St. Joseph Catholic Church

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)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- True disciples of Christ listen to and understand others, and they always speak the truth, even in the presence of those who are powerful, Pope Leo XIV said.

However, Christian witness "is not to be confused with ideological propaganda," since witness arises from friendship with the Lord and "is an authentic principle of interior transformation and social awareness," he said in his message to young people ahead of the local celebrations of World Youth Day Nov. 23, the solemnity of Christ the King.

Jesus "does not want us to be servants, nor 'activists' of a political party; he calls us to be with him as friends, so that our lives may be renewed," the pope wrote.

Therefore, "do not follow those who use the words of faith to divide; instead, make plans to remove inequalities and reconcile divided and oppressed communities," the pope wrote in the message released by the Vatican Oct. 7, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. 

The November celebration of World Youth Day is taking place a few months after the summer celebration of the Jubilee of Youth held in Rome and two years before the international celebration in Seoul, South Korea, in 2027.

The theme for local celebrations in 2025, "You also are my witnesses, because you have been with me" from the beginning, is taken from St. John's Gospel account of Jesus sending his disciples into the world to bear witness to Christ despite the threat of persecution.

In his message, the pope thanked all the young people who came to Rome or were united from afar through prayer during the Jubilee.

"I hope the Jubilee encounter marks for each of you a step forward in Christian life and a strong encouragement to persevere in witnessing to your faith," which requires courage, he wrote.

There are two aspects of witness, he wrote: "our friendship with Jesus, which we receive from God as a gift, and our commitment to be builders of peace in society."

Jesus "fully knows who we are and why we are here; young people, he knows your heart, your indignation in the face of discrimination and injustice, your desire for truth and beauty, for joy and peace," he wrote. "Through his friendship, he listens to you, motivates you, and guides you, calling each of you to a new life."

"True witnesses do not seek to occupy the center stage, nor to bind their followers to themselves," he said in his message. "Christian witness is neither a proclamation of ourselves nor a celebration of our spiritual, intellectual or moral abilities."

True witnesses, therefore, "are free to listen, to understand, and also to speak the truth to everyone, even in the presence of those who are powerful," he wrote, because they are "recognizing and pointing to Jesus when he appears, as he is the only one who saves us."

Witnesses can become missionaries by walking with other young people and showing them that God, in Jesus, is "closeness, compassion and tender love," he wrote.

This is especially important as so many young people "are exposed to violence, forced to use weapons, separated from their loved ones, and compelled to migrate or flee," he wrote. They, like everyone, have the same yearning for meaning in life.

Jesus does not hide the "painful reality" that his disciples-witnesses experience rejection "and sometimes even violent opposition," Pope Leo wrote. "However, it becomes an opportunity to put into practice the greatest commandment, 'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.'"

Do not be "tempted to react instinctively by putting yourselves on the same level as those who have rejected you, adopting aggressive attitudes," he told young people. Instead, "overcome evil with good." 

In fact, those who enjoy a true friendship with Christ reflect a warm, fraternal way of life, "made up of selfless closeness, sincere compassion and genuine tenderness," he wrote.

"The witness of fraternity and peace that friendship with Christ awakens in us casts off indifference and spiritual laziness, helping us to overcome closed-mindedness and suspicion," he wrote, and it encourages people to work together through volunteerism or "political charity" in a way that builds "new living conditions for all."

"Let us listen to the voice of God within us and overcome our selfishness, becoming active artisans of peace," he wrote.

Pope Leo encouraged young people to remember Pope Francis' insistence to "go beyond ourselves and our comfort zones" because "if we do not go to the poor and those who feel excluded from the kingdom of God, we cannot encounter Christ and bear witness to him."

He invited young people to read the Gospels and reflect on the lives of Jesus' friends and witnesses. "You will find that they all discovered the true meaning of life through their living relationship with Christ."

"Indeed, our deepest questions are not heard or answered by endlessly scrolling on our cell phones, which captures our attention but leaves us with tired minds and empty hearts," he wrote. "The fulfillment of our authentic desires always comes through going beyond ourselves."

WASHINGTON –  “It is jarring and contradictory that, at the same time that the Food and Drug Administration is conducting a much-needed review of the supposed safety of the abortion pill for women, it is nonetheless approving a new generic for this deadly drug,” said Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities. 

