St. Joseph Catholic Church

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Making the first state visit of his papacy, Pope Leo XIV met Italian President Sergio Mattarella and spoke of common concerns, including war, migration, ecology and Italy's declining birthrate.

"In a climate of cordial respect, the Catholic Church and the Italian state collaborate for the common good -- at the service of the human person, whose inviolable dignity must always remain at the forefront of decision-making and action at all levels of social development, especially in defending the most fragile and needy," the pope told the president.

The morning meeting Oct. 14 took place at the Quirinal Palace, a former papal residence that has been home to Italian kings and presidents since 1870. 

Embracing all the pomp of an official visit, Pope Leo began his 2-mile journey to the palace by being greeted by Italian government officials just outside St. Peter's Square and then was escorted in a motorcade by the Italian military. The Italian cavalry, mounted on horseback, led the pope's car into the palace courtyard.

After a private meeting with Mattarella, the pope and president exchanged speeches in the Mirrors Room, which Italian kings once used as a ballroom.

While celebrating their common stances and cooperation on a host of issues, the two leaders also expressed common concerns.

"As is sadly evident," Pope Leo said, "we live in a time that, alongside many signs of hope, is marked by grave suffering that wounds humanity worldwide and demands urgent yet farsighted responses." 

"Numerous wars are devastating our planet, and as we look at the images, read the news, hear the voices and meet the people painfully affected," the pope said, he remembers the strong and prophetic words of his predecessors warning of the devastation that could come and pleading for peace.

"I therefore renew my heartfelt appeal that we continue to work to reestablish peace in every part of the world," he said, "and that the principles of justice, equity and cooperation among peoples -- principles which form its irreplaceable foundation -- be ever more cultivated and promoted."

Pope Leo also noted that the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi will be marked in 2026. "This offers an opportunity to highlight the urgent issue of caring for our common home," he said.

By teaching people to praise God by respecting God's creation, he said, "Italy has received, in a special way, the mission of transmitting to the nations a culture that recognizes the earth as 'a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us,'" as Pope Francis wrote. 

The declining birthrate in Italy and across Europe was another concern Pope Leo highlighted in his speech to Mattarella, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and top members of her cabinet.

The government must take action to support families, the pope said. Italians' traditional love of family and willingness to sacrifice for them is good for the country.

"In particular, I wish to emphasize the importance of guaranteeing all families the indispensable support of dignified work, in fair conditions and with due attention to the needs related to motherhood and fatherhood," he said. "Let us do everything possible to give confidence to families -- especially young families -- so that they may look to the future with serenity and grow in harmony." 

Pope Leo also urged Italians "to uphold and protect life in all its phases, from conception to old age, until the moment of death."

And he thanked Italy "for the generous assistance this country offers to migrants who increasingly knock at its doors, as well as for its efforts in combating human trafficking."

Migration and trafficking "are among the great challenges of our time," he said, "and Italy has never turned away from them."

"I encourage you to keep alive your attitude of openness and solidarity," the pope said, adding that migrants must be helped to integrate by learning "the values and traditions of Italian society."

Pope Leo calls for peace, solidarity and stronger families

Pope Leo XIV made a formal visit to the Quirinal Palace in Rome Oct. 14 to meet with Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella.

WASHINGTON – When the U.S. bishops gather in November for their Fall Plenary Assembly, November 10-13, they will elect the next president and vice president for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

The president and vice president are elected from a slate of 10 candidates who have been nominated by their fellow bishops. They are as follows (in alphabetical order):

• Bishop Robert E. Barron, Diocese of Winona-Rochester
• Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, Archdiocese of Oklahoma City
• Bishop Daniel E. Flores, Diocese of Brownsville
• Archbishop Richard G. Henning, Archdiocese of Boston
• Bishop David J. Malloy, Diocese of Rockford
• Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez, Archdiocese of Philadelphia
• Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend
• Archbishop Alexander K. Sample, Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon
• Archbishop Charles C. Thompson, Archdiocese of Indianapolis
• Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger, Archdiocese of Detroit

The president and vice president are elected to three-year terms, which begin at the conclusion of this year’s Plenary Assembly. At that time, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, will complete their terms as president and vice president, respectively.

The by-laws of the USCCB provide that the first election is that of the president by simple majority vote of members present and voting. Following the election of the president, the vice-president is elected from the remaining nine candidates. In either election, if a candidate does not receive more than half of the votes cast on the first ballot, a second vote is taken. If a third round of voting is necessary, that ballot is a run-off between the two bishops who received the most votes on the second ballot. 

