https://www.youtube.com/live/sclN2P_fYnQ
HOW POPE LEO RENEWS APPEAL FOR PEACE; MENTAL HEALTH, DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES & EDUCATION; AI IN AFRICA.....
For Immediate Release From Vatican News!
Pope: "May God guide world leaders towards a just and lasting peace,"
Pope Leo renews his appeal for peace, praying that God guide world leaders towards a just and lasting peace, while also encouraging a culture of care for the ill and greeting pilgrims gathered at Poland’s Marian shrine of Piekary. By Alessandro Di Bussolo and Francesca Merlo
On Saturday evening, at the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens, Pope Leo XIV led the Rosary and invoked the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, asking her to obtain “the gift of peace” that only the Lord can give. Joining him were around 2,000 people in the Vatican, while a further 100,000 faithful took part remotely from 200 Marian shrines around the world.
Today, on the final day of May, the Pope returned to the theme of peace during the Angelus in St Peter’s Square, where more than 20,000 people had gathered. Once again, he appealed for prayers for peace.
“Throughout the month of May, the whole Church has raised a united prayer for peace. Through the Rosary in particular, like an unbroken chain, the faithful have entrusted to the Virgin Mary’s intercession those peoples devastated by war. May divine Wisdom enlighten the consciences of those who hold authority and guide their decisions towards the sincere pursuit of a just and lasting peace.”
Day of relief: Promoting a culture of care
Pope Leo XIV also noted that Italy is marking the 25th Day of Relief, which this year carries the theme: “I Take Care.”
“I am close to those who are ill and to all who care for them. I thank and encourage everyone who helps to spread a culture of closeness and care.”
The initiative aims to raise awareness of the importance of relieving both physical and emotional suffering. Particular attention is given to palliative care, pain management, the humanisation of healthcare, and the training of volunteers who support patients and their families.
Greeting to pilgrims in Poland
Among the groups he greeted after the Angelus, the Pope also addressed participants in the annual pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of Piekary in Poland, where Mary is honoured as the Mother of Social Justice.
The shrine has been a centre of Marian devotion since the seventeenth century. According to local tradition, a large pilgrimage for boys and men takes place each May, drawing tens of thousands of participants, while a corresponding pilgrimage for girls and women is held in August.
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Pope Leo at Rosary: “Even in times of conflict, peace is possible.”
To close the Marian month, Pope Leo XIV prays a Rosary for peace at the Grotto of Lourdes in the Vatican Gardens, urging everyone to make the daily commitment to achieve peace, which is “possible when we choose to listen to the cry of those deprived of it.” By Kielce Gussie
Joining people and Marian shrines all around the world, Pope Leo XIV prayed the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary at the Grotto of Lourdes in the Vatican Gardens, specifically remembering those living in areas affected by war and violence.
“Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts” (Ps 85:8).
The Pope opened his reflection at the end of the five decades with this Psalm, which, he noted, expresses the “hope of which we stand in need, especially in the face of current difficulties and violence.”
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/20...
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Pope: “Education should help young people find themselves and others.”
Pope Leo XIV tells participants in a Vatican conference on mental health, education, and digital technology that young people need help rediscovering silence, relationships, and openness to transcendence. Vatican News
Educating young people in the age of the digital revolution is one of the great challenges of our time, Pope Leo XIV said on Saturday, as he met with participants in the OEI – Holy See meeting “Maps of Hope for a Regional Educational Agenda: Mental Health, Digital Technologies and Education.”
The meeting brought together experts, academics, and ministers from Latin American countries. It was organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, in collaboration with the Organization of Ibero-American States.
In his address, Pope Leo recalled his affection for Latin America and began with the image of traditional handcrafted textiles.
With their many threads and vivid colors, he said, these textiles show that “no single thread is enough to create the pattern.” Each thread and each color finds its meaning only “within a larger tapestry.”
Education as the art of weaving communion
The Pope said education is called to rediscover itself not as the construction of isolated individuals, but as “the art of weaving communion.”
Just as ancient peoples looked to the heavens to read the constellations, he said, people today are called to raise their gaze and build a “global educational constellation,” which should foster awareness that we all belong to one human family.
This perspective, Pope Leo noted, is essential when addressing the issue of mental health, which cannot be approached only from a clinical or technical standpoint.
Rather, he said, it means responding to “one of the greatest forms of poverty of our time: the loss of our inner bearings.”
Many young people, the Pope observed, have access to the most sophisticated tools, yet struggle to give meaning to their lives, hopes, loves, and even sufferings.
Such situations reveal forms of psychological vulnerability, especially in a world that pushes them toward performance and intense competition, generating anxiety, fear of failure, and disorientation.
Rediscovering the interior life
Pope Leo stressed that human beings can live fully and overcome inner fragility when they are able to find meaning.
“When a person discovers that his or her life has value, that he or she is loved, awaited, and called to a mission in the world, then hope is reborn,” he said.
Hope, he added, is not a naive illusion, but “a spiritual force that sustains life, even in the most difficult moments.”
For this reason, the Pope warned that it is not enough to connect young people to digital networks if they remain disconnected from themselves, from others, and from their inner life.
Young people, he said, need to be helped to rediscover silence, reflection, the ability to ask questions, the depth of relationships, and openness to transcendence.
Called to be a light
Returning to the image of many colored threads forming a single tapestry, Pope Leo invited public institutions, schools, universities, families, religious communities, and the worlds of culture and communication to work together.
In this time of digital transition, the Pope concluded, people are called to be a light, especially for young people.
What is needed, he said, are visions capable of building new cultural syntheses: visions that unite thought and life, contemplation and action, solidarity with the poorest and the search for meaning, while preserving the deeply human heritage of education.
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Cardinal Parolin: “Youth mental health requires structural responses.”
Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin speaks at a Vatican conference on mental health, digital technologies, and education, lamenting that society offers young people every means available but no purpose. By Vatican News
Describing the mental health crisis affecting young people as “an emergency requiring structural responses,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin warned that today’s society often offers young people “every means but no purpose.”
The Vatican Secretary of State was speaking at the international conference “Maps of Hope for a Regional Educational Agenda: Mental Health, Digital Technologies and Education,” taking place at the Casina Pio IV in the Vatican with education ministers, academics and international experts.