Responding to reports last week that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved an additional generic for the abortion drug, mifepristone, Bishop Thomas continued, “The FDA took shortcuts in originally approving and loosening protocols for mifepristone, which enabled the killing of more children and placed the health of more women in danger. Even if it eventually had to be approved as a generic version of the same drug, to do so now and make it more available before a recently-announced safety study can be completed and potentially save lives, is a shocking inconsistency. Mothers in need and their preborn children deserve better. They deserve the fullest, most authentic care that we can offer in all respects. I pray that the forthcoming review of mifepristone will undo many of these tragic developments and that we may, instead, meet women with hope and meaningful support.” 

In July, the USCCB’s Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities joined a letter to the FDA commissioner, submitting a paper by the Catholic Medical Association on the dangers of mifepristone to women, available here.

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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will be voting for chairmen-elect for six standing committees during the 2025 Plenary Assembly in November.

Each bishop elected will serve for one year as the chairman-elect of the respective committee before beginning a three-year term at the conclusion of the bishops’ 2026 Plenary Assembly. 

The following bishops were nominated (listed under committee in alphabetical order):

COMMITTEE ON CANONICAL AFFAIRS AND CHURCH GOVERNANCE

• Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob, Archdiocese of Milwaukee
• Bishop Edward M. Lohse, Diocese of Kalamazoo

COMMITTEE ON ECUMENICAL AND INTERRELIGIOUS AFFAIRS

• Bishop Daniel J. Felton, Diocese of Duluth
• Bishop Peter L. Smith, auxiliary bishop, Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon

COMMITTEE ON EVANGELIZATION AND CATECHESIS

• Bishop Earl K. Fernandes, Diocese of Columbus
• Bishop William A. Wack, CSC, Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee

COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE AND PEACE

• Archbishop Borys Gudziak, Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia
• Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger, Archdiocese of Detroit

COMMITTEE ON PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

• Bishop John P. Dolan, Diocese of Phoenix
• Bishop Mark O’Connell, auxiliary bishop, Archdiocese of Boston

COMMITTEE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

• Archbishop Alexander K. Sample, Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon
• Bishop Michael J. Sis, Diocese of San Angelo

Elections for USCCB president and vice president are also taking place at this meeting; 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) -- The Hamas attack on Israel two years ago "was inhuman and indefensible," the Vatican secretary of state said, and Israel's two-year-long war on Gaza has had "disastrous and inhuman consequences."

"It is unacceptable and unjustifiable to reduce human beings to mere 'collateral damage'" in Israel's stated goal of destroying Hamas, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state.

The cardinal was interviewed by Vatican Media Oct. 6, the eve of the second anniversary of the terrorist attack on Israel and the start of Israel's massive attack on the Gaza Strip.

"We prayed, and continue to pray, and we continue to ask that this perverse spiral of hatred and violence, which risks dragging us into an abyss with no return, come to an end," the cardinal said. 

As first Pope Francis and then Pope Leo have done nearly weekly, Cardinal Parolin also called on Hamas to release the remaining hostages taken Oct. 7, 2023.

"I am deeply struck and saddened by the images of these people held prisoner in tunnels, starved," the cardinal said. "We cannot and must not forget them."

Hamas is believed to still have 20 hostages who are alive and the bodies of another 25 or so who died in captivity.

The cardinal told Vatican Media, he prays for the hostages' families each day and continues "to offer our full availability to do whatever is possible to reunite them with their loved ones alive and safe -- or at least receive the bodies of those who were killed, so that they may be properly buried."

And as Pope Leo did at his Jubilee audience Oct. 4, Cardinal Parolin condemned increasing signs of antisemitism around the world.

"We live in a world of fake news, of oversimplified narratives," he said. "This leads people who feed on these distortions to attribute responsibility for what is happening in Gaza to the Jewish people as a whole. But we know that is not true" since many Jews, in Israel and abroad, have protested the Israeli government's war on Gaza.

Many also object to how the government has promoted "settler expansionism, often violent," he said, which "seeks to make the creation of a Palestinian State impossible."

"No Jew should be attacked or discriminated against for being Jewish," Cardinal Parolin said, "and no Palestinian should be attacked or discriminated against simply for being Palestinian, because, as is unfortunately sometimes said, they are 'potential terrorists.'"

