Month: May 2026

WARSAW, Poland (OSV News) – Before he started his general audience, Pope Leo XIV stepped out of his popemobile on May 13 and walked over to pray beside a plaque marking the spot where history took a turn that shocked the world 45 years before.

St. John Paul II was shot precisely there on May 13, 1981 — a day of the assassination attempt and one when Our Lady saved the pope’s life.

“Today we remember the memorial of Our Lady of Fátima,” Pope Leo addressed English-speaking pilgrims during his audience. “On this day 45 years ago an attempt was made on the life of Pope John Paul II, and for these reasons I dedicated my catechesis today to the Blessed Virgin Mary,” he added.

On that fateful day right before lunch, John Paul II rode slowly through St. Peter’s Square in an open white jeep, and he bent down to bless a small girl in the crowd. Seconds later, gunshots rang out.

Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca shot the pope at close range. John Paul II collapsed into the arms of his secretary, then-Father Stanislaw Dziwisz. Blood soaked his white cassock as he was immediately rushed to Gemelli hospital, in what his personal secretary later recalled as “fight with time” to get the pontiff to the operating room.

“One hand fired, and another guided the bullet,” John Paul II would later say, convinced that the Our Lady of Fátima had spared his life. The attack took place exactly on the anniversary of the first apparition of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal, in 1917. In 1982, the pontiff traveled to Fátima to thank the Blessed Mother for saving his life. The bullet removed from his body was later placed in the crown of the Fátima statue.

Italian journalist Alberto Michelini, who covered the pope for decades, told OSV News that for John Paul II the connection was never symbolic. “The Marian pope was saved thanks to the hand that diverted the deadly bullet — thanks to the hand of Mary,” Michelini said. “It was a true miracle.”

Father Miroslaw Cichon, director of the John Paul II Pontificate Documentation Center in Rome, told OSV News that the center’s archives preserve moving testimonies of the worldwide prayers that followed the attack, including an image of Our Lady of Czestochowa placed on the empty papal chair in St. Peter’s Square after the wounded pope was taken to the hospital.

Michelini linked the assassination attempt to the broader collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. “I covered the pope’s first trip to Poland,” he said. “From that extraordinary encounter with the crowds — something that worried the Kremlin greatly — we witnessed, within 10 years, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, the collapse of the Berlin Wall.”

For many historians, the geopolitical dimension of the attack can no longer be dismissed as speculation. Pawel Skibinski, Polish historian and former director of the Warsaw’s Museum of John Paul II and Primate (Cardinal Stefan) Wyszynski, said Soviet authorities viewed the Polish pope as a destabilizing force almost immediately after his election in 1978. “The pontificate of John Paul II was undoubtedly a factor changing the situation of believers in the Eastern bloc,” Skibinski, who is a professor of the University of Warsaw, told OSV News.

He said Soviet intelligence services closely monitored Vatican outreach to Catholics behind the Iron Curtain. “We do not have proof of a direct Politburo decision ordering the elimination of Karol Wojtyla,” Skibinski said, mentioning the highest executive, policymaking body within a Soviet communist party. But the beginning of coordinated activity by Soviet and Bulgarian services around Agca is a historical fact.

Skibinski pointed to findings from investigations conducted by Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance indicating that Agca — after escaping from a Turkish prison — underwent training linked to Soviet intelligence networks in Tehran, Iran. “The so-called Bulgarian trail is not speculation anymore,” Skibinski said. “From a historical point of view, there is no doubt.”

Yet the pope’s survival may have ultimately strengthened his authority rather than weakened it.

“The fact that he paid with his own blood for the truths he proclaimed increased his credibility,” Skibinski said. The attack transformed John Paul II into a global moral figure during one of the most fragile phases of the Cold War.

“It is a very important date in the pontificate,” Michal Senk, director of the Center for the Thought of John Paul II, based in Warsaw, told OSV News the assassination attempt intensified themes already present in Cardinal Wojtyla’s spirituality. “It was not a radical change of direction,” he said. “But after the attack he devoted even more attention to suffering, penance and forgiveness.”

Two years after the assassination attempt, on Dec. 27, 1983, the pope visited Agca at Rome’s Rebibbia prison and publicly forgave him — a gesture that became one of the defining images of his pontificate.

Michelini said the pope’s embrace of Agca became stronger than any speech about forgiveness. “Karol Wojtyla was a man of gestures,” he said. “His ability to speak to the world even without words transformed him into one of the most extraordinary natural leaders of our era.”

Still, Senk cautioned against romanticizing Agca or describing the prison meeting as reconciliation. “Agca never asked for forgiveness,” he said. “John Paul II forgave him without being asked. That is something radically evangelical.”

Senk described the Turkish gunman as “a professional killer” and “a compulsive liar,” insisting the burden of forgiveness rested entirely on the pope, who asked Italy to grant him official pardon to his assassin in 1999 — eventually granted to Agca in the Jubilee Year 2000 by the Italian president.

Father Miroslaw Cichon told OSV News that the assassination attempt left a lasting mark on John Paul II’s teaching, especially in his 1984 apostolic letter “Salvifici Doloris,” on the Christian meaning of suffering, written in 1984 “He linked his own fate and the fate of the world even more closely to Mary and the message of Fátima,” the priest said. “The pope’s physical suffering became an integral part of his teaching,” Father Cichon told OSV News.