Cardinal Parolin said education remains “a pillar of integral human development, peaceful coexistence and social justice.” He noted, however, that educational systems today face new qualitative challenges, including the integral formation of the person, socio-emotional development, protection of the vulnerable and the responsible integration of digital technologies.
Global Compact on Education
The cardinal reiterated that these challenges cannot be addressed through fragmented measures, but require “structured, multidimensional and long-term cooperation.”
Recalling the Global Compact on Education launched by Pope Francis in 2019, he pointed to Pope Leo XIV’s recent Apostolic Letter on education, which calls for a global “educational constellation” capable of fostering fraternity, peace and justice.
He identified three priorities highlighted by Pope Leo XIV: care for interior life, a “human-centred digital culture,” and education for peace.
Focusing on mental health, Cardinal Parolin said the data concerning young people are “eloquent and, in many ways, alarming,” particularly following the pandemic, which has seen increasing levels of anxiety, depression and psychological distress among adolescents and young adults.
Inseparable Unity Of Body, Mind And Spirit
The Secretary of State warned against reducing the issue solely to a medical problem delegated to healthcare systems.
“The Church has always taught that the human person is an inseparable unity of body, mind and spirit,” he said, adding that an educational model neglecting any of these dimensions is “incomplete” and incapable of responding to the fullness of human needs.
Instead, he said education must provide young people not only with knowledge and skills, but also with tools to understand themselves, manage emotions, build meaningful relationships and discover purpose in life.
He linked this vision to the Christian tradition’s understanding of the “care of the soul,” now often expressed through the language of socio-emotional competencies and psychological well-being.
Role Of Schools And Families
Cardinal Parolin underlined the essential role of schools and families.
Schools, he said, should be places where every student feels “seen, listened to and accompanied,” while families remain the strongest protective factor for children and adolescents when properly supported.
Digital technologies
Turning to digital technologies, he acknowledged their enormous educational potential, especially in reducing inequalities across large and diverse regions such as Ibero-America.
At the same time, he warned that excessive exposure to digital environments without adequate educational guidance can negatively affect young people’s mental health through attention fragmentation, screen dependency, cyberbullying, social isolation and exposure to harmful content.
“The challenge is not to accept or reject technologies, but to govern them,” he said, calling for digital education that integrates technical competencies with socio-emotional formation.
A “crisis of meaning”
At the heart of the crisis, Cardinal Parolin said, lies a deeper “crisis of meaning.”
Many young people, he observed, feel disoriented not because they lack information or opportunities, but because they lack “a horizon of meaning” within which to understand their lives and hopes.
“A society that offers young people every means but no purpose; every connection but no authentic relationship; every answer but no profound question, is a society that ultimately abandons them,” he said.
The cardinal concluded by urging governments to recognise youth mental health as a priority requiring coordinated investments in education, healthcare, teacher formation and family support.
Echoing the appeal launched by Pope Leo XIV to religion teachers in his apostolic letter to become “choreographers of hope,” he said education must help young people find the tools and horizons needed to live “full, free and meaningful lives.”
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World Bank official: “Development is stalling where the world's poorest need it most.”
As international cooperation faces growing strain, the World Bank's Vice President for Development Finance, Aki Nishio, warns that development progress is becoming increasingly uneven, with some of the world's poorest countries left behind by the combined impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, declining aid, conflict and climate change. By Francesca Merlo
Our world is currently witnessing what the World Bank’s Vice President for Development Finance, Aki Nishio, describes as “two different worlds”.
On the one hand, there are many developing nations that continue to make significant progress. More children are attending school while more jobs are being created and access to healthcare is improving.
On the other hand, however, there is what Nishio tells us the World Bank’s Chief Economis has described as a “development-free zone” – countries in which progress has largely stalled.
In an interview with Vatican News, Nishio states that the dual impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and a significant drop in Official Development Assistance (ODA) has left some of the globe's most vulnerable countries struggling to move forward. "We have seen a lot of progress," he notes. "But, the progress is quite uneven."
Supporting the world's most fragile countries
The International Development Association (IDA), a key part of the World Bank, focuses much of its efforts on fragile and conflict-affected states. Around 40 per cent of IDA financing is directed towards countries facing the greatest instability and vulnerability.
In these regions, issues such as poverty, weak institutions, and conflict often overlap making development particularly difficult.
Yet Nishio stresses that supporting these countries is not only a humanitarian responsibility, but a global necessity. "If we have another pandemic emerging in one of these countries, the whole world will be affected."
He explains that weak healthcare systems can allow diseases to spread undetected, crossing borders and becoming global threats. Strengthening health services,
infrastructure and basic public services is therefore essential not only for local communities, but for international stability as well.
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2...
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Magnifica Humanitas: Professor Lushombo Shares Insights On AI And Social Justice In Africa
Professor Léocadie Wabo Lushombo, a Congolese theologian based at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley, United States, has emphasised that the civilization of love highlighted by Pope Leo XIV in his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanita, invites active participation and discussion grounded in love, with the goal of reducing inequalities in society. By Paul Samasumo – Vatican City
Professor Lushombo, a member of the Theresian Association, underscored the importance of the encyclical’s message, which presents a positive and inspiring vision of the human person. She echoed the document’s criticism of the exploitation of the African continent and tendencies toward neo-colonialism and extractive economics. Africa, she said, does not exist merely to be mined and exploited.
AI and Its impact on Africa
In an interview about Magnifica Humanitas, Professor Lushombo, who was one of the speakers at the encyclical’s presentation at the Vatican on 25 May, shared her insights with Vatican News.
“I am in the Democratic Republic of Congo twice a year, systematically. I have observed how AI and new technologies are impacting even our rural societies in the Congo. I see just how the cell phone is creating new behaviours. I observe the power dynamics, where we in Africa, are increasingly reduced to mere consumers of whatever the tech giants offer us. What is happening is a situation of more dependency especially among young people, destruction of the environment as well as labour exploitation. This is structural sin –a propagation of injustice and harm. Besides, this technology is not free. We are the ones paying for it -when we buy data for our phones. And as colonialism does, these new technologies are also disrupting community life—the cohesion and sense of community are disappearing. People are not talking to each other, sharing thoughts, or finding solutions together. Even in the Congo, many look first to the iPhone for answers,” Professor Lushombo explained.