Such a "perverse chain of hatred can only generate a spiral that leads nowhere good," the cardinal said, adding that "it is painful to see that we still fail to learn from history, even recent history, which remains a teacher of life." 

Asked about U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed peace plan, Cardinal Parolin said that "any plan that includes the Palestinian people in decisions about their own future and helps put an end to this slaughter -- releasing hostages and halting the daily killing of hundreds of people -- is to be welcomed and supported."

However, the cardinal expressed frustration at the international community's seeming inability to act.

"It's not enough to say that what is happening is unacceptable and then continue to allow it to happen," he said. "We must seriously ask ourselves about the legitimacy, for example, of continuing to supply weapons that are being used against civilians." 

Cardinal Parolin noted that the Holy See officially recognized the State of Palestine in 2015, continuing its decades-long support of "a Palestinian State that is independent, sovereign, democratic and viable, encompassing the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza."

The agreement signed with Palestinian officials "envisions this state not as opposed to others, but capable of living side by side with its neighbors in peace and security," the cardinal said.

The recognition of Palestine in late September by France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia was a positive development, Cardinal Paroline said, "but we note with concern that Israeli declarations and decisions are moving in the opposite direction -- that is, aiming to prevent the possible birth of a real Palestinian State once and for all."
 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The joint celebration of the Jubilee of Migrants and the Jubilee of the Missions is an opportunity to remind all Catholics that the duty to welcome and assist migrants is also part of each person's obligation to share God's love, Pope Leo XIV said.

"Brothers and sisters, today a new missionary age opens up in the history of the church," the pope said Oct. 5 during a Jubilee Mass in St. Peter's Square with tens of thousands of migrants and of missionaries from around the world.

For centuries Catholics have thought of missionaries as people who leave their homelands and set off for distant lands to minister with people who live in poverty and do not know Jesus, said the U.S.-born pope who served for decades as a missionary in Peru.

"Today the frontiers of the missions are no longer geographical, because poverty, suffering and the desire for a greater hope have made their way to us," Pope Leo said. 

"The story of so many of our migrant brothers and sisters bears witness to this: the tragedy of their flight from violence, the suffering which accompanies it, the fear of not succeeding, the perilous risk of traveling along the coastline, their cry of sorrow and desperation," he said. "Those boats which hope to catch sight of a safe port, and those eyes filled with anguish and hope seeking to reach the shore, cannot and must not find the coldness of indifference or the stigma of discrimination!"

A few days earlier, speaking to reporters, Pope Leo appeared to criticize Catholic supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration raids. "Someone who says that I am against abortion, but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States, I don't know if that's pro-life," he said.

Leading the recitation of the Angelus after Mass, Pope Leo said that "no one should be forced to flee, nor exploited or mistreated because of their situation as foreigners or people in need! Human dignity must always come first."

Today, the pope had said in his homily, "mission is not so much about 'departing,' but instead 'remaining' in order to proclaim Christ through hospitality and welcome, compassion and solidarity."

Being missionaries at home, he said, means not hiding in the comforts of one's own life and turning a blind eye to "those who arrive from lands that are distant and violent," but rather opening "our arms and hearts to them, welcoming them as brothers and sisters, and being for them a presence of consolation and hope." 

Pope Leo praised the "many missionary men and women, but also believers and people of good will, who work in the service of migrants, and promote a new culture of fraternity on the theme of migration, beyond stereotypes and prejudices."

However, he said, Catholics cannot leave the work to others. "This precious service involves each one of us, within the limits of our own means."

In its efforts to fulfill Jesus' mandate to share the Gospel with all people, the Catholic Church has relied on "missionary cooperation" with people in traditionally Christian lands supporting the foreign missions with prayer, donations and personnel.

Pope Leo called for a new form of missionary cooperation that taps into lively faith of many migrants and refugees.

"In the communities of ancient Christian tradition, such as those of the West," he said, "the presence of many brothers and sisters from the world's South should be welcomed as an opportunity, through an exchange that renews the face of the church and sustains a Christianity that is more open, more alive and more dynamic."

He also asked missionaries called to depart for foreign lands "to live with respect within the culture they encounter, directing to the good all that is found true and worthy, and bringing there the prophetic message of the Gospel."
 