“That suffering deepened his relationship with U.S. President Ronald Reagan,” Skibinski told OSV News, “who had survived an assassination attempt just weeks earlier.” The two men did not form a kind of secret alliance, Skibinski said, but they did share a common commitment to defending religious freedom and human dignity in Eastern Europe.

Senk noted that even after recovering, John Paul II never fully regained the robust health of his early years. “From that point, he became a man who suffered more often and more visibly,” Senk said. Yet he did not retreat. Security, however, changed forever. The open vehicle in St. Peter’s Square gave way to the glass-enclosed popemobile.

On March 25, 1984, John Paul II consecrated the world — including Russia — although not named specifically in the consecration text — to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, fulfilling a request tied to the Fátima apparitions.

Weeks later, on May 13, a massive explosion at a Soviet naval base in Severomorsk destroyed a large portion of the Northern Fleet’s missile stockpile. Soviet officials blamed a cigarette; no Western government claimed responsibility.

Senk cited the episode as an example of symbolic links many Catholics drew between Fátima and the weakening of Soviet power.

“The coincidence of dates is striking,” historian Skibinski told OSV News. He and others noted that John Paul II viewed history through a spiritual lens, where grace and geopolitics were intertwined. Father Cichon added that in his 2005 book “Memory and Identity,” the pope interpreted the assassination attempt “above all in theological terms.”

By the end of the 1980s, the Berlin Wall had fallen and communist regimes across Eastern Europe had collapsed. Two years later, the Soviet Union dissolved.

Iconic Italian television journalist Michelini told OSV News: “Perhaps the full truth about the assassination will never emerge, but it was clear that the Slavic pope had become a destabilizing force for the last empire.”

Father Cichon added that the assassination attempt marked a turning point — a “threshold moment,” giving John Paul II’s ministry a more “distinctly martyr-like and mystical” dimension.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Ahead of the July 4 expiration of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act provision that eliminated Medicaid funds to health providers who also perform abortions, the U.S. bishops’ pro-life chairman expressed support for legislation that would block federal Title X family-planning grants and funds from going to those entities.

The Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, legislation introduced in April in the Senate by Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Todd Young, R-Ind., with a similar version introduced in the U.S. House by Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., would codify a prohibition on Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from participating in Title X.

Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, wrote a May 8 letter to Blackburn and Foxx to offer support for the bill.

“We have consistently called for the separation of abortion from the Title X family planning program, but organizations like Planned Parenthood, despite performing hundreds of thousands of abortions every year, continue to receive millions of dollars in taxpayer money annually,” Bishop Thomas wrote.

“This legislation would build upon Congress’s efforts to end access to taxpayer funding for one of the nation’s largest abortion providers, as was done with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” he continued. “Abortion has no place in a taxpayer-funded program. This legislation would further solidify the intended statutory distinction and would safeguard the integrity of federal health programs.”

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which enacted key items from President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda on issues including taxes and immigration, also included a provision eliminating Medicaid funds to health providers who also perform abortions. However, that provision is scheduled to expire on July 4, and pro-life groups have pushed the Trump administration and congressional lawmakers to renew it in subsequent legislation.

Although it was not named in the provision, Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, sued in response, arguing the parameters for ending these funds effectively singled it out. However, courts eventually allowed the provision to go into effect.

Asked by a reporter in the Oval Office on May 12 if he would like to see Congress continue to block those funds, Trump replied, “Congress is now negotiating.”

“To put it mildly, it’s been a very thorny issue,” Trump continued. “It’s all under negotiation right now.”

Earlier this year, the Trump administration indicated it would provide another year of Title X grant money to Planned Parenthood the day before those funds were set to expire. The move prompted condemnation from leaders of pro-life groups.

In April 20 statements when they introduced the bill, the senators argued the legislation would realign the Title X Family Planning Program with its intended aim to assist low-income women with family planning services.

“Title X was designed to provide moms and children with necessary family planning services, not fund abortions. This legislation will protect life and ensure taxpayer dollars are protected from taking innocent lives,” Young said.

A statement from Young’s office cited support for the bill from pro-life organizations, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, March for Life Action, National Right to Life Committee, Americans United for Life and Students for Life Action.

In reference to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Planned Parenthood stated on its website, “Without Planned Parenthood, cancers go undetected, STIs go untreated, birth control isn’t available, and patients must travel farther and wait longer for care.”

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and as such, opposes direct abortion.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – As the U.S. Senate prepares to consider a farm bill recently approved by the U.S. House, Catholic organizations together with the U.S. bishops sought to stress to lawmakers the importance of efforts to combat hunger, such as robust support for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, a major part of the nation’s social safety net.

The House on April 30 passed a $390 billion farm bill on a close to party-line vote; 14 Democrats and three Republicans broke with their respective parties in support of or opposition to the bill.

Julie Bodnar, outreach and policy adviser for the Secretariat of Justice and Peace at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told OSV News, “Historically, the farm bill has been a bipartisan process.” She said the USCCB would like to “see that continue.”

“It’s historically been a bill that brings everything together, that acknowledges that the needs of farmers, the needs of rural America, that the needs of hungry people, they’re all linked,” she said. “There’s no need to pit them against each other. These interests are aligned. They’re not opposed.”