During the meeting, the bishops will also vote for new chairmen of six USCCB standing committees: Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance; Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs; Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis; Committee on International Justice and Peace; Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People; and the Committee on Religious Liberty. The six committee chairmen elected will serve for one year as chairman-elect before beginning a three-year term at the conclusion of the bishops’ 2026 Fall General Assembly. Should any of the candidates for committee chairmanship be elected to fill to a higher office, the bishops’ Committee on Priorities and Plans will convene to nominate a new candidate for that committee.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In separate videos recorded in English, Spanish and Italian, Pope Leo XIV urged every Catholic parish around the globe to observe World Mission Sunday Oct. 19 and take up the annual collection that supports Catholic missionary work.

"When I served as a missionary priest and then bishop in Peru, I saw first-hand how the faith, the prayer and the generosity shown on World Mission Sunday can transform entire communities," said the Chicago-born pope. As an Augustinian priest, he served in the missions in Peru from 1985 to 1999 and then as apostolic administrator and later bishop of Chiclayo from 2014 to 2023. 

In the video message, released Oct. 13, Pope Leo encouraged all Catholics to pray on World Mission Sunday "particularly for missionaries and the fruitfulness of their apostolic labors."

"Your prayers, your support will help spread the Gospel, provide for pastoral and catechetical programs, help to build new churches, and care for the health and educational needs of our brothers and sisters in mission territories," the pope said.

According to the Pontifical Mission Societies USA, funds collected on World Mission Sunday support: "82,498 seminarians in formation; 258,540 religious sisters providing care and catechesis; (and) 844,000 catechists sharing the faith at the grassroots."

The funds also help sustain "12,000 health care centers; 8,750 orphanages and homes for the elderly" and have helped with the construction of 570 new churches, it said.

In the video, Pope Leo asked Catholics to "reflect together on our baptismal call to be 'missionaries of hope among the peoples,'" and to commit themselves again "to the sweet and joyful task of bringing Christ Jesus our hope to the ends of the earth."

The annual papal message for World Mission Sunday is released in February. Pope Francis had chosen "Missionaries of Hope Among All Peoples" as the theme for the 2025 celebration.
 

Pope Leo: Support ‘Missionaries of Hope”

In a special video appeal, Pope Leo XIV asked Catholic parishes across the globe to support World Mission Sunday Oct. 19.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christians must avoid using their faith to label those who are different -- often the poor -- as enemies to be avoided and rejected, Pope Leo XIV said.

"Some forms of worship do not foster communion with others and can numb our hearts," he said in his homily during Mass in St. Peter's Square Oct. 12 for the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality.

"Mary's path follows that of Jesus, which leads us to encounter every human being, especially the poor, the wounded and sinners," Pope Leo said in his homily. "Because of this, authentic Marian spirituality brings God's tenderness, his way of 'being a mother,' to light in the church." 

Members of movements, confraternities and various Marian prayer groups were invited to Rome for their Oct. 11-12 Jubilee, which included an evening prayer service in the square Oct. 11 with Pope Leo in the presence of the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima.

The statue, brought from the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, also was on display during the Oct. 12 Mass.

Marian spirituality, "which nourishes our faith, has Jesus as its center," Pope Leo said in his homily. Remembering Jesus Christ is what matters.

"The celebration of Sunday, therefore, should make us Christians," he said. "It should fill our thoughts and feelings with the burning memory of Jesus and change the way we live together and the way we inhabit the earth."

The pope reflected on the day's Gospel reading of Jesus cleansing 10 lepers (Lk 17:11-19). While all of them appealed to him and were healed, only one, who was a foreigner, thanked Jesus and glorified God.

"The lepers in the Gospel who do not return to give thanks remind us that God's grace can touch us and find no response," he said. "It can heal us, yet we can still fail to accept it."

"Let us take care, therefore, not to go up to the temple in such a way that does not lead us to follow Jesus," he said. 

When some forms of worship fail to foster communion with others, he said, "we fail to encounter the people God has placed in our lives. We fail to contribute, as Mary did, to changing the world, and to share in the joy of the Magnificat."

"Let us take care to avoid any exploitation of the faith that could lead to labelling those who are different -- often the poor -- as enemies, 'lepers' to be avoided and rejected," he said.