Pope: Be a missionary, welcome migrants!

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass on Oct. 5 for the Jubilee of Migrants and the Jubilee of the Missions. In his homily, he emphasized that welcoming migrants is an essential part of the church’s missionary calling today.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Jubilee Year requires making a choice: serving God and justice or money and inequity, Pope Leo XIV said, marking the Jubilee of Migrants and the Jubilee of the Missions.

"We pray to be a church that does not serve money or itself, but the kingdom of God and his justice," he said during a special audience in St. Peter's Square Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

It was the same day that the pope also signed his first apostolic exhortation, "Dilexi Te" ("I Have Loved You"), which will be released Oct. 9. 

The document is expected to focus on poverty and the poor. Vatican Media footage of the pope signing the text in the library of the Apostolic Palace showed the first page of the Table of Contents in Italian with chapters dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi, "The cry of the poor," "Ideological prejudices," "God chooses the poor," "Jesus, the poor Messiah," "A church for the poor," "The true riches of the church" and more.

St. Francis was known for his life of radical simplicity and poverty, seeking to imitate Christ and be detached from material possessions and earthly glory to better love and serve God.

Pope Leo continued the theme of poverty in his catechesis during the Oct. 4 Jubilee audience, reflecting on St. Luke's account (16:13-14) of a group of Pharisees who loved money and sneered at Jesus' counsel to be completely dependent on God.

The Gospel passage speaks about making the choice to serve God or to serve money, Pope Leo said in English.

"When we allow material possessions to rule over us, we can fall into spiritual sadness," he said. "When we choose God, however, we choose hope and a life of forgiveness and mercy."

While the Holy Year dedicated to hope is a time for seeking forgiveness and mercy "so that everything can begin anew," he said in his main address in Italian, "the Jubilee also opens up the hope of a different distribution of wealth, the possibility that the earth belongs to everyone, because this is not the case right now."

"During this year, we must choose whom to serve, justice or injustice, God or money," he said.

"To hope is to choose, because those who do not choose are driven to despair," he said, and "the world changes if we change." 

"One of the most common consequences of spiritual sadness, or sloth, is not choosing anything," Pope Leo said. "Those who experience this are overcome by an inner laziness that is worse than death."

Among those who made a courageous choice in life were St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi, he said.

Even though Oct. 4 is the feast day of St. Francis, it was also important to speak about St. Clare because they both are "models of those who understood the Gospel and chose a life of poverty as Jesus did," he said in English.

"Their choice continues to inspire many to remember that the earth belongs to everyone," he said, inviting people to pray "to be a church that serves God and the poor and opens the door of hope to the world."

"Clare understood what the Gospel asks of us," the pope said in Italian. "But even in a city that considers itself Christian, taking the Gospel seriously can seem revolutionary."

"Then, as now, a choice must be made!" he said.

"Jesus says: you cannot serve two masters," Pope Leo said, and the church remains "young and attracts young people" when it follows the right master.

"Clare made her choice, and this gives us great hope," he said, because she has inspired vocational choices throughout the world for centuries.

She also "reminds us that young people like the Gospel," he said. "Young people like people who have made a choice and bear the consequences of their choices."

"This makes others want to choose" in a kind of "holy imitation" where "one does not become a 'photocopy,'" he said, referring to a maxim by St. Carlo Acutis, who also found inspiration in Assisi's saints, "but each person -- when choosing the Gospel -- chooses himself. He loses himself and finds himself."

"Let us pray, then, for young people; and let us pray that we may be a church that does not serve money or itself, but the kingdom of God and his justice," he said. "A church that, like St. Clare, has the courage to live differently in the city. This gives hope!"
 

Pope’s first exhortation to focus on the poor

On Oct, 4, 2025, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Leo XIV signed his first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te, which means “I Have Loved You.”

WASHINGTON - In response to inquiries the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has received over the last several days about matters pertaining to decisions made in individual (arch)dioceses, the Conference offered the following clarification from its spokesperson, Chieko Noguchi, executive director of public affairs:

“The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is not a governing body, and as such, it has no authority to intervene in matters dealing with decisions made in an individual diocese. The USCCB seeks to facilitate dialogue among its bishop members, while also respecting the right of individual bishops to speak as they deem appropriate.”

