.”
The Chicago-born Leo also expressed solidarity with the victims of Sunday’s attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus, Syria, and urged the international community to keep supporting Syrian reconciliation. Syria’s Interior Ministry has said a sleeper cell belonging to the Islamic State group was behind the attack at the Church of the Holy Cross, which killed at least 25 people.
“To the Christians in the Middle East, I am near you. All the church is close to you,” he said. “This tragic event is a reminder of the profound fragility that still marks Syria after years of conflict and instability, and therefore it is crucial that the international community doesn’t look away from this country, but continues to offer it support through gestures of solidarity and with a renewed commitment to peace and reconciliation.”
Leo Frank, the superintendent of a pencil factory in Georgia, was accused of murdering a young employee, 13-year-old Mary Phagan. His 1913 trial led to his conviction despite shoddy evidence and the manipulations of an ambitious prosecuting attorney, who shamelessly preyed on the prejudices of the jury.
After a series of failed appeals, Frank’s sentence was commuted by the governor, but he was kidnapped and lynched by a mob enraged that his death sentence wasn’t being imposed. The story garnered national attention and threw a spotlight on the fault lines of our criminal justice system.
This dark chapter in American history might not seem suitable for musical treatment. Docudrama would be the safer way to go, given the gravity of the material. But playwright Alfred Uhry and composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown had a vision of what they could uniquely bring to the retelling of Frank’s story.
Olivia Goosman, from left, Jack Roden and the national touring company of “Parade.”
(Joan Marcus)
Their 1998 musical was a critical hit but a difficult sell. More admired than beloved, the show has extended an open challenge to theater artists drawn to the sophisticated majesty of Brown’s Tony-winning score but daunted by the expansive scope of Uhry’s Tony-winning book.
Director Michael Arden has answered the call in his Tony-winning revival, which has arrived at the Ahmanson Theatre in sharp form. The production, which launched at New York City Center before transferring to Broadway, proved that a succès d’estime could also be an emotionally stirring hit.
“Parade” covers a lot of cultural, historical, and political ground. The trial, prefaced by a Civil War snapshot that sets the action in the proper context, takes up much of the first act. But the musical also tells the story of a marriage that grows in depth as external reality becomes more treacherous.
It’s a lot to sort through, but Arden, working hand in hand with scenic designer Dane Laffrey, has conceptualized the staging in a neo-Brechtian fashion that allows the historical background to be seamlessly transmitted. Sven Ortel‘s projections smoothly integrate the necessary information, allowing the focus to be on the human figures caught in the snares of American bigotry and barbarism.
Danielle Lee Greaves, left, and Talia Suskauer in the national tour of “Parade.” Suskauer plays Lucille, Leo’s wife.
(Joan Marcus)
The 2007 Donmar Warehouse revival, directed by Rob Ashford, came to the Mark Taper Forum in 2009 with the promise that it had finally figured out the musical. The production was scaled down, but the full potency of “Parade” wasn’t released. An earnest layer of “importance” clouded the audience’s emotional connection to the characters, even if the Taper was a more hospitable space for this dramatic musical than the Ahmanson.
Arden’s production, at once intimate and epic, comes through beautifully nonetheless on the larger stage. “Parade,” which delves into antisemitism, systemic bias in our judicial system and the power of a wily demagogue to stoke atavistic hatred for self-gain, has a disconcerting timeliness. But the production — momentous in its subject matter, human in its theatrical style — lets the contemporary parallels speak for themselves.
Ben Platt, who played Leo, and Micaela Diamond, who played Leo’s wife, Lucille, made this Broadway revival sing in the most personally textured terms. For the tour, these roles are taken over by Max Chernin and Talia Suskauer. Both are excellent, if less radiantly idiosyncratic. The modesty of their portrayals, however, subtly draws us in.
Chris Shyer, left, and Alison Ewing play Governor Slaton and his wife, two of the more noble figures in the show.
(Joan Marcus)
Chernin’s Leo is a cerebral, Ivy League-educated New Yorker lost in the minutiae of his factory responsibilities. A numbers man more than a people person, he’s a fish out of water in Atlanta, as he spells out in the song “How Can I Call This Home?” Platt played up the comedy of the quintessential Jewish outsider in a land of Confederate memorials and drawling manners. Chernin, more reserved in his manner, seethes with futile terror.
The withholding nature of Chernin’s Leo poses some theatrical risks but goes a long way toward explaining how the character’s otherness could be turned against him in such a malignant way. His Leo makes little effort to fit in, and he’s resented all the more for his lofty detachment.