"Marian spirituality is at the service of the Gospel" because "it reveals its simplicity," he said.

"Our affection for Mary of Nazareth leads us to join her in becoming disciples of Jesus," he said, and "it teaches us to return to him and to meditate and ponder the events of our lives in which the Risen One still comes to us and calls us."

Marian spirituality "helps us to see the proud being scattered in their conceit, the mighty being cast down from their thrones and the rich being sent away empty-handed," he said, referring to the Canticle of Mary (Lk 1:51-54). "It impels us to fill the hungry with good things, to lift up the lowly, to remember God's mercy and to trust in the power of his arm." 

Just as God asked Mary for her "yes," he said, "Jesus invites us to be part of his kingdom."

"Dear friends, in a world seeking justice and peace, let us revive Christian spirituality and popular devotion to the events and places blessed by God that have changed the face of the earth forever," he said.

"Let us use them as a driving force for renewal and transformation," he said, especially during the Holy Year, which encourages conversion, restitution, reflection and liberation.

During the Mass, one of the prayers of the faithful prayed that God would "dispel all pride from the hearts of those who hold positions of power and inspire decisions which favor the little ones and the least."

The pope offered his own prayer entrusting the church, the world and all of humanity to Mary.

"Holy Virgin, Mother of Christ our hope, your caring presence in this Year of Grace accompanies and consoles us and gives us, in the dark nights of history, the certainty that in Christ evil is overcome and every person is redeemed by his love," he said.

"To your immaculate heart we entrust the whole world and all of humanity, especially your children who are tormented by the scourge of war," he said. "Advocate of grace, advise us on the path of reconciliation and forgiveness, do not fail to intercede for us, in joy and in sorrow, and obtain for us the gift of peace that we earnestly implore."
 

Pope Leo calls for disarmament

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass as part of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality and calls for disarmament.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In the presence of the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which has one of the bullets from the attempted assassination in 1981 of St. John Paul II embedded in its crown, Pope Leo XIV called for the warring to lay down their weapons.

"'Lay down your sword' is a message addressed to the powerful of this world, to those who guide the fate of peoples: have the courage to disarm!" the pope said Oct. 11 as he led a prayer vigil and the recitation of the rosary for peace in St. Peter's Square.

On the night he was arrested, Jesus told St. Peter, "Lay down your sword." While Jesus says the same to warmongers today, the pope said, it also is "an invitation to each one of us to recognize that no idea, faith or policy justifies killing." 

Before the evening prayer service, part of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, the statue brought from the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal was on display in the Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina near the Vatican. Thousands of people lined up to see the statue up close and to pray in front of it.

As the statue was carried in procession into St. Peter's Square, people applauded and shouted, "Viva la Madonna" ("Long live Our Lady"). 

Pope Leo placed a gold rose in a small vase at the foot of the statue and prayed silently before beginning the prayer vigil.

Each of the joyful mysteries of the rosary was led in a different language -- Italian, English, Spanish, French and Portuguese -- and each decade concluded with the prayer, "Queen of Peace, pray for us."

As darkness fell, Pope Leo offered a meditation, urging everyone to "persevere tirelessly in praying for peace, a God-given gift that we must strive to receive and to which we must make a strong commitment."

With Mary as a model, both as a human being and as the first disciple of Jesus, the pope said, Christians should "ask for the gift of compassion toward every brother and sister who suffers and toward all creatures."

"Let us look to the mother of Jesus and the small group of courageous women at the foot of the cross," the pope suggested. "May we learn from them to stand beside the countless crosses of the world, where Christ is still crucified in his brothers and sisters, in order to bring them comfort, communion and help."

At the wedding feast of Cana, he said, Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them.

The words of Jesus that must be obeyed today, the pope said, are those he addressed to St. Peter: "Lay down your sword." 

"Disarm your hands and, even more importantly, your hearts. As I have said before, peace is unarmed and disarming," Pope Leo said. "It is not deterrence, but fraternity; it is not an ultimatum, but dialogue. Peace will not come as the result of victories over the enemy, but as the fruit of sowing justice and courageous forgiveness."

Jesus calls his followers to see the world "through the eyes of those who suffer rather than the mighty; to view history through the eyes of the little ones, rather than through the perspective of the powerful; to interpret the events of history from the viewpoint of the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the wounded child, the exile and the fugitive; to see things through the eyes of the shipwrecked and of the poor man Lazarus lying at the rich man's doorstep," the pope said,

"Otherwise, nothing will ever change," he said, "and a new era, a kingdom of justice and peace, will never dawn."

