In his inaugural homily, Pope Leo XIV calls for a Church rooted in love, unity, and mission, urging the faithful to become a leaven of peace in a divided world.
In his inaugural homily, Pope Leo XIV calls for a Church rooted in love, unity, and mission, urging the faithful to become a leaven of peace in a divided world.
Launching his papacy with a call for reconciliation and communion, Pope Leo XIV formally began his ministry as the successor of St. Peter by calling for “a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world.”
On the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi setting up the first Nativity scene, the creche in St. Peter’s Square in 2023 will come from the Diocese of Rieti, Italy, and pay tribute to the scene set up in the diocese in 1223.
The Vatican investment office made 32.27 million euros (about $35.2 million) in profit in 2022 and contributed the entire amount to the Vatican’s operating budget, said Bishop Nunzio Galantino, president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See.
Despite being discharged from the hospital just a day earlier, Pope Francis presided over an outdoor Palm Sunday Mass in a brisk St. Peter’s Square, telling believers to embrace those who feel abandoned as Jesus did on the cross.
Pope Francis has invited Catholics worldwide to renew the act of consecrating the church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine, to Mary every March 25, the feast of the Annunciation.
As thousands of people sat in the dark in St. Peter’s Square, they watched fish jump from the facade of the basilica, saw the word “no” form and dissolve three times and heard an actor reciting the part of St. Peter speak about the overwhelming love and mercy of Jesus.
Christians should not only face life’s challenges without fear but also not be overcome by the temptation to remain idle to the Lord’s presence in those moments, Pope Francis said.
Pope Francis, Sunday, expressed closeness to Cuba in his traditional noontime Angelus address, and he voiced the hope that the country will become more just and fraternal. While those words may elicit only quiet reaction within Cuba itself, a band of Cuban expatriates who gathered in St. Peter’s Square didn’t disguise their anguish.