Local Participation
When asked about what could be done, Professor Lushombo said Magnifica Humanitas is not anti-AI. What needs to change is the mindset, the lack of accountability, and corporates ignoring of the inbuilt exploitation that comes with AI.
“So, the encyclical is already a starting point because it encourages dialogue on these issues. Let the people participate, contribute, and take responsibility. Involving local communities in constructing solutions ensures sustainability. It is the collective effort that makes a difference. Pope Leo XIV tells us to build society gradually, brick by brick, through community effort—similar to Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.”
All of this, Professor Lushombo asserts, must be rooted in love.
“What Pope Leo calls 'the civilization of love' means grounding ourselves in loving others, caring for our neighbours, and reducing inequalities. AI should not be used solely for profit or capital accumulation, as that widens society’s gaps and divisions,” Professor Lushombo underlined.
The Church and AI
Professor Lushombo believes the Church in Africa can play a vital role in building an ethical future. The new encyclical presents an opportunity for the Church to put into practice ongoing discussions about synodality, she said.
“The Church can facilitate community gatherings to discuss AI, media education among young people, and strengthen participation structures such as Small Christian Communities (SCCs), Justice and Peace groups—thus creating spaces where people can speak and be heard.”
Learn more HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/africa/news/...
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Pope to Charismatic Renewal: “Let Spirit lead you to communion, charity, mission.”
Meeting with members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal for the first time since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV reflects on the movement's spiritual foundations and encourages its members to place their gifts at the service of the whole Church. By Vatican News
Pope Leo XIV welcomed representatives of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal to the Vatican on Saturday. Greeting members of communities, prayer groups, and evangelization schools from around the world, as well as leaders of CHARIS, the international service body of the Renewal, the Pope described the movement's spiritual vitality as one of the gifts with which God has blessed the Church.
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal was founded in the late 1960s and today encompasses prayer groups, communities, and evangelization initiatives across the world.
It places particular emphasis on the action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers through prayer, worship, Scripture and missionary outreach. Since 2019, the various expressions of the Renewal have been brought together through CHARIS, established by Pope Francis to foster communion and service.
Reflecting on the movement's development in the decades following the Second Vatican Council, Pope Leo recalled the appreciation shown by his predecessors.
He noted that Saint Paul VI saw in the Renewal a response to the growing secularization of society, while Pope St. John Paul II highlighted its missionary impulse and Pope Benedict XVI praised its emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The Pope also recalled Pope Francis' description of the Renewal as a "flood of grace" intended for the entire Church.
Five pillars of the Charismatic experience
Expressing his desire to strengthen the relationship between the See of Peter and the worldwide family of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Pope Leo reflected on five key dimensions of its spiritual experience: baptism in the Spirit, prayer of praise, the Word of God, communion, and charity.
Beginning with baptism in the Spirit, he said the shared journey of faith within the Renewal has its source in "the personal experience of the Holy Spirit," which enables the grace of Baptism to become effective in the lives of believers and leads them to a deeper awareness of God's love.
The Pope explained that through this encounter, "God ceased to be a mere idea and became the real and ultimate expression of fatherhood."
The Holy Spirit, he said, brings reconciliation, peace and freedom, while opening believers to hope and to the certainty that nothing can separate them from the love of Christ.
"From this experience of the Holy Spirit comes the inner desire to be witnesses and heralds of his love," he said, as he encouraged members of the Renewal to bring God's consolation to those suffering from loneliness and emptiness.
Prayer shaped by praise
Turning to prayer, Pope Leo reflected on the place of praise and worship within the Charismatic tradition. The experience of the Holy Spirit, he explained, gives rise to a more spontaneous and sincere dialogue with God and opens the heart to thanksgiving and adoration.
"Worship and praise, which are so characteristic of your gatherings, are essential aspects of Christian prayer," he said. He noted that the Renewal has helped many rediscover these dimensions of prayer and bring them back to the forefront of Christian life.
Nourished by Sacred Scripture
The Pope also highlighted the importance of the Word of God within the life of the Renewal. The same Spirit who inspired Sacred Scripture, he said, continues to make it alive and active in the Church today.
"Scripture has therefore become for you a wonderful source of spiritual nourishment that enlightens and comforts," he said, adding that it serves as a source of discernment for daily choices and enriches communal prayer.
Unity as a fruit of the Spirit
Turning then to reflect on communion, Pope Leo stressed that "the Holy Spirit is the wellspring of communion."
He recalled the longstanding tradition of praying to the Holy Spirit for Christian unity, he said members of the Renewal have a particular appreciation for the Spirit's role in building harmony within the Church and fostering relationships with Christians of other denominations.
The Holy Spirit, he explained, creates unity among the various charisms and communities of the Renewal while strengthening bonds throughout the wider Christian family.
Love expressed in charity
Concluding his reflections, the Pope focused on charity, describing it as one of the clearest fruits of life in the Spirit.
"The renewed presence of the Spirit has awakened in you a new capacity to love," he said, a love directed both towards God and towards neighbour, particularly those who suffer.
Praising the many charitable initiatives that have emerged from the Renewal, Pope Leo encouraged members to remain attentive to the poor and vulnerable. "I invite you, then, to keep alive this love for the poor, which reveals the true face of God," he said.
A call to humble service
Bringing his address to a close, the Pope encouraged members of the Renewal to continue their mission within the Church.
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/20...
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Pope Leo: “Shared humanity is antidote to war and polarization.”
Meeting with the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation, Pope Leo XIV highlights the importance of the Church’s Social Doctrine in a divided world, saying freedom must be lived as self-giving and dialogue grounded in truth. By Devin Watkins
Pope Leo XIV held an audience with members of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation on Saturday.
Around 400 people are taking part in the foundation’s 2026 General Assembly and International Conference.
In his address, the Pope urged Catholics to draw on the Social Doctrine of the Church to respond to the issues that face society, including war, polarization, and social divisions.
He noted that the foundation’s annual meeting coincided with the recent publication of his encyclical Magnifica humanitas.