Opponents of the House’s farm bill have argued the near-party-line vote is a departure from longstanding norms of bipartisanship around the legislation. The bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where the upper chamber is expected to attempt to make its own changes before sending it back to the House.

Francisco “Frankie” Chevere, director of social policy and government affairs for Catholic Charities USA, told OSV News, “the chances of having a farm bill passed in the Senate are, at best, doubtful.”

A traditionally bipartisan piece of legislation, the farm bill in recent years has become more polarized. Congress last passed a farm bill in 2018 that expired in 2023, and even with Republican control of Congress and the White House since January 2025, lawmakers have thus far been unable to send a new farm bill to the president’s desk.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which enacted key items of President Donald J. Trump’s legislative agenda on issues including taxes and immigration, included a provision increasing work requirements for SNAP recipients, including those experiencing homelessness, and other measures expected to cut SNAP. The House’s farm bill would lock in about $187 billion of those cuts to SNAP between 2025 and 2034.

“Over 3 million participants, kids, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, working parents have already lost SNAP since July of last year,” Chevere said in reference to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s July 4 passage. Some estimates are as high as 4.3 million.

Catholic groups including Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Relief Services, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA, Catholic Rural Life, and the USCCB committees on Domestic Justice and Human Development and International Justice and Peace, have urged lawmakers to make several changes to the legislation.

In a February letter, they advocated for the delay of newly enacted state cost-sharing requirements for SNAP benefits, the elimination of the felony-based exclusion from SNAP participation to promote reintegration and food security for dependants, and for Puerto Rico to be transitioned into full participation in SNAP over the course of a decade.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act also implemented a cost-sharing structure with the states for the administration of SNAP. Bodnar said the USCCB would like to see that cost shift delayed by two years so that the changes “can be made thoughtfully, so that they can be made carefully, so that families aren’t the ones paying the price for administrative errors.”

John Berry, national president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA, told OSV News, “Every human person is sacred and has the right to sufficient food in order to live their life with dignity. As Pope Leo XIV recently stated, ‘No one can remain on the sidelines in the fight against hunger.'”

Berry said the Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA is committed to fighting hunger in the U.S.

“We have thousands of food pantries, meal sites and food programs throughout the country,” he said. “But with more than 47 million people across every state and congressional district struggling to put food on the table, SNAP continues to be the nation’s most effective and responsive tool to combat hunger.”

Berry said his organization is seeking a farm bill that “delays the newly enacted state cost-sharing requirements for SNAP benefits so all states have time to succeed in lowering errors and protect participation, eliminates the felony based exclusion from SNAP participation, and provides Puerto Rico a structured opportunity to transition from the Nutrition Assistance Program (NAP) to full SNAP participation.”

Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, is not included in SNAP, and relies instead on a separate program with a fixed rate. Proponents of its inclusion in SNAP point to the island’s geography and more than 1.3 million low-income residents as circumstances that leave many vulnerable to hunger, especially in the event of natural disasters, such as hurricanes, or power grid failures.

Chevere said “providing equal treatment to all territories of the United States in SNAP” is another key priority for Catholic Charities USA.

“At the present time, Puerto Rico, which is the largest territory of the United States, doesn’t have full SNAP benefits,” he said. “There are other territories that do have SNAP benefits, like the Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico and Guam, they don’t have full SNAP benefits.”

Marilyn Richardson, senior policy and legislative specialist for Catholic Relief Services, the overseas relief and development arm of the Catholic Church in the U.S., pointed to funding for U.S.-grown and produced agriculture commodities used in international food assistance as another key area.

“CRS’ top priority is making sure that U.S. international food assistance programs (like Food for Peace) are continued, with adequate staffing and funding, and flexible enough to respond quickly to the level of hunger we’re now seeing globally,” Richardson said. “These programs are lifesaving and life-affirming. They prevent hunger around the world, support farmers and their families, and improve nutrition and education outcomes for vulnerable communities.”

Richardson said passing a farm bill is closely tied to human dignity and food security concerns.

“The farm bill is very important in shaping U.S. international food assistance,” she said. “It authorizes and funds major programs like Food for Peace and McGovern-Dole, which are central to the U.S. response to global hunger. Through these programs, the U.S. responds to urgent hunger needs and supports long-term food security around the world, reflecting a commitment to care for our global family.”

She added, “The policies set in the farm bill directly affect how many can be served and how quickly and effectively that assistance reaches those most in need.”

(OSV News) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on May 7, discussing the war in Iran, humanitarian aid and what the Vatican described as “the need to work tirelessly to promote peace,” amid ongoing tension between President Donald Trump and the pope.

Rubio, who is Catholic, spoke with the American pope for over 45 minutes in a private meeting in the Apostolic Palace before also sitting down with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s foreign minister, for talks that reaffirmed “the shared commitment to fostering good bilateral relations between the Holy See and the United States of America,” according to the Vatican.

“There was then an exchange of views on the regional and international situation, with particular attention to countries affected by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations, as well as the need to work tirelessly to promote peace,” the Holy See Press Office said in a statement released after the meeting.

Secretary Rubio wrote on social media that he met the pope “to underscore our shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity.”

