NATION/WORLD

1. The Lord is a refuge for the poor (cf. Ps 14:6). The words of the Psalmist point the way forward as we prepare for the 10th World Day of the Poor. Once again, we must return to the Word of God to reaffirm the importance of the poor in the life of the Church. The words of the Psalm serve as a standard for Christian living because they reveal the face of God and acknowledge human poverty. Indeed, at a dramatic moment in history — the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem — the people felt deprived of God’s presence and experienced unprecedented material and moral misery.

MADRID (CNS) -- In a highly anticipated and historic speech to Spain's parliament, Pope Leo XIV urged modern-day leaders to be guided by ancient and Catholic principles that gave birth to universal human rights based on the inalienable dignity of the human person. While Church and state legitimately remain separate, many virtues and aims of good governance and just laws are rooted in values profoundly marked and inspired by the Christian tradition, he told hundreds of lawmakers and leaders of judiciary branches June 6 in Spain's Congress of Deputies.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christ is present in the liturgy -- in the word that is proclaimed, in the sacraments, in the ministers, in the community and most of all in the Eucharist, Pope Leo XIV said. "Let us allow ourselves to be shaped from within by the rites, symbols, gestures and above all by the living presence of Christ in the liturgy," he said during his general audience talk in St. Peter's Square May 20. Before the pope began his catechesis, he welcomed Armenian Apostolic Catholicos Aram I of Cilicia, who sat next to him during the audience.

Pope Leo XIV shared his first encyclical on May 15, 2026, entitled Magnifica Humanitas (The Magnificence of the Human Person). Bishop Peter Dai Bui helps us understand how this letter fits into the writings of previous popes — Pope Leo XIII, Pope St. John XXIII, Pope St. Paul VI and Pope St. John Paul II — each of whom responded to the challenges of his times with one or more encyclicals. Today, Pope Leo XIV does the same for us.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV said a proposal to create an AI-version of him so people could have a virtual audience with the pope pretty much horrified him. "If there's anybody who should not be represented by an avatar, I would say the pope is high on the list," he said in an interview with Elise Allen, a journalist and author.

I write to you as a pastor and as a fellow disciple of Jesus Christ, one who shares your concern for the moral challenges of our time. As Archbishop of Santa Fe, I have prayed deeply about the continued existence of nuclear weapons and what our faith requires of us in response. I am convinced that this issue is not peripheral to our Catholic life—it goes to the very heart of who we are as a people committed to the Gospel of peace. The Church teaches, and has always taught, that every human person is created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], 1700). From this foundational truth flows the absolute dignity of human life. Nuclear weapons, by their very nature, stand in direct contradiction to this dignity. Their destructive force is indiscriminate, incapable of distinguishing between combatant and noncombatant. As the Catechism reminds us, “every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities… is a crime against God and man” (CCC, 2314). Nuclear weapons represent the extreme embodiment of this moral disorder.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Three Jesuit astronomers and the 16th-century pope who commissioned the Gregorian calendar have recently been honored with having asteroids named after them. The new additions include: "562971 Johannhagen," honoring Austrian Jesuit Father Johann Hagen, who was serving as director of the Georgetown University Observatory when Pope Pius X called him to Rome in 1906 to be the first Jesuit director of the new Vatican Observatory; "551878 Stoeger," honoring U.S. Jesuit Father Bill Stoeger, a cosmologist and theologian who died in 2014; and "565184 Janusz," honoring Polish Jesuit Father Robert Janusz, a philosopher and physicist on the staff at the Vatican Observatory. A working group of the International Astronomical Union also approved of the designation of "560974 Ugoboncompagni," honoring Ugo Boncompagni, who was elected Pope Gregory XIII in 1572.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- One year ago today, Pope Francis died at 7:35 a.m., April 21, 2025.  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. But then, the next morning, which was a major holiday in Italy, church bells tolled the death knell after U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, announced that Pope Francis had died just a few hours ago. "His whole life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his church," Cardinal Farrell said in a video announcement broadcast from the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis lived.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Warning against an increasingly unpredictable and aggressive "delusion of omnipotence" threatening the globe, Pope Leo XIV called on world leaders and individuals to empty their hearts and minds of hatred and violence, and to start serving life. "Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life," he said during a special evening prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter's Basilica April 11. "Those who pray are aware of their own limitations; they do not kill or threaten with death," he said. "Instead, death enslaves those who have turned their backs on the living God, turning themselves and their own power into a mute, blind and deaf idol, to which they sacrifice every value, demanding that the whole world bend its knee."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Appealing to those in power to end all conflicts through dialogue and not domination, Pope Leo XIV urged humanity to stop growing accustomed to wars and violence and announced a prayer vigil for peace April 11. "We cannot continue to be indifferent! And we cannot resign ourselves to evil!" he said April 5 before giving his Easter blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world). "In the light of Easter, let us allow ourselves to be amazed by Christ! Let us allow our hearts to be transformed by his immense love for us!" he said.