“In the midst of fragility, a new hope arises,” he said. “Even as division seems to grow, a common denominator that indisputably unites us all appears: our shared humanity.”
Pope Leo said moments of adversity call the human person to return to the fundamental questions that have stirred the hearts of generations: “Where are we going? Toward what goal do we wish to orient ourselves? What direction should we choose as a people and as a human community?”
These questions, he said, reveal humanity’s search for truth and awaken our thirst for God and meaning.
They also point to the deepest aspects of the human person, especially the “God-given gifts of reason and freedom,” through which men and women can come to know the truth and choose what is good.
Reflecting on freedom, Pope Leo warned against reducing it to “the capacity to do what one wants.”
True freedom, he said, only finds fulfilment when we live it as a gift of self and openness to others.
When freedom becomes absolute in an individualistic way, he added, it loses its original meaning and dignity.
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/20...
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Rosaries Made By Cloistered Nuns To Accompany Pope In Spain
Ten contemplative monasteries are preparing thousands of rosaries for Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic visit to Spain. The small hand-crafted objects are born of silence, prayer, manual labour, and the help of young volunteers. By Silvina Pérez
An invisible thread, woven of hope, wooden beads, and work-worn hands, is silently making its way through Spain these days. Its beginning is in the cloistered monasteries scattered across Castile, Navarre, Catalonia, and Andalusia, and it reaches all the way to the crowds of pilgrims awaiting Pope Leo XIV.
It is the thread of rosaries: small pocket-sized treasures fashioned in the silence of the cloisters, and becoming one of the most meaningful symbols to accompany the Pope’s visit.
Behind every bead lies a hidden life, a low and humble voice, a labour of love that will never appear in official schedules or televised images. Yet it is in those cloisters that one may catch a glimpse of a world that Spain once knew intimately and now seems almost to have forgotten.
“In our country, there are more than seven hundred monasteries. We are one of the great monastic realities in the world,” explains Alejandro Simón of Fundación Contemplare, the network that for years has helped contemplative communities sustain themselves through artisanal work and, above all, through the spiritual bond they establish with those who visit them or discover the hidden beauty found beyond the doors of a monastery.
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/...
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Cardinal Cupich: “Pope's encyclical 'a new lens' for Church's Social Doctrine.”
In an interview with Vatican News, the Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich, says Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical 'Magnifica humanitas' recognizes that "new technology has the potential to overtake our capacity to control it, and the Pope is giving us a wake-up call to seize this moment with urgency." By Deborah Castellano Lubov
“This document provides us with a new lens to read the entire Social Doctrine of the Church.”
In an interview with Vatican News, Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, reflected on Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas, on safeguarding the human person in the age of artificial intelligence.
The Cardinal discussed the Pope’s warning against technological self-sufficiency, the social implications of artificial intelligence, and the relevance of Catholic social teaching in the digital age.
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/20...
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Holy See and Italy renewable energy agreement enters into force
After the initial signing in July 2025, the agreement between the Holy See and Italy to build an agrivoltaic plant in the Vatican’s Santa Maria di Galeria area enters into force. The project aims to provide the Vatican City State with renewable energy.
By Alessandro De Carolis and Isabella H. de Carvalho
A statement released on Thursday, May 28, announced that the agreement signed by Italy and the Holy See last year to build an agrivoltaic plant in the Vatican’s Santa Maria di Galeria area, just outside of Rome, has entered into force.
This initiative aims to provide the Vatican City State with renewable energy while preserving agricultural use of the land. The Vatican’s extraterritorial area of Santa Maria di Galeria has hosted Vatican Radio’s transmission facilities since 1957.
The inspiration for the project is rooted in Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si’, particularly in the observation that in a world where there is still a “minimal access to clean and renewable energy,” there remains “a need to develop adequate energy storage technologies.”
The stages of the project
Pope Francis himself launched the initiative with the motu proprio Fratello Sole on June 26, 2024, instructing the presidents of the Governorate and the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) to carry out the necessary acts in order to build the system.
Subsequently, on July 31, 2025, at the Italian Embassy to the Holy See, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, and the Italian Ambassador, Francesco Di Nitto, signed the agreement.
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city...
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Pope to bishops: “Church's fruitfulness should not be based on numbers.”
In an audience with members of the Italian Episcopal Conference at the conclusion of their 82nd General Assembly, Pope Leo urges a “focus on the essential” and keeping the priority on the Gospel, which “awakens us” in today’s world “marked by complexity.” By Vatican News
Meeting with participants in the 82nd General Assembly of the Italian Bishops' Conference in the Vatican today, Pope Leo XIV expressed his affection to “all the Churches throughout Italy, to the priests, deacons, consecrated persons, families…and also to those who, perhaps without realizing it, carry in their hearts a thirst for God.”
This gift, he continued, is something he has had the grace to witness “even in a time like ours, marked by complexity.” The Pope explained he saw it firsthand on his trips to Pompeii, Naples, and Acerra.
Pope Leo added that there are many signs that reveal tiredness, fragmentation, and loneliness in people's lives. Sometimes, in communities, people can feel the challenge of passing on the faith and engaging younger generations. Yet, the Pope stressed, “the Gospel awakens us.”
The harvest is abundant
Continuing his greeting, Pope Leo reflected on a verse from Luke's Gospel - “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
As a tireless sower, God enters the world day after day and “scatters” on people’s hearts the desire for the infinite, “for a life fulfilled, for a salvation that sets free.” Pope Leo noted that it is thanks to God the harvest is abundant. Our task, he said, is to take the Lord’s gaze and make it our own.
We are not meant to merely “complain about hardened soil or dwell only on statistics.” Rather, the Pope stressed, we are called to “know how to see, with the eyes of the Risen Christ,” the harvest God is preparing for us.
Speaking directly to the Italian bishops, Pope Leo prayed that the Holy Spirit will bestow upon them hearts that are on fire with “the zeal of Christ”, and that many workers will work “alongside us.”
The priority is the Gospel
Keeping this in mind, “the priority is the Gospel”, the Pope explained. This is a thread that has run throughout the entire history of the Church—from St. Francis of Assisi to St. Paul VI to Pope Francis. Faith is born from the Gospel, “as a living encounter with Christ, dead and risen, present in His Church.”