In a separate statement, the State Department said Rubio’s meeting with Cardinal Parolin covered mutual cooperation and pressing international issues, including humanitarian efforts in the Western Hemisphere and efforts to achieve a durable peace in the Middle East. Rubio also welcomed the recent arrival of Archbishop Gabriele Caccia as the new apostolic nuncio to the United States.

It was Rubio’s second substantive meeting with Pope Leo. On May 19, 2025, the day after the pope’s inauguration Mass, Rubio and Vice President JD Vance also held a bilateral meeting with the pope, according to Vatican News.

On the eve of the May 7 audience, Cardinal Parolin told journalists that the U.S. government had requested the meeting and that the pope remained open to continued dialogue with Washington.

“We cannot ignore the United States,” Cardinal Parolin said. “Despite some difficulties, they certainly remain a key partner for the Holy See, not least because they play a role in almost every situation we face today.”

Cardinal Parolin said that he was expecting to discuss “themes of international politics and above all conflicts,” including issues in Latin America and Cuba — “all those that are the most pressing issues.” On Iran, he said the Holy See would offer no new proposals beyond its longstanding call for dialogue.

“These conflicts,” he said, “cannot be resolved by force, but must be addressed and resolved through negotiation,” adding, “Let it be a negotiation of good will, sincere, so that all parties can express their point of view and find points of convergence.”

The visit of the U.S. secretary of state comes days after Trump reignited tensions by repeating his claim that the pope “thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon” in an interview that aired May 5, an assertion that Pope Leo swiftly rejected.

“If anyone wishes to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so with the truth,” Pope Leo told journalists outside Castel Gandolfo that evening.

“The Church has spoken out for years against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt about this,” the pope added. “I simply hope to be heard for the sake of the Word of God.”

Cardinal Parolin weighed in on recent public clashes between Pope Leo and Trump, calling the president’s repeated attacks on the pope “a bit strange to me, to say the least.”

At a White House briefing the same day, Rubio disputed suggestions that his Vatican visit was an attempt to “smooth things over with the pope,” saying the two sides have “shared concerns” including religious freedom in Africa and the distribution of humanitarian aid to Cuba.

“We gave Cuba $6 million of humanitarian aid, but obviously, they won’t let us distribute it,” said Rubio, who is the son of Cuban immigrants. “We distribute it through the Church. We’d like to do more. We’re willing to give more humanitarian aid to Cuba, by the way, distributed through the Church, but the Cuban regime has to allow us to do it.”

On the question of a possible phone call between Trump and Pope Leo, Cardinal Parolin said May 6 it was “premature” to say whether one would take place, but indicated the pope would be receptive.

“The Holy Father is open to all options,” Cardinal Parolin said. “If there were an offer or a request for a direct dialogue with President Trump, I imagine that he would have no difficulty in accepting it.”

The meeting with Rubio was one of several audiences on the pope’s schedule that day. Pope Leo also met with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, bishops from Burkina Faso and Niger, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, and members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard.

Rubio is scheduled to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on May 8.

POMPEII, Italy (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV marked the anniversary of his May 8 election by making a pilgrimage to celebrate Mass at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Pompeii, one of Italy’s most beloved Marian shrines, placing his pontificate under the protection of the Virgin Mary.

“Exactly one year ago, when I was entrusted with the ministry of the Successor of Peter, it was precisely the day of the Supplication to the Virgin, this beautiful feast of the Supplication to the Virgin of the Holy Rosary of Pompeii,” the pope said in his homily before an estimated 20,000 people gathered in the piazza in front of the basilica.

“I therefore had to come here to place my ministry under the protection of the Blessed Virgin,” he said.

The pilgrimage brought Pope Leo XIV full circle: On May 8, 2025, moments after his election, the newly chosen pope led the crowd from the loggia in St. Peter’s Basilica in praying a Hail Mary on what happened to be the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii. Now, a year later, the pope began his homily with words echoing Mary’s Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord!”

“Brothers and sisters, no earthly power will save the world, but only the divine power of love, this divine power of love that Jesus, the Lord, has revealed to us and given us. Let us believe in Him, let us hope in Him, and let us follow Him,” Pope Leo said in Pompeii.

The first pope born in the United States had a busy first year. The Augustinian pope presided over more than 65 public Masses, the canonization of nine saints, apostolic journeys across three continents, audiences with many world leaders, and led the Catholic Church in the celebration of the historic Jubilee of Hope.

On the morning of the May 8 anniversary, the pope traveled south by helicopter from the Vatican to the Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of the Holy Rosary in Pompeii, located near Naples. He began the day by meeting with hundreds of sick and disabled pilgrims inside the basilica before greeting thousands of people gathered in the piazza outside.

The Basilica of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Pompeii

The Marian shrine has its roots in a remarkable conversion story of a former Satanist who was canonized as a saint by Pope Leo in October as one of the first new saints of his pontificate. The basilica was founded by St. Bartolo Longo, an Italian lawyer and former Satanist who returned to the Catholic faith and dedicated his life to promoting the rosary.

Located near the ancient Roman ruins of Pompeii, the modern city of Pompei was founded after Bartolo Longo built the Marian sanctuary.

“One hundred and fifty years ago, as he laid the cornerstone of this Shrine — on the very spot where the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. had buried the vestiges of a great civilization under ash, preserving them for centuries — Saint Bartolo Longo, together with his wife, Countess Marianna Farnararo De Fusco, laid the foundations not only of a church, but of an entire Marian city,” Pope Leo said.