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Migrants and refugees often are "privileged witnesses of hope through their resilience and trust in God," Pope Leo XIV said.

"Often they maintain their strength while seeking a better future, in spite of the obstacles that they encounter," he said Oct. 2 during a meeting with participants in the conference "Refugees and Migrants in Our Common Home," organized by the Augustinian-run Villanova University in suburban Philadelphia.

The Vatican dicasteries for Promoting Integral Human Development and for Culture and Education and the U.S. bishops' Migration and Refugee Services were among the co-sponsors of the conference, held in Rome Oct. 1-3 just before the Jubilee of Migrants and the Jubilee of Missions Oct. 4-5.

Pope Leo encouraged participants to share migrants' and refugees' stories of steadfast faith and hope so that they could be "an inspiration for others and assist in developing ways to address the challenges that they have faced in their own lives."

The pope also returned to a theme he had mentioned in September when discussing migration -- the "globalization of powerlessness." 

Overcoming the widespread sense that no one can make a difference "requires patience, a willingness to listen, the ability to identify with the pain of others and the recognition that we have the same dreams and the same hopes," Pope Leo XIV told the group.

Faced with a growing sense of being unable to change or improve the situation, he said, "we risk becoming immobile, silent and sad, thinking that nothing can be done when we are faced with innocent suffering."

Before the conference, Villanova held the official launch of its Mother Cabrini Institute on Immigration, which promotes programs of scholarship, advocacy and service to migrants at the university and with the local community.

Pope Leo praised the project's goal of bringing together "leading voices throughout a variety of disciplines in order to respond to the current urgent challenges brought by the increasing number of people, now estimated to be over 100 million, who are affected by migration and displacement."

Michele R. Pistone, founder and faculty director of the institute, told conference participants that she was inspired by Pope Francis, who called on universities to do more teaching, research and social promotion with migrants and refugees.

"Now, Pope Leo XIV is again asking us to become missionary disciples working to reconcile a wounded world," Pistone said.

"In order for us to understand the other, we need to meet them and encounter them and have dialogues with them," she told Catholic News Service Oct. 2. "That's what Pope Francis called us to do, and now Pope Leo is calling us to do."

"To see the human face in every immigrant, in every person, is just so important and so central to our Gospel," Pistone said.

Sister Norma Pimentel, a Missionary of Jesus and executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in Brownsville, Texas, said, migrants "are missionaries of hope to us, because their presence with us honestly sanctifies who and where we are."

People who fear migrants and refugees or are convinced they are migrating just to take jobs from citizens need to take the time to actually meet a newcomer, Sister Pimentel said. Then, "they will stop seeing them as somebody that is invading my space, but rather as somebody who I have the opportunity to be able to show the presence of God." 

She has the same message for U.S. President Donald Trump or any political leader, she said: "Please come and see them. Please see their faces. Please see these families that are directly affected by your decisions and your laws and how you feel you must proceed to be as president."

The 2024 U.S. presidential election campaign succeeded in sending the erroneous message that migrants are "invaders that come and take over our land and destroy our America and take our jobs," she said.

"They're not here to destroy or to hurt anybody, but rather to be part of a community that will embrace them, as Pope Francis would say, would integrate them into the community and would protect them so that they can be a good part of who we are in America," she told CNS.

Addressing the conference Oct. 1, she said that "in a world marked by fear, division and uncertainty, we are invited to be people of hope, pilgrims of hope, of that hope which comes from our trust in the Lord. It is a living force, one that shapes how we see others, how we act and how we respond."

"In this Jubilee Year of Hope, we are called to find within ourselves kindness and compassion and courage, especially courage," Sister Pimentel said.

"Today, unfortunately, we are witnessing an unprecedented assault on humanity worldwide," she said, but as her bishop, Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, has said, "We may not have the power to stop the injustices that are destroying our communities. But we do have the power to love. We can be neighbors to those living in fear and who are afraid to go to work or even to go to the supermarket."

"No government can stop us from living out our faith and caring for our refugee brothers and sisters," she said.
 

Pope Leo: Migrants are "missionaries of hope"

Pope Leo meets participants in a conference on migrants and refugees sponsored by Villanova University and several Vatican dicasteries.