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/20...
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Pope: "May God guide world leaders towards a just and lasting peace,"
Pope Leo renews his appeal for peace, praying that God guide world leaders towards a just and lasting peace, while also encouraging a culture of care for the ill and greeting pilgrims gathered at Poland’s Marian shrine of Piekary. By Alessandro Di Bussolo and Francesca Merlo
On Saturday evening, at the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens, Pope Leo XIV led the Rosary and invoked the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, asking her to obtain “the gift of peace” that only the Lord can give. Joining him were around 2,000 people in the Vatican, while a further 100,000 faithful took part remotely from 200 Marian shrines around the world.
Today, on the final day of May, the Pope returned to the theme of peace during the Angelus in St Peter’s Square, where more than 20,000 people had gathered. Once again, he appealed for prayers for peace.
“Throughout the month of May, the whole Church has raised a united prayer for peace. Through the Rosary in particular, like an unbroken chain, the faithful have entrusted to the Virgin Mary’s intercession those peoples devastated by war. May divine Wisdom enlighten the consciences of those who hold authority and guide their decisions towards the sincere pursuit of a just and lasting peace.”
Day of relief: Promoting a culture of care
Pope Leo XIV also noted that Italy is marking the 25th Day of Relief, which this year carries the theme: “I Take Care.”
“I am close to those who are ill and to all who care for them. I thank and encourage everyone who helps to spread a culture of closeness and care.”
The initiative aims to raise awareness of the importance of relieving both physical and emotional suffering. Particular attention is given to palliative care, pain management, the humanisation of healthcare, and the training of volunteers who support patients and their families.
Greeting to pilgrims in Poland
Among the groups he greeted after the Angelus, the Pope also addressed participants in the annual pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of Piekary in Poland, where Mary is honoured as the Mother of Social Justice.
The shrine has been a centre of Marian devotion since the seventeenth century. According to local tradition, a large pilgrimage for boys and men takes place each May, drawing tens of thousands of participants, while a corresponding pilgrimage for girls and women is held in August.
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Pope Leo at Rosary: “Even in times of conflict, peace is possible.”
To close the Marian month, Pope Leo XIV prays a Rosary for peace at the Grotto of Lourdes in the Vatican Gardens, urging everyone to make the daily commitment to achieve peace, which is “possible when we choose to listen to the cry of those deprived of it.” By Kielce Gussie
Joining people and Marian shrines all around the world, Pope Leo XIV prayed the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary at the Grotto of Lourdes in the Vatican Gardens, specifically remembering those living in areas affected by war and violence.
“Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts” (Ps 85:8).
The Pope opened his reflection at the end of the five decades with this Psalm, which, he noted, expresses the “hope of which we stand in need, especially in the face of current difficulties and violence.”
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/20...
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Pope: “Education should help young people find themselves and others.”
Pope Leo XIV tells participants in a Vatican conference on mental health, education, and digital technology that young people need help rediscovering silence, relationships, and openness to transcendence. Vatican News
Educating young people in the age of the digital revolution is one of the great challenges of our time, Pope Leo XIV said on Saturday, as he met with participants in the OEI – Holy See meeting “Maps of Hope for a Regional Educational Agenda: Mental Health, Digital Technologies and Education.”
The meeting brought together experts, academics, and ministers from Latin American countries. It was organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, in collaboration with the Organization of Ibero-American States.
In his address, Pope Leo recalled his affection for Latin America and began with the image of traditional handcrafted textiles.
With their many threads and vivid colors, he said, these textiles show that “no single thread is enough to create the pattern.” Each thread and each color finds its meaning only “within a larger tapestry.”
Education as the art of weaving communion
The Pope said education is called to rediscover itself not as the construction of isolated individuals, but as “the art of weaving communion.”
Just as ancient peoples looked to the heavens to read the constellations, he said, people today are called to raise their gaze and build a “global educational constellation,” which should foster awareness that we all belong to one human family.
This perspective, Pope Leo noted, is essential when addressing the issue of mental health, which cannot be approached only from a clinical or technical standpoint.
Rather, he said, it means responding to “one of the greatest forms of poverty of our time: the loss of our inner bearings.”
Many young people, the Pope observed, have access to the most sophisticated tools, yet struggle to give meaning to their lives, hopes, loves, and even sufferings.
Such situations reveal forms of psychological vulnerability, especially in a world that pushes them toward performance and intense competition, generating anxiety, fear of failure, and disorientation.
Rediscovering the interior life
Pope Leo stressed that human beings can live fully and overcome inner fragility when they are able to find meaning.
“When a person discovers that his or her life has value, that he or she is loved, awaited, and called to a mission in the world, then hope is reborn,” he said.
Hope, he added, is not a naive illusion, but “a spiritual force that sustains life, even in the most difficult moments.”
For this reason, the Pope warned that it is not enough to connect young people to digital networks if they remain disconnected from themselves, from others, and from their inner life.
Young people, he said, need to be helped to rediscover silence, reflection, the ability to ask questions, the depth of relationships, and openness to transcendence.
Called to be a light
Returning to the image of many colored threads forming a single tapestry, Pope Leo invited public institutions, schools, universities, families, religious communities, and the worlds of culture and communication to work together.
In this time of digital transition, the Pope concluded, people are called to be a light, especially for young people.
What is needed, he said, are visions capable of building new cultural syntheses: visions that unite thought and life, contemplation and action, solidarity with the poorest and the search for meaning, while preserving the deeply human heritage of education.
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Cardinal Parolin: “Youth mental health requires structural responses.”
Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin speaks at a Vatican conference on mental health, digital technologies, and education, lamenting that society offers young people every means available but no purpose. By Vatican News
Describing the mental health crisis affecting young people as “an emergency requiring structural responses,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin warned that today’s society often offers young people “every means but no purpose.”
The Vatican Secretary of State was speaking at the international conference “Maps of Hope for a Regional Educational Agenda: Mental Health, Digital Technologies and Education,” taking place at the Casina Pio IV in the Vatican with education ministers, academics and international experts.