Mary, in the Magnificat, points out "the contrast between the humble and the powerful, the poor and the rich, the satiated and the hungry," the pope said. "She chooses the little ones; she stands with the least powerful in history, to teach us to imagine and to dream together with her of new heavens and a new earth."

"Take courage, continue on your journey, you who are building the conditions for a future of peace, justice and forgiveness," Pope Leo said. "Be gentle yet determined and never give up. Peace is a journey, and God walks with you."

The prayer service ended with silent Eucharistic adoration and Benediction.

Pope Leo XIV smiles as he rides in the popemobile past the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima before leading a prayer vigil and recitation of the rosary for peace in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Oct. 11, 2025. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)

The original statue of Our Lady of Fatima is carried in procession through St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Oct. 11, 2025, for a prayer vigil and recitation of the rosary for peace with Pope Leo XIV. Participants pause to pray at the site where St. John Paul II was shot May 13, 1981. The late pope credited Our Lady of Fatima with saving his life, and one of the bullets removed from his body was later placed in the crown of the Fatima statue. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)

Pope Leo XIV kneels in prayer before the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Oct. 11, 2025, before a prayer vigil and the recitation of the rosary for peace. The statue was brought from Portugal to Rome for the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Pope Leo XIV kneels in prayer before the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima during a prayer vigil and recitation of the rosary for peace in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Oct. 11, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Pope Leo XIV greets people from the popemobile as he rides around St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican before leading a prayer vigil and recitation of the rosary for peace Oct. 11, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

The original statue of Our Lady of Fatima, with one of the bullets from the attempted assassination in 1981 of St. John Paul II embedded in its crown, is carried in procession in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for a prayer vigil with Pope Leo XIV Oct. 11, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

People crowd into the Rome Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina Oct. 11, 2025, to pray before the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima, brought from Portugal to Rome for the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)

Religious sisters pray in front of the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima in the Rome Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina Oct. 11, 2025, before it is carried in procession to St. Peter's Square for a prayer vigil with Pope Leo XIV and the recitation of the rosary for peace. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) --The apostolic exhortation "Dilexi Te" ("I Have Loved You") on the church's love for the poor, "is Pope Leo's document. It is the magisterium of the church," although Pope Leo himself wrote that it was begun by Pope Francis, said Cardinal Michael Czerny.

The Canadian cardinal, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, presented the exhortation at a Vatican news conference Oct. 9, the day it was published.

Asked what percentage was completed by Pope Francis before his death in April and what percentage Pope Leo added, Cardinal Czerny responded, "It is 100 % Francis, and it is 100 % Leo."

"No new pope starts with an empty desk and a clear agenda," he told reporters. "We always receive from our predecessors, and we always hand on to our followers."

Given that some pundits have already claimed that Pope Leo speaks more about Jesus and less about politics than Pope Francis did, the cardinal also was asked whether it is valid to say Pope Francis addressed poverty from a political point of view and Pope Leo in the exhortation is addressing it from a theological perspective.

"The distinction is valid in the sense that there are emphases, which one can read, one can compare texts, but it's not very helpful and it's not very true," he said. "Pope Leo is making things more explicit that Pope Francis left less explicit, and we could say vice versa."

"The richness, the wealth, the beauty of this exhortation is certainly matched by the richness, wealth and beauty of the things that Pope Francis said and did and published," the cardinal said. "But you will never find a way of putting this on scales and say, 'Oh, Francis is more social and Leo is more theological.' You're not going to get anywhere with that."

When talking about the Christian obligation to help the poor and decrying the injustice of the global market system -- points repeated in Pope Leo's exhortation -- Pope Francis was accused of being communist or Marxist. Cardinal Czerny was asked if the same would happen to Pope Leo.

"Pope Francis always thought that the attacks were a sign that he was actually doing something," he said, so it is not something to be worried about.

And anyway, the cardinal said, the accusations "say much more about the person who is using the label" than they do about the pope. 

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity and papal almoner under both Pope Francis and Pope Leo, said the popes are simply saying what the Gospel says, "so we will have to accuse Jesus" of being a communist or Marxist if that's what advocating for the poor is.