In addition to the basilica, Bartolo Longo also built up the extensive charity network around the shrine, welcoming orphans and the children of prisoners, and earning two nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize in the early 1900s.

“When Saint Bartolo first arrived in the valley of Pompeii, he found a land plagued by great poverty, inhabited by a few very poor farmers, and ravaged by malaria and bandits. He was able to see, however, the face of Christ in everyone: in the young and the old, and especially in the orphans and the children of prisoners, to whom he made the beating of God’s heart felt through his tenderness,” the pope said in a meeting with charity volunteers affiliated with the shrine before the Mass.

Pope Leo listened to testimonies from those aided by the shrine’s ongoing charitable works before the Eucharistic celebration. Among them was a mother named Serena, who told the pope: “When I arrived, I felt like a failure: a mother who hadn’t been able to protect herself and her children from an abusive relationship. But then I began to understand that falling to the ground doesn’t necessarily mean staying there.”

Today the Pompeii shrine dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary draws approximately 3 million pilgrims annually. Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis all made pilgrimages to the shrine, which was named a basilica by Pope Leo XIII in 1901.

Pope Leo XIII and the rosary

On his anniversary, Pope Leo XIV reflected on how his choice of the papal name Leo connects him to Pope Leo XIII, who championed devotion to the rosary.

“Having chosen the name Leo places me in the footsteps of Leo XIII, who, among his other merits, also developed an extensive Magisterium on the Holy Rosary,” the pope said.

In his homily, Pope Leo XIV reflected at length on the importance of praying the rosary.

“The Hail Mary is an invitation to joy,” he said. “It tells Mary — and through her, all of us — that upon the ruins of our humanity, tried by sin and therefore ever prone to oppression, abuse, and war, God’s caress has come, the caress of mercy, which takes on a human face in Jesus.”

He described the repetition of Hail Mary in the prayer of the rosary as an echo of the angel Gabriel’s greeting at the Annunciation, an echo “that spans the centuries and directs the believer’s gaze to Jesus, seen through the eyes and heart of his Mother.”

In the rosary, he said, “Jesus is adored, contemplated, and assimilated in each of his mysteries, so that with Saint Paul we may say: ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’ (Gal 2:20).”

A plea for peace

The pope closed his homily with an urgent appeal for peace, noting that “times have not improved” in the quarter century since St. John Paul II placed the Year of the Rosary under the patronage of Our Lady of Pompeii.

“The wars still being waged in so many regions of the world call for a renewed commitment, not only economic and political, but also spiritual and religious,” Pope Leo said. “Peace is born in the heart. … We cannot resign ourselves to the images of death that the news presents to us every day.”

Invoking the intercession of the Virgin Mary, the pope prayed that “the God of peace would pour out an overflowing abundance of mercy, touching hearts, soothing grudges and fratricidal hatred, and enlightening those who bear special responsibilities of governance.”

Following Mass, the pope led the crowd in praying the traditional Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii, the prayer composed by St. Bartolo Longo himself that is prayed each year on May 8 and the first Sunday of October by Catholics in Italy and around the world.

In the afternoon, Pope Leo is scheduled to continue his pastoral visit with a trip to the nearby city of Naples, where he was to visit the cathedral and address a gathering in the Piazza del Plebiscito before returning to Rome by helicopter in the evening.

(OSV News) – As he prepares to celebrate a year on the throne of Peter, Pope Leo XIV has become one of the most quoted global leaders on the planet.

Papal diplomacy all the sudden became trendy. Be it the media spin obsessed with President Donald Trump or the Western angles of world newsrooms, for those that know him well, speaking God to power is nothing new in Pope Leo XIV’s pastoral strategy.

When he was a young Father Robert Prevost in Peru and then bishop in Chiclayo, he did the same – even if the scale was smaller than the global stage.

“The pope is a man of deep prayer and contemplation of reality, a lover of the Gospel,” said Armando Jesús Lovera Vásquez, who lived with Father Prevost at an Augustinian formation house in Peru for seven years. “From this perspective, I was not surprised that he called on us to seek peace and to denounce everything that threatens it.”

According to the Peruvian, who wrote the book “From Robert to Pope Leo,” the pontiff is a person “whom God has been shaping through his ministry, and I believe he is the pope for these times, by the grace of God. He is a son of St. Augustine, who allows himself to be moved by the Spirit.”

Lovera knew then-Father Prevost, who was first in Peru as a missionary during the convoluted 1990s. The young priest, his friend recalls, was not afraid in the face of the country’s severe challenges of the times.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Peru was facing internal war against insurgent groups. The military became extremely influential as civilian governments struggled to control the violence. Human rights abuses followed declaring emergency zones and as armed forces were given expanded powers, especially in rural areas.

The biggest driver of instability was the Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path that launched a violent insurgency starting in 1980, aiming to overthrow the state. Their tactics included bombings, assassinations and attacks on infrastructure.

No part of the country was untouched by the conflict, but the worst violence was concentrated in the Andean highlands, particularly in the Ayacucho region, where guerilla and government forces vied to control the native populace through terror.