Cardinal Parolin said education remains “a pillar of integral human development, peaceful coexistence and social justice.” He noted, however, that educational systems today face new qualitative challenges, including the integral formation of the person, socio-emotional development, protection of the vulnerable and the responsible integration of digital technologies.
Global Compact on Education
The cardinal reiterated that these challenges cannot be addressed through fragmented measures, but require “structured, multidimensional and long-term cooperation.”
Recalling the Global Compact on Education launched by Pope Francis in 2019, he pointed to Pope Leo XIV’s recent Apostolic Letter on education, which calls for a global “educational constellation” capable of fostering fraternity, peace and justice.
He identified three priorities highlighted by Pope Leo XIV: care for interior life, a “human-centred digital culture,” and education for peace.
Focusing on mental health, Cardinal Parolin said the data concerning young people are “eloquent and, in many ways, alarming,” particularly following the pandemic, which has seen increasing levels of anxiety, depression and psychological distress among adolescents and young adults.
Inseparable Unity Of Body, Mind And Spirit
The Secretary of State warned against reducing the issue solely to a medical problem delegated to healthcare systems.
“The Church has always taught that the human person is an inseparable unity of body, mind and spirit,” he said, adding that an educational model neglecting any of these dimensions is “incomplete” and incapable of responding to the fullness of human needs.
Instead, he said education must provide young people not only with knowledge and skills, but also with tools to understand themselves, manage emotions, build meaningful relationships and discover purpose in life.
He linked this vision to the Christian tradition’s understanding of the “care of the soul,” now often expressed through the language of socio-emotional competencies and psychological well-being.
Role Of Schools And Families
Cardinal Parolin underlined the essential role of schools and families.
Schools, he said, should be places where every student feels “seen, listened to and accompanied,” while families remain the strongest protective factor for children and adolescents when properly supported.
Digital technologies
Turning to digital technologies, he acknowledged their enormous educational potential, especially in reducing inequalities across large and diverse regions such as Ibero-America.
At the same time, he warned that excessive exposure to digital environments without adequate educational guidance can negatively affect young people’s mental health through attention fragmentation, screen dependency, cyberbullying, social isolation and exposure to harmful content.
“The challenge is not to accept or reject technologies, but to govern them,” he said, calling for digital education that integrates technical competencies with socio-emotional formation.
A “crisis of meaning”
At the heart of the crisis, Cardinal Parolin said, lies a deeper “crisis of meaning.”
Many young people, he observed, feel disoriented not because they lack information or opportunities, but because they lack “a horizon of meaning” within which to understand their lives and hopes.
“A society that offers young people every means but no purpose; every connection but no authentic relationship; every answer but no profound question, is a society that ultimately abandons them,” he said.
The cardinal concluded by urging governments to recognise youth mental health as a priority requiring coordinated investments in education, healthcare, teacher formation and family support.
Echoing the appeal launched by Pope Leo XIV to religion teachers in his apostolic letter to become “choreographers of hope,” he said education must help young people find the tools and horizons needed to live “full, free and meaningful lives.”
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World Bank official: “Development is stalling where the world's poorest need it most.”
As international cooperation faces growing strain, the World Bank's Vice President for Development Finance, Aki Nishio, warns that development progress is becoming increasingly uneven, with some of the world's poorest countries left behind by the combined impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, declining aid, conflict and climate change. By Francesca Merlo
Our world is currently witnessing what the World Bank’s Vice President for Development Finance, Aki Nishio, describes as “two different worlds”.
On the one hand, there are many developing nations that continue to make significant progress. More children are attending school while more jobs are being created and access to healthcare is improving.
On the other hand, however, there is what Nishio tells us the World Bank’s Chief Economis has described as a “development-free zone” – countries in which progress has largely stalled.
In an interview with Vatican News, Nishio states that the dual impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and a significant drop in Official Development Assistance (ODA) has left some of the globe's most vulnerable countries struggling to move forward. "We have seen a lot of progress," he notes. "But, the progress is quite uneven."
Supporting the world's most fragile countries
The International Development Association (IDA), a key part of the World Bank, focuses much of its efforts on fragile and conflict-affected states. Around 40 per cent of IDA financing is directed towards countries facing the greatest instability and vulnerability.
In these regions, issues such as poverty, weak institutions, and conflict often overlap making development particularly difficult.
Yet Nishio stresses that supporting these countries is not only a humanitarian responsibility, but a global necessity. "If we have another pandemic emerging in one of these countries, the whole world will be affected."
He explains that weak healthcare systems can allow diseases to spread undetected, crossing borders and becoming global threats. Strengthening health services,
infrastructure and basic public services is therefore essential not only for local communities, but for international stability as well.
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2...
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Magnifica Humanitas: Professor Lushombo Shares Insights On AI And Social Justice In Africa
Professor Léocadie Wabo Lushombo, a Congolese theologian based at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley, United States, has emphasised that the civilization of love highlighted by Pope Leo XIV in his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanita, invites active participation and discussion grounded in love, with the goal of reducing inequalities in society. By Paul Samasumo – Vatican City
Professor Lushombo, a member of the Theresian Association, underscored the importance of the encyclical’s message, which presents a positive and inspiring vision of the human person. She echoed the document’s criticism of the exploitation of the African continent and tendencies toward neo-colonialism and extractive economics. Africa, she said, does not exist merely to be mined and exploited.
AI and Its impact on Africa
In an interview about Magnifica Humanitas, Professor Lushombo, who was one of the speakers at the encyclical’s presentation at the Vatican on 25 May, shared her insights with Vatican News.
“I am in the Democratic Republic of Congo twice a year, systematically. I have observed how AI and new technologies are impacting even our rural societies in the Congo. I see just how the cell phone is creating new behaviours. I observe the power dynamics, where we in Africa, are increasingly reduced to mere consumers of whatever the tech giants offer us. What is happening is a situation of more dependency especially among young people, destruction of the environment as well as labour exploitation. This is structural sin –a propagation of injustice and harm. Besides, this technology is not free. We are the ones paying for it -when we buy data for our phones. And as colonialism does, these new technologies are also disrupting community life—the cohesion and sense of community are disappearing. People are not talking to each other, sharing thoughts, or finding solutions together. Even in the Congo, many look first to the iPhone for answers,” Professor Lushombo explained.