The exhortation "is not throwing stones at somebody," but it is looking at the world and saying there are unjust people and unjust structures hurting the poor, who are loved by God and the church, Cardinal Czerny said. "It's inviting us to take responsibility for our choices and our options. That is what the Gospel does, and that is what this does."

Cardinal Krajewski said Pope Leo has asked him to keep doing what he was doing under Pope Francis, which is spending all day, every day giving concrete assistance to the poor.

"We are Pope Leo's emergency room; we are the ambulance that is always ready to go to help the needy in his name," the cardinal said.

"What did Jesus do all day? He went out early -- we know this -- and from morning to night, he looked for people who needed him," Cardinal Krajewski said. "He did not set up an office with visiting hours from 4 to 6 p.m. saying, 'Come to me then and I will help you.' No, that did not exist. He went out looking for people -- those who needed his help: the suffering, the unfortunate, the sick, the beaten, the marginalized, the refugees -- and he healed them immediately, the same day." 

Sister Clémence, a member of the Little Sisters of Jesus, told the reporters that by issuing "Dilexi Te" as an exhortation, Pope Leo "puts us all in motion. In this sense, I also like the difference between an exhortation and an encyclical. An exhortation, as the word says, exhorts us all, it puts us in motion and calls us to read this document and try to find ways to put it into practice."

Father Frédéric-Marie Le Méhauté, provincial of the Franciscan friars in France and Belgium, told reporters that Pope Leo calls on all Christians to get over their unease with the poor.

The poor are not simply "a problem," he said. As the exhortation insisted, they are family, "they are 'ours,' brothers and sisters to welcome because God himself chose them first."
 

Pope Leo: Make peace by helping the poor

On October 9, Pope Leo XIV released his first major papal document, Dilexi Te -- I Have Loved You -- an exhortation urging all Christians to renew their love and care for the poor.

WASHINGTON - “I am immensely grateful to the United States and multilateral partners for their tireless work to begin the process that will, God willing, culminate in the ending of the devastating war in Gaza,” said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.

Bishop Zaidan’s statement follows: 

“As we learn that Israel and Hamas have both agreed to begin the first phase of President Trump’s 20-point peace plan—which includes the release of the remaining Israeli hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops to a mutually agreed upon line—I am immensely grateful to the United States and multilateral partners for their tireless work to begin the process that will, God willing, culminate in the ending of the devastating war in Gaza. As the peace process gets underway, I urge all international partners to urgently prioritize humanitarian assistance for the Gazan people, as well as the rebuilding of the Strip; this will lay the foundations not just for peace, but for the Gazan people’s prosperity.  

“As I previously emphasized, we must continue praying ardently that we, as an international community, do not miss this opportunity for peace. Marking the anniversary of the October 7 attacks against Israel, Pope Leo XIV reminded us of the essential link between prayer and dialogue: ‘The Church has asked everyone to pray for peace, especially during this month. We will also seek, in ways available to the Church, to promote dialogue at all times.’ It is precisely through the process of grace-filled dialogue and a culture of encounter that our common humanity, regardless of religious affiliation, emerges, until we see only brothers and sisters working together for peace, mutual respect, and solidarity. Let us continue beseeching almighty God for peace and cooperation for the good of all people in the entire Middle East.”  

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WASHINGTON - Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomed the first apostolic exhortation from Pope Leo XIV, Dilexi te, which invites all the faithful to renew their commitment and closeness to the poor.

“In the first apostolic exhortation from Pope Leo XIV, we are consoled and challenged by his message reminding us of the deep love Christ has for each member of the human family. ‘God’s love is vividly demonstrated by his protection of the weak and the poor,’ our Holy Father writes. Building upon the teaching of his predecessor, Pope Leo XIV has offered to us a powerfully moving invitation to reflect upon the history of the Church’s service to the poor and urges us to allow it to transform our contemporary lives. The Holy Father reminds us of a simple, life-changing truth, ‘love for our neighbor is tangible proof of the authenticity of our love for God.’ This means that ‘charity is not optional but a requirement of true worship.’

“Our lives must reflect the reality of the ultimate, loving sacrifice of Christ. The Holy Father calls upon each of us to respond to a world that is marked by indifference, division, and apathy especially when directed towards the poor and vulnerable. On the challenges we face with contemporary migration, he encourages us to respond with four actions: welcome, protect, promote and integrate. This is a sharp contrast to the culture of fear being imposed upon our sisters and brothers in Christ.