In 1990, Alberto Fujimori was elected president as a political outsider, promising to resolve Peru’s deep economic crisis and escalating violence. On April 5, 1992, he carried out a self-coup, dissolving Congress, suspending the constitution and taking control of the judiciary with the backing of the military. Fujimori justified these extraordinary measures as necessary to defeat terrorism and stabilize the economy, ultimately leveraging this climate of crisis to legitimize a shift toward authoritarian rule.

After more brief periods of missionary work in Peru, then-Father Prevost began serving the Archdiocese of Trujillo for nine years as its judicial vicar in 1989; at the time he was also a professor of canon, patristic and moral law in the San Carlos e San Marcelo Major Seminary.

“(Father Prevost) advocated for democracy and the defense of human rights, and later, as a bishop, when he returned to Chiclayo, he had to mediate between the peasants and the mining companies,” Lovera said. “He has a well-established track record of defending human rights and justice, and hence it’s not surprising to hear his invocation, which is nothing other than an emphasis on the Gospel’s proclamation: “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

Speaking aboard the papal plane en route from Rome to Algiers, the pope said that he had seen Trump’s recent social media post lashing out at him the night before the papal trip. As tensions escalated in the Middle East and after more than a month of appeals for peace from Pope Leo, Trump lashed out at the pope April 12, calling him “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy.”

“I have no fear neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the Church is here to do,” the pope said during the flight in a video recorded by OSV News.

Speaking before the late night presidential post on Truth Social, Janina Sesa, who worked closely with then-Bishop Prevost as the head of Caritas in the Diocese of Chiclayo, echoed Lovera: “He always defends justice and peace. He does not stay silent.”

In Chiclayo, a coastal diocese shaped by poverty, migration and periodic natural disasters, Bishop Prevost’s leadership was tested not in theory but in crisis.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, as oxygen shortages turned deadly, he stepped beyond the traditional boundaries of ecclesial leadership to mobilize the wider community.

“He could have stayed in what belonged to the Church — spiritual support,” Sesa said. “But he acted.”

For those who witnessed it, the episode revealed a pattern that has carried into his pontificate: a leader who listens first, but who does not hesitate to act — or to speak — when human dignity is at stake.

That same instinct was visible beyond the pandemic.

Father Jorge Millán Cotrina, rector of Chiclayo’s cathedral, recalled how Bishop Prevost addressed local authorities during emergencies such as the flooding caused by El Niño, always with a focus not on politics but on people.

“In his mind are Christ and the human person,” the priest said. “That is what he defends.”

For Father Millán, that framework explains the pope’s current interventions on global conflicts.

“He is not speaking as a politician,” he said. “He is speaking from the Gospel.”

Lovera, who spoke with OSV News twice — before and after the latest exchange between the successor of Peter and the president, defined Leo as someone who is respectful, “but courageous,” insisting that in Peru the pontiff “lived many situations where he had to take a stand.”

At the same time, those close to him emphasize that his willingness to speak does not come from impulsiveness.

“He is not someone who reacts quickly,” Lovera added. “He listens, reflects, and then acts.”

That process, echoed by priests who worked with him in Chiclayo, helps explain the tone that has marked his early pontificate: measured, but firm.

That distinction — between reaction and conviction — is key to understanding the pope’s recent exchange with Trump, those who know him say.

“He does not speak to confront,” Sesa said. “He speaks when something touches the dignity of people.”

The pope himself has insisted as much, telling reporters that his calls for peace “are not meant as attacks on anyone,” but rather as part of the Church’s mission in a world marked by suffering and conflict.

For Father Millán, that clarity is not new — only more visible.

“Now the whole world sees it,” he said days before the U.S. president openly attacked Pope Leo, but the pontiff had already warned against “the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!” during the April 11 prayer vigil at the Vatican.

Father Millán pointed to a consistent pattern: When Bishop Prevost assumed responsibility, he did so fully, without dividing his attention.

“When he was bishop of Chiclayo, he was completely for Chiclayo,” the priest said. “Now he is completely for the Church.”

That total commitment, he suggested, requires a certain freedom — including the freedom to speak when necessary, regardless of the audience.

For those who knew him before Rome, the current moment is less a departure than an unveiling.

The man who once drove dusty roads to reach remote communities, who quietly enrolled in language classes to better serve Indigenous faithful and who rallied a city to confront a pandemic is now addressing a global audience — with the same priorities.

“He is guided by the Gospel,” Sesa said. “That has not changed.”

And if that means entering uncomfortable territory, those who know him best say, he will not hesitate.

“He is not afraid,” Lovera said. “But he is not looking for conflict either.”

Instead, they say, Pope Leo XIV is doing what he has always done — only now on a larger stage: listening, discerning and, when necessary, speaking with clarity.

“He believes someone has to say there is a better way,” Sesa said.

CHICAGO (OSV News) – One of the first things Pope Leo XIV said from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica upon his election May 8, 2025, was “I am a son of St. Augustine, an Augustinian.”

The statement signaled to the world and its 1.4 billion Catholics that they were going to experience a papacy heavily influenced by a Church Father and doctor of the Church — one whose extensive writings have endured the past 16 centuries and continue to shape the Church today.

Pope Leo’s brothers in the Order of St. Augustine have said their patron’s way has marked, and so far defined, the pope’s leadership over his first year.