Local Participation
When asked about what could be done, Professor Lushombo said Magnifica Humanitas is not anti-AI. What needs to change is the mindset, the lack of accountability, and corporates ignoring of the inbuilt exploitation that comes with AI.
“So, the encyclical is already a starting point because it encourages dialogue on these issues. Let the people participate, contribute, and take responsibility. Involving local communities in constructing solutions ensures sustainability. It is the collective effort that makes a difference. Pope Leo XIV tells us to build society gradually, brick by brick, through community effort—similar to Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.”
All of this, Professor Lushombo asserts, must be rooted in love.
“What Pope Leo calls 'the civilization of love' means grounding ourselves in loving others, caring for our neighbours, and reducing inequalities. AI should not be used solely for profit or capital accumulation, as that widens society’s gaps and divisions,” Professor Lushombo underlined.
The Church and AI
Professor Lushombo believes the Church in Africa can play a vital role in building an ethical future. The new encyclical presents an opportunity for the Church to put into practice ongoing discussions about synodality, she said.
“The Church can facilitate community gatherings to discuss AI, media education among young people, and strengthen participation structures such as Small Christian Communities (SCCs), Justice and Peace groups—thus creating spaces where people can speak and be heard.”
Learn more HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/africa/news/...
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Pope to Charismatic Renewal: “Let Spirit lead you to communion, charity, mission.”
Meeting with members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal for the first time since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV reflects on the movement's spiritual foundations and encourages its members to place their gifts at the service of the whole Church. By Vatican News
Pope Leo XIV welcomed representatives of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal to the Vatican on Saturday. Greeting members of communities, prayer groups, and evangelization schools from around the world, as well as leaders of CHARIS, the international service body of the Renewal, the Pope described the movement's spiritual vitality as one of the gifts with which God has blessed the Church.
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal was founded in the late 1960s and today encompasses prayer groups, communities, and evangelization initiatives across the world.
It places particular emphasis on the action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers through prayer, worship, Scripture and missionary outreach. Since 2019, the various expressions of the Renewal have been brought together through CHARIS, established by Pope Francis to foster communion and service.
Reflecting on the movement's development in the decades following the Second Vatican Council, Pope Leo recalled the appreciation shown by his predecessors.
He noted that Saint Paul VI saw in the Renewal a response to the growing secularization of society, while Pope St. John Paul II highlighted its missionary impulse and Pope Benedict XVI praised its emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The Pope also recalled Pope Francis' description of the Renewal as a "flood of grace" intended for the entire Church.
Five pillars of the Charismatic experience
Expressing his desire to strengthen the relationship between the See of Peter and the worldwide family of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Pope Leo reflected on five key dimensions of its spiritual experience: baptism in the Spirit, prayer of praise, the Word of God, communion, and charity.
Beginning with baptism in the Spirit, he said the shared journey of faith within the Renewal has its source in "the personal experience of the Holy Spirit," which enables the grace of Baptism to become effective in the lives of believers and leads them to a deeper awareness of God's love.
The Pope explained that through this encounter, "God ceased to be a mere idea and became the real and ultimate expression of fatherhood."
The Holy Spirit, he said, brings reconciliation, peace and freedom, while opening believers to hope and to the certainty that nothing can separate them from the love of Christ.
"From this experience of the Holy Spirit comes the inner desire to be witnesses and heralds of his love," he said, as he encouraged members of the Renewal to bring God's consolation to those suffering from loneliness and emptiness.
Prayer shaped by praise
Turning to prayer, Pope Leo reflected on the place of praise and worship within the Charismatic tradition. The experience of the Holy Spirit, he explained, gives rise to a more spontaneous and sincere dialogue with God and opens the heart to thanksgiving and adoration.
"Worship and praise, which are so characteristic of your gatherings, are essential aspects of Christian prayer," he said. He noted that the Renewal has helped many rediscover these dimensions of prayer and bring them back to the forefront of Christian life.
Nourished by Sacred Scripture
The Pope also highlighted the importance of the Word of God within the life of the Renewal. The same Spirit who inspired Sacred Scripture, he said, continues to make it alive and active in the Church today.
"Scripture has therefore become for you a wonderful source of spiritual nourishment that enlightens and comforts," he said, adding that it serves as a source of discernment for daily choices and enriches communal prayer.
Unity as a fruit of the Spirit
Turning then to reflect on communion, Pope Leo stressed that "the Holy Spirit is the wellspring of communion."
He recalled the longstanding tradition of praying to the Holy Spirit for Christian unity, he said members of the Renewal have a particular appreciation for the Spirit's role in building harmony within the Church and fostering relationships with Christians of other denominations.
The Holy Spirit, he explained, creates unity among the various charisms and communities of the Renewal while strengthening bonds throughout the wider Christian family.
Love expressed in charity
Concluding his reflections, the Pope focused on charity, describing it as one of the clearest fruits of life in the Spirit.
"The renewed presence of the Spirit has awakened in you a new capacity to love," he said, a love directed both towards God and towards neighbour, particularly those who suffer.
Praising the many charitable initiatives that have emerged from the Renewal, Pope Leo encouraged members to remain attentive to the poor and vulnerable. "I invite you, then, to keep alive this love for the poor, which reveals the true face of God," he said.
A call to humble service
Bringing his address to a close, the Pope encouraged members of the Renewal to continue their mission within the Church.
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/20...
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Pope Leo: “Shared humanity is antidote to war and polarization.”
Meeting with the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation, Pope Leo XIV highlights the importance of the Church’s Social Doctrine in a divided world, saying freedom must be lived as self-giving and dialogue grounded in truth. By Devin Watkins
Pope Leo XIV held an audience with members of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation on Saturday.
Around 400 people are taking part in the foundation’s 2026 General Assembly and International Conference.
In his address, the Pope urged Catholics to draw on the Social Doctrine of the Church to respond to the issues that face society, including war, polarization, and social divisions.
He noted that the foundation’s annual meeting coincided with the recent publication of his encyclical Magnifica humanitas.
“In the midst of fragility, a new hope arises,” he said. “Even as division seems to grow, a common denominator that indisputably unites us all appears: our shared humanity.”