“A radical love for Jesus Christ and a sincere desire to worship God is countercultural, and as we continue to unpack the message of Dilexi te, I invite all people to read, reflect, and pray with the message offered by our Holy Father. May it call us to renewal of our Church and society so that we learn to approach each person with the same love Christ has for that person.”

Find more resources to accompany this new exhortation.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Many Christians "need to go back and re-read the Gospel" because they have forgotten that faith and love for the poor go hand in hand, Pope Leo XIV said in his first major papal document.

"Love for the poor -- whatever the form their poverty may take -- is the evangelical hallmark of a Church faithful to the heart of God," the pope wrote in "Dilexi Te" ("I Have Loved You"), an apostolic exhortation "to all Christians on love for the poor."

Pope Leo signed the document Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and the Vatican released the text Oct. 9.

The document was begun by Pope Francis, Pope Leo said, but he added to it and wanted to issue it near the beginning of his papacy "since I share the desire of my beloved predecessor that all Christians come to appreciate the close connection between Christ's love and his summons to care for the poor." 

The connection is not new or modern and was not a Pope Francis invention, he said. In fact, throughout the Hebrew Scriptures "God's love is vividly demonstrated by his protection of the weak and the poor, to the extent that he can be said to have a particular fondness for them."

"I am convinced that the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society," Pope Leo wrote, "if we can only set ourselves free of our self-centeredness and open our ears to their cry."

As he has done from the beginning of his papacy in May, the pope decried the increasing gap between the world's wealthiest and poorest citizens and noted how women often are "doubly poor," struggling to feed their children and doing so with few rights or possibilities.

Pope Leo also affirmed church teaching since at least the 1960s that there are "structures of sin" that keep the poor in poverty and lead those who have sufficient resources to ignore the poor or think they are better than them.

When the church speaks of God's preferential option for the poor, he said, it does not exclude or discriminate against others, something "which would be impossible for God."

But the phrase is "meant to emphasize God's actions, which are moved by compassion toward the poverty and weakness of all humanity," he wrote. 

"Wanting to inaugurate a kingdom of justice, fraternity and solidarity," Pope Leo said, "God has a special place in his heart for those who are discriminated against and oppressed, and he asks us, his Church, to make a decisive and radical choice in favor of the weakest."

That choice, he said, must include pastoral and spiritual care as well as education, health care, jobs training and charity -- all of which the church has provided for centuries.

The document includes a separate section on migrants with the pope writing, "The Church has always recognized in migrants a living presence of the Lord who, on the day of judgment, will say to those on his right: 'I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.'"

The quotation is from the Gospel of Matthew 25:35, which is part of the "Judgment of the Nations" in which Jesus clearly states that his followers will be judged on how they care for the poor, the sick, the imprisoned and the foreigner. 

"The Church, like a mother, accompanies those who are walking" in search of a better, safer life for themselves and their families, Pope Leo wrote.

"Where the world sees threats, she (the church) sees children; where walls are built, she builds bridges," he continued. "She knows that her proclamation of the Gospel is credible only when it is translated into gestures of closeness and welcome."

The church knows, he said, "that in every rejected migrant, it is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community."

In his exhortation, Pope Leo went through biblical references to the obligation to love and care for the poor and cited saints and religious orders throughout history that have dedicated themselves to living with the poor and assisting them.

A section of the document focuses on the "fathers of the church," the early theologians, who, he said, "recognized in the poor a privileged way to reach God, a special way to meet him. Charity shown to those in need was not only seen as a moral virtue, but a concrete expression of faith in the incarnate Word," Jesus.

Of course, for Pope Leo, an Augustinian, St. Augustine of Hippo was included in the document. The saint, "The Doctor of Grace, saw caring for the poor as concrete proof of the sincerity of faith," the pope wrote. For Augustine, "anyone who says they love God and has no compassion for the needy is lying." 

And while the pope wrote that "the most important way to help the disadvantaged is to assist them in finding a good job," he insisted that when that is not possible, giving alms to a person asking for money is still a compassionate thing to do.

"It is always better at least to do something rather than nothing," Pope Leo wrote.

Still, the pope said, Christians cannot stand idly by while the global economic system penalizes the poor and makes some people exceedingly wealthy. "We must continue, then, to denounce the 'dictatorship of an economy that kills,'" he said, quoting a phrase Pope Francis used.

"Either we regain our moral and spiritual dignity, or we fall into a cesspool," he wrote.