“While it is true that Augustine is an intellectual giant, particularly when we think of his theological and doctrinal contributions, I also see his pastoral contributions — which are grounded in the human experience and his understanding of the human experience,” said Augustinian Father Kevin DePrinzio, who serves in Rome an assistant general for English-speaking provinces of the Order of St. Augustine.

In an email to OSV, Father DePrinzio pointed to St. Augustine’s Confessions, as one of the theologian’s best-known works that remains popular to this day. The long, introspective prayer to God about his life from sin — which included cohabiting with a woman as a teenager, fathering a child out of wedlock and other lust-driven pursuits, all while doing his utmost to impress his school peers with his intellect and disobeying his parents — to discovering the heart’s restlessness in its search for God and receiving God’s grace, to his conversion to Catholicism.

Father DePrinzio said the book highlights the saint as “one of the first (theologians) to begin to articulate a Christian understanding of friendship” and “that somehow in and through relationship, God is found.”

“This, I believe, contributes to Leo’s pastoral approach. We hear Leo often speaking about being ‘together,’ and the importance of not going at it alone,” said the former vice president of mission and ministry at the Augustinian-founded Villanova University, Pope Leo’s own alma mater in suburban Philadelphia.

“That the human person is meant to be in relationship, to live in the potential of encountering the other as a friend, to search for home and belonging,” he continued. “This drives Leo’s call to engage in dialogue, to reach out, and to walk together.”

An example of that call was evident in Pope Leo’s first video message to young people, which aired in Chicago’s Rate Field at the Archdiocese of Chicago’s celebration and Mass of thanksgiving for the first American pope’s election, held June 14, 2025. He described the Trinity as a community of love, and told young people to “continue to build up community, friendship as brothers and sisters, in your daily lives, in your parishes, in the archdiocese and throughout our world.”

Augustinian Father Allan Fitzgerald, an Augustine scholar and former director of Villanova’s Augustinian Institution, said Pope Leo is teaching that “faith doesn’t just touch the head. It also touches the heart.”

“Augustine learned to be a person of heart,” he explained. He said the saint’s mother, St. Monica, was “a person of heart” and his father was an “irascible” businessman, yet St. Augustine saw his parents eventually come to be “on the same page.”

“So the pulling together of head and heart was a crucial piece of his own growing and his own development,” Father Fitzgerald said. “And I think that’s what is, in fact, happening in the life of Pope Leo at this point.”

Father Fitzgerald, 85, has edited the St. Augustine Bible, teaches at Villanova and regularly holds international retreats on St. Augustine for fellow Augustinians. He told OSV News this relationship between the head and heart is apparent in St. Augustine’s definition of friendship, especially that he had “all sorts of dimensions to what it means to be a good friend.”

“I think in some ways, friendship is the thing that underlies that whole head and heart combination. It’s hard to be a really good friend if you’re not in some way pulling your own self together,” he said.

His fellow Augustinians have observed the way Pope Leo has maintained the strong sense of Augustinian community throughout his pastoral journey, which included years as a missionary in Peru, leadership roles with the order, and now as the vicar of Christ leading his flock throughout the world.

Father Tom McCarthy, the incoming Midwest Augustinians’ provincial superior, told OSV News that Pope Leo continues to sustain relationships in person with Augustinians in Rome and via text and email with others worldwide.

“We have to support him and say, ‘Keep it going. Good job,'” said Father McCarthy, who is stepping into a role in the Chicago-based province that Pope Leo — then Father Robert Prevost — once held himself.

Father McCarthy, 60, currently is the province’s vocations director. He said each week, the friars read and reflect on one chapter of Augustine’s eight-chapter rule.

“Throughout the year, you’re reading the rule completely six times,” he said of the Augustinians, whose order was established in 1244 and based on a rule of life St. Augustine wrote around 400. “And we’re doing it because Augustine said, ‘This should be read to you once a week.’ Just as you look in a mirror to see how you look, you look through this rule in a mirror of your spiritual life. How are you doing?”

Father McCarthy said the rule gives guidance on how to live together in community, how to carry out fraternal correction and dealing with the difficulties of religious life, among other rubrics.

He noted that Pope Leo entered the order’s minor seminary at 13 years old, giving him “56 years of being formed and trained in the way of Augustine.”

“So this is nothing new for (the former Father Prevost) as pope,” said Father McCarthy. “This is him just being who he is.”

He also noted the pope often quotes St. Augustine in his messages and homilies or refers to his writings, just as his brothers do regularly in conversation.

On the world stage, Pope Leo also has not shied away from directly addressing the U.S.-Israel war with Iran and other conflicts around the world, by vehemently calling for peace. And he said he would continue to “speak loudly of the message of (peace of) the Gospel” even in the face of President Donald Trump’s lengthy, scathing post April 12 on his Truth Social account. Trump called Pope Leo “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy” saying his being in the White House made it possible for Pope Leo, the first American pope, to “be in the Vatican.”

The pope has also spoken out about the U.S. government’s immigration crackdown that has led to thousands of arrests of those without proper authorization to remain in the country.

Father Fitzgerald said the times call for the pope speaking out on what is morally wrong, just as St. Augustine did when he refuted the heresy of Manichaeism, a dualistic faith using cosmology to explain the forces of good versus evil while incorporating elements of Christianity and other religions. Talking about morality amid “so-called political decisions is really just a way of being human,” Father Fitzgerald said.