It takes some time for Suskauer’s Lucille to come into her own, both as a wife and a theatrical character. It isn’t until the second half that, confronting the imminent death of her husband, she asserts herself and rises in stature in both Leo’s eyes and audience’s. But a glimmer of this potential comes out in the first act when Lucille sings with plaintive conviction “You Don’t Know This Man,” one of the standout numbers in a score distinguished less by individual tunes than by the ingenious deployment of an array of musical styles (from military beats to folk ballads and from hymns to jazz) to tell the story from different points of view.
Max Chernin’s Leo is a cerebral, Ivy League-educated New Yorker lost in the minutiae of his factory responsibilities.
(Joan Marcus)
“This Is Not Over Yet” raises hope that Leo and Lucille will find a way to overcome the injustice that has engulfed them. History can’t be revised, but where there’s a song there’s always a chance in the theater. Reality, however, painfully darkens in the poignant duet “All the Wasted Time,” which Lucille and Leo sing from his prison cell — a seized moment of marital bliss from a husband and wife who, as the last hour approaches, have finally become equal partners.
Ramone Nelson, who plays Jim Conley, a Black worker at the factory who is suborned to testify against Leo, delivers the rousing “Blues: Feel The Rain Fall,” a chain gang number that electrifies the house despite the defiance of a man who, having known little justice, has no interest in defending it. Conley has been sought out by Governor Slaton (a gently authoritative Chris Shyer), who has reopened the investigation at Lucille’s urging only to uncover contradictions and inconsistencies in the case. He’s one of the more noble figures, however reluctant, married to a woman (a vivid Alison Ewing) who won’t let him betray his integrity, even if it’s too little, too late.
Hugh Dorsey (Andrew Samonsky), the prosecuting attorney preoccupied with his future, has no regrets after railroading Leo in a politicized trial that will cost him his life. Dorsey is one of the chief villains of the musical, but Samonsky resists melodrama to find a credible psychological throughline for a man who has staked his career on the ends justifying the means.
Lucille (Talia Suskauer, left) and Leo (Max Chernin) sing a poignant duet from his prison cell.
(Joan Marcus)
Britt Craig (Michael Tacconi), a down-on-his-luck reporter who takes delight in demonizing Leo in the press, dances on his desk when he’s landed another slanderous scoop. But even he’s more pathetic than hateful. One sign of the production’s Brechtian nature is the way the structural forces at work in society are revealed to be more culpable than any individual character. The press, like the government and the judiciary, is part of a system that’s poisoned from within.
The harking back to the Civil War isn’t in vain. “Parade” understands that America’s original sin — slavery and the economic apparatus that sanctioned the dehumanization of groups deemed as “other” — can’t be divorced from Leo’s story.
The musical never loses sight of poor Mary Phagan (Olivia Goosman), a flighty underage girl who didn’t deserve to be savagely killed at work. It’s exceedingly unlikely that Leo had anything to do with her murder, but the show doesn’t efface her tragedy, even as it reckons with the gravity of Leo’s.
When Chernin’s Leo raises his voice in Jewish prayer before he is hanged, the memory of a man whose life was wantonly destroyed is momentarily restored. His lynching can’t be undone, but the dignity of his name can be redeemed and our collective sins can be called to account in a gripping musical that hasn’t so much been revived as reborn.
‘Parade’
Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 North Grand Ave., L.A.
When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays. Ends July 12
In his first words directed specifically to Americans, Pope Leo XIV told young people on Saturday how to find hope and meaning in their lives through God and in service to others.
“So many people who suffer from different experiences of depression or sadness — they can discover that the love of God is truly healing, that it brings hope,” the first American pope said in a video broadcast on the giant screen at Rate Field, the White Sox baseball stadium on Chicago’s South Side.
The event — set in Leo’s hometown and at the home stadium of his favorite major league team — was organized by the Archdiocese of Chicago in honor of his recent election as pope. Leo seized the opportunity to speak directly to young people, tying his message to the Roman Catholic Church’s ongoing Jubilee year of hope that was declared by Pope Francis.
In Saturday’s message, Leo urged those listening in the stadium and online to be beacons of hope capable of inspiring others.
“To share that message of hope with one another — in outreach, in service, in looking for ways to make our world a better place — gives true life to all of us, and is a sign of hope for the whole world,” he said.
The afternoon program, emceed by Chicago Bulls announcer Chuck Swirsky, highlighted Leo’s roots, including music by the city’s Leo Catholic High School Choir and a musician from Peru, where Leo lived and worked for years. There was also a discussion featuring a former teacher of the future pope as well as a high school classmate and fellow Augustinian.
The event also celebrated the mixing of Catholicism and baseball, including a special invitation from the team for Leo to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at a future White Sox game.
Leo, formerly Robert Prevost, was elected May 8, becoming the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the church.
Leo, 69, spent his career serving as an Augustinian missionary and ministering in Peru before taking over the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops. He succeeded Pope Francis, who died April 21.