Pope Leo said moments of adversity call the human person to return to the fundamental questions that have stirred the hearts of generations: “Where are we going? Toward what goal do we wish to orient ourselves? What direction should we choose as a people and as a human community?”
These questions, he said, reveal humanity’s search for truth and awaken our thirst for God and meaning.
They also point to the deepest aspects of the human person, especially the “God-given gifts of reason and freedom,” through which men and women can come to know the truth and choose what is good.
Reflecting on freedom, Pope Leo warned against reducing it to “the capacity to do what one wants.”
True freedom, he said, only finds fulfilment when we live it as a gift of self and openness to others.
When freedom becomes absolute in an individualistic way, he added, it loses its original meaning and dignity.
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/20...
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Rosaries Made By Cloistered Nuns To Accompany Pope In Spain
Ten contemplative monasteries are preparing thousands of rosaries for Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic visit to Spain. The small hand-crafted objects are born of silence, prayer, manual labour, and the help of young volunteers. By Silvina Pérez
An invisible thread, woven of hope, wooden beads, and work-worn hands, is silently making its way through Spain these days. Its beginning is in the cloistered monasteries scattered across Castile, Navarre, Catalonia, and Andalusia, and it reaches all the way to the crowds of pilgrims awaiting Pope Leo XIV.
It is the thread of rosaries: small pocket-sized treasures fashioned in the silence of the cloisters, and becoming one of the most meaningful symbols to accompany the Pope’s visit.
Behind every bead lies a hidden life, a low and humble voice, a labour of love that will never appear in official schedules or televised images. Yet it is in those cloisters that one may catch a glimpse of a world that Spain once knew intimately and now seems almost to have forgotten.
“In our country, there are more than seven hundred monasteries. We are one of the great monastic realities in the world,” explains Alejandro Simón of Fundación Contemplare, the network that for years has helped contemplative communities sustain themselves through artisanal work and, above all, through the spiritual bond they establish with those who visit them or discover the hidden beauty found beyond the doors of a monastery.
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/...
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Cardinal Cupich: “Pope's encyclical 'a new lens' for Church's Social Doctrine.”
In an interview with Vatican News, the Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich, says Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical 'Magnifica humanitas' recognizes that "new technology has the potential to overtake our capacity to control it, and the Pope is giving us a wake-up call to seize this moment with urgency." By Deborah Castellano Lubov
“This document provides us with a new lens to read the entire Social Doctrine of the Church.”
In an interview with Vatican News, Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, reflected on Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas, on safeguarding the human person in the age of artificial intelligence.
The Cardinal discussed the Pope’s warning against technological self-sufficiency, the social implications of artificial intelligence, and the relevance of Catholic social teaching in the digital age.
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/20...
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Holy See and Italy renewable energy agreement enters into force
After the initial signing in July 2025, the agreement between the Holy See and Italy to build an agrivoltaic plant in the Vatican’s Santa Maria di Galeria area enters into force. The project aims to provide the Vatican City State with renewable energy.
By Alessandro De Carolis and Isabella H. de Carvalho
A statement released on Thursday, May 28, announced that the agreement signed by Italy and the Holy See last year to build an agrivoltaic plant in the Vatican’s Santa Maria di Galeria area, just outside of Rome, has entered into force.
This initiative aims to provide the Vatican City State with renewable energy while preserving agricultural use of the land. The Vatican’s extraterritorial area of Santa Maria di Galeria has hosted Vatican Radio’s transmission facilities since 1957.
The inspiration for the project is rooted in Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si’, particularly in the observation that in a world where there is still a “minimal access to clean and renewable energy,” there remains “a need to develop adequate energy storage technologies.”
The stages of the project
Pope Francis himself launched the initiative with the motu proprio Fratello Sole on June 26, 2024, instructing the presidents of the Governorate and the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) to carry out the necessary acts in order to build the system.
Subsequently, on July 31, 2025, at the Italian Embassy to the Holy See, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, and the Italian Ambassador, Francesco Di Nitto, signed the agreement.
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city...
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Pope to bishops: “Church's fruitfulness should not be based on numbers.”
In an audience with members of the Italian Episcopal Conference at the conclusion of their 82nd General Assembly, Pope Leo urges a “focus on the essential” and keeping the priority on the Gospel, which “awakens us” in today’s world “marked by complexity.” By Vatican News
Meeting with participants in the 82nd General Assembly of the Italian Bishops' Conference in the Vatican today, Pope Leo XIV expressed his affection to “all the Churches throughout Italy, to the priests, deacons, consecrated persons, families…and also to those who, perhaps without realizing it, carry in their hearts a thirst for God.”
This gift, he continued, is something he has had the grace to witness “even in a time like ours, marked by complexity.” The Pope explained he saw it firsthand on his trips to Pompeii, Naples, and Acerra.
Pope Leo added that there are many signs that reveal tiredness, fragmentation, and loneliness in people's lives. Sometimes, in communities, people can feel the challenge of passing on the faith and engaging younger generations. Yet, the Pope stressed, “the Gospel awakens us.”
The harvest is abundant
Continuing his greeting, Pope Leo reflected on a verse from Luke's Gospel - “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
As a tireless sower, God enters the world day after day and “scatters” on people’s hearts the desire for the infinite, “for a life fulfilled, for a salvation that sets free.” Pope Leo noted that it is thanks to God the harvest is abundant. Our task, he said, is to take the Lord’s gaze and make it our own.
We are not meant to merely “complain about hardened soil or dwell only on statistics.” Rather, the Pope stressed, we are called to “know how to see, with the eyes of the Risen Christ,” the harvest God is preparing for us.
Speaking directly to the Italian bishops, Pope Leo prayed that the Holy Spirit will bestow upon them hearts that are on fire with “the zeal of Christ”, and that many workers will work “alongside us.”
The priority is the Gospel
Keeping this in mind, “the priority is the Gospel”, the Pope explained. This is a thread that has run throughout the entire history of the Church—from St. Francis of Assisi to St. Paul VI to Pope Francis. Faith is born from the Gospel, “as a living encounter with Christ, dead and risen, present in His Church.”
Read the full article HERE: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/20...
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