"A Church that sets no limits to love, that knows no enemies to fight but only men and women to love," Pope Leo said, "is the Church that the world needs today."
 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Jesus is always walking alongside everyone, no matter how mundane or precarious their journey, Pope Leo XIV said.

"Sometimes we think that the Lord comes to visit us only in moments of contemplation or spiritual fervor, when we feel worthy, when our lives appear orderly and bright," the pope said Oct. 8 during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

"Instead, the Risen One is close to us precisely in the darkest places: in our failures, in our frayed relationships, in the daily struggles that weigh on our shoulders, in the doubts that discourage us," he said. "Nothing that we are, no fragment of our existence, is foreign to him."

Among the more than 60,000 pilgrims in the square was a group of students from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy in Chicago with Cardinal Blase J. Cupich. The students were wearing white and scarlet outfits and a four-cornered hat similar to what a cardinal wears. One student was dressed as a Swiss guard. 

According to the Chicago Catholic archdiocesan publication, they had reenacted a "mock papal conclave" May 6, two days before the real College of Cardinals elected Chicago-native Cardinal Robert F. Prevost in Rome.

In their own schoolwide rendition, the children had elected on their third ballot Augie Wilk, a fourth grader, who took the name Pope Augustine.

"Students had to apply to be one of the 20 cardinals; five sixth graders portrayed cardinals over 80 who could not vote but helped run the conclave," the publication reported.

Teachers made the costumes, including the red "mozettas" or capes, out of felt, and the hats out of cardstock, it reported.

Cardinal Cupich, who was one of the 133 cardinals in the conclave that elected Pope Leo, visited the students at their school June 2 to watch their reenactment, it said, "and to answer their questions about the real conclave."

Meanwhile, in his ongoing series of audience talks on the Jubilee theme, "Jesus Christ our Hope," Pope Leo reflected on Christ's resurrection as being marked by simplicity and humility.

"The risen Lord does nothing spectacular to impose himself on the faith of his disciples," he said. "He does not appear surrounded by hosts of angels, he does not perform spectacular feats, he does not deliver solemn speeches to reveal the secrets of the universe."

"We would have expected special effects, signs of power, overwhelming evidence," he said. "But the Lord does not seek this: he prefers the language of proximity, of normality, of sharing a meal."

"There is a valuable message in this," the pope said. "The resurrection is not a theatrical coup; it is a silent transformation that fills every human gesture with meaning."

Every human body, story and relationship, he said, are "destined for the fullness of life" by "entering into a deeper communion with God and with our brothers and sisters, in a humanity transfigured by love."

That means "everything can become grace. Even the most ordinary things: eating, working, waiting, taking care of the house, supporting a friend," Pope Leo said. 

"However, there is an obstacle that often prevents us from recognizing Christ's presence in our daily lives: the assumption that joy must be free from suffering," he said.

The disciples expected "a different ending" for the Messiah, he said. "But Jesus walks alongside them and patiently helps them understand that pain is not the denial of the promise, but the way through which God has manifested the measure of his love."

Their eyes are opened when they are seated at the table with the Lord and realize "their hearts were already burning" despite their sadness, he said. "This is the greatest surprise: to discover that beneath the ashes of disenchantment and weariness there is always a living ember, waiting only to be rekindled.

"Christ's resurrection teaches us that no history is so marked by disappointment or sin that it cannot be visited by hope," he said. "However distant, lost or unworthy we may feel, there is no distance that can extinguish the unfailing power of God's love."

"The risen Lord walks alongside each of us, as we travel our paths -- those of work and commitment, but also those of suffering and loneliness -- and with infinite delicacy asks us to let him warm our hearts," the pope said..

"He waits patiently for the moment when our eyes will open to see his friendly face, capable of transforming disappointment into hopeful expectation, sadness into gratitude, resignation into hope," he added.

"The Risen One desires only to manifest his presence, to become our companion on the road and to kindle in us the certainty that his life is stronger than any death," he said.

"Let us then ask for the grace to recognize his humble and discreet presence, not to expect a life without trials, to discover that every pain, if inhabited by love, can become a place of communion," the pope said.

Christian joy, he added, "comes from the certainty that the Lord is alive, walks with us, and gives us the possibility to start again at every moment."

Pope: God is always near, even in our failure

A look at Pope Leo's general audience Oct. 8, 2025. (CNS video/Robert Duncan)