“When I see each and every one of you, when I see how people gather together to celebrate their faith, I discover myself how much hope there is in the world,” Leo said in the video message.
The program was followed by a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago who was part of the conclave that elected Leo.
Pope Leo XIV has previously been photographed wearing a White Sox hat, the team he grew up cheering for in a working-class neighborhood.
Leo is the first person from the United States elected to serve as Pope.
Long before he was Pope, Prevost witnessed his White Sox win the 2005 World Series, capturing baseball’s title for the first time in 88 years after winning four straight games over the Houston Astros.
In addition to the Pope’s address, Saturday’s event features a serenade from a Chicago Catholic school boys’ choir competing on the reality TV program America’s Got Talent. Chicago Bulls play-by-play voice Chuck Swirsky is serving as Master of Ceremonies.
The taped appearance comes just over a month after the 69-year-old was elected to the Papacy, to the delight of many Chicagoans and its large Catholic population.
The Archdiocese of Chicago estimates more than 2 million Catholics live in the region.
Saturday’s festivities come a week after the Pope asked God to “open borders, break down walls and dispel hatred,” during weekly mass in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
On Friday, the Pope confirmed the date on which Italian teenager Carlo Acutis will be canonized. Acutis, who died at the age of 15 from leukemia in 2006, will become the first saint from the millennial generation on Sept. 7.
It’s a good thing too — otherwise the event being thrown in his honor at the team’s home stadium this weekend might be a little awkward.
While the White Sox play the Rangers in Texas on Saturday afternoon, the Archdiocese of Chicago will be at Rate Field celebrating the new leader of the Catholic Church — who was born and raised on the city’s South Side — with a Mass by Chicago Archbishop Blase J. Cupich and other festivities.
Leo will also be represented in mural form. The White Sox unveiled a graphic installation featuring his likeness on a concourse wall before a May 19 game against the Seattle Mariners, less than two weeks after Leo was selected as the first U.S.-born pope. He replaced Pope Francis, who died on April 21 at age 88.
The Chicago White Sox have commemorated the fandom of Pope Leo XIV with a graphic installation at Rate Field.
(Nam Y. Huh / Associated Press)
The graphic was installed next to Section 140, where Leo sat in Row 19, Seat 2 for Game 1 of the 2005 World Series between the White Sox and Houston Astros. As remarkable as it might sound, there is footage from Fox’s national broadcast of that Oct. 22, that shows the man then-known as Father Bob in the stands at the stadium then-known as U.S. Cellular Field.
Hosting a World Series game for the first time since 1959, the White Sox led by two runs with one out in the top of the ninth inning. Chicago closer Bobby Jenks had just thrown a 95-mph fastball past Houston’s Adam Everett for an 0-1 count and was preparing for his next pitch.
That’s when the camera panned to a nervous-looking Father Bob, who appears to be wearing a team jacket over a team jersey.
Viewers never got to see the future pope’s reaction to what happens next, but he must have been ecstatic as Jenks strikes out Everett in two more pitches for a 5-3 Chicago win. The White Sox would go on to sweep the Astros for their first World Series win since 1917.
“That was his thing. He liked to get out and go to a game once in a while,” Louis Prevost told the Chicago Tribune of his brother, the future pope. “Eat a hot dog. Have some pizza. Like any other guy in Chicago on the South Side.”
His favorite team may have fallen on harder times since then — the White Sox are an American League-worst 23-45 and 20.5 games behind the first-place Detroit Tigers in the Central Division — but Leo is still willing to put his fandom on display for the world to see.
On Wednesday, he wore a White Sox hat along with his traditional papal cassock while blessing newly married couples in St. Peter’s Square outside the Vatican.
Kelly and Gary DeStefano, who live in Haverhill, Mass., and are Boston Red Sox fans, gave him the hat. Kelly DeStefano told Boston.com they were just trying to get the new pope’s attention.
“I just wanted to make sure everyone at home knew that we did not turn on our team,” she told Boston.com. “It was all in joke and good fun.”
Chicago White Sox fans dress up like fellow White Sox fan Pope Leo XIV to watch a game against the Cubs on May 17 at Wrigley Field.
(Paul Beaty / Associated Press)
It worked, with Boston.com reporting that Leo gave the couple a good-natured ribbing once he found out where they are from.
“You’re going to get in trouble for this,” he told them, in a video of the meeting.
“Don’t tell anyone in Massachusetts,” Kelly DeStefano replied.
While Leo might be a little too busy to attend a game anytime soon, White Sox executive vice president, chief revenue and marketing officer Brooks Boyer said last month that the pope is welcome to return to Rate Field whenever he wants.
“He has an open invite to throw out a first pitch,” Boyer said. “Heck, maybe we’ll let him get an at-bat.”