Father DePrinzio sees Pope Leo through the lens of the Augustinians’ father. “St. Augustine was concerned about fostering unity and communion” and he “was masterful at dialogue and in bringing people to the table,” he said.

With Pope Leo on the world stage, “we will see (and have already seen) Leo call for encounter and dialogue, engage difference, gather, bring together and cut through polarization,” he said in his email. “It’s in his bones to be this way, and it’s up to us and the world to listen attentively to this invitation to go deeper together, to walk together, as St. Augustine urged his followers 1,600 years ago.”

That, Father DePrinzio said, is also reflected in Pope Leo’s motto, drawn from one of St. Augustine’s sermons: “In Illo uno unum,” or “In the One, we are one.”

ROME (OSV News) – When Robert Francis Prevost stepped onto the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica one year ago May 8, he carried with him a piece of paper on which he had carefully written the first words he would utter as Pope Leo XIV. His first speech was, in ways that would only become clear over the year that followed, a preview of what was to come.

“Peace be with you all,” the newly elected Pope Leo said.

Peace would become perhaps the most visible theme of his first year, as war flared in the Middle East and Pope Leo became a persistent and sometimes lone voice of moral authority for restraint and dialogue. But the eight-minute speech that followed also contained many of the other major themes of his early pontificate: a vision of “a united Church,” theological rootness in St. Augustine, the pope’s missionary heart and a prioritization of God above all else.

One year on, the first words with which Pope Leo chose to introduce himself to the world merit a close reading.

‘God loves you all and evil will not prevail’

Not only was “peace” the very first word of Pope Leo’s pontificate, but it was one of the most used words in his first speech. He highlighted “the peace of the Risen Christ” that “comes from God, God who loves us all unconditionally.”

“Peace,” however, was not Pope Leo’s only most frequently used key word that day. That distinction belongs to “God” and other references to the Trinity. “The world needs his light,” he said of Jesus.

Pointing the world to God is a priority that Pope Leo has since felt compelled to clarify to journalists who sought to frame his papacy in political terms. His primary focus, he said, is not politics, but God, the source of peace. “The message of the Church, my message, the message of the Gospel: Blessed are the peacemakers,” he emphasized to journalists traveling with him in April.

From the loggia May 8, 2025, he told the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square that “God loves us, God loves you all, and evil will not prevail.”

“Christ goes before us. The world needs his light. Humanity needs him as the bridge that can lead us to God and his love,” Pope Leo added.

Over the year that followed, Pope Leo put significant effort into elevating the signs of faith — he offered more than 65 public Masses, carried the Eucharist in procession through the streets of Rome on the feast of Corpus Christi, and then carried the cross for two key events: first through a crowd of 1 million young people during the Jubilee of Hope, and then through the darkness of night for all 14 Stations of the Cross on Good Friday in the Colosseum.

He also leaned into personal acts of devotion. The pope noted in his first speech that he had been elected on the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii, and he invited everyone to pray a Hail Mary with him. His first year included several papal pilgrimages, from Genazzano, Italy, where he prayed before Our Lady of Good Counsel, to the ancient site of Hippo Regius in Algeria, where St. Augustine once served as bishop.

Pope Leo has now chosen to mark the anniversary of his election with a pilgrimage to the Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii, where he will offer yet another public papal Mass.

‘A united Church’

From the loggia, Pope Leo outlined his vision for the Church in a cascade of descriptive phrases: “a missionary Church,” “a Church that builds bridges,” “a synodal Church,” “a Church that always seeks peace,” “a faithful Church of Jesus Christ.” But the very first descriptor he used to articulate his vision for the Church was “a united Church.”

At Pope Leo’s inauguration Mass, he went on to say, “Brothers and sisters, I would like that our first great desire be for a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world.”

Twelve months on, it is clear Church unity has continued to be a key goal for the first American pope. Pope Leo has gone conspicuously out of his way to avoid isolating many theological or political factions within Catholicism. He has moved slowly in his handling of the Roman Curia, choosing not to rapidly overturn his predecessor’s key prefect appointments or signature decisions. And he has cited not only his immediate predecessor, Pope Francis, but he has also frequently quoted Popes Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II.

The results of Pope Leo’s prudence, at least by one measure, appear to have landed. According to recent polling, Pope Leo has emerged as one of the most popular Americans in the world. His focus on Church unity has also extended to ecumenical outreach from praying with the King of England in the Sistine Chapel to standing side by side with Orthodox leaders marking the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

‘A disarmed peace and a disarming peace’

Pope Leo defined the “peace of the Risen Christ” that first spring evening as “a disarmed peace and a disarming peace, humble and persevering.” The phrase captures both the content of what would go on to be some of Pope Leo’s strongest statements, such as “lay down your weapons” as the pope’s home country launched a war in Iran, as well as the pope’s style of communicating his peace message, “humble and persevering.”

But even before the Iran war began, Pope Leo prayed publicly for peace at nearly every Sunday Angelus or Regina Caeli address throughout the year: for “an authentic, just and lasting peace” in Ukraine, for relief from “a dire humanitarian situation in Gaza,” and for an end to violence in Myanmar, Nigeria, Haiti and many other parts of the world, frequently invoking Mary under her title Queen of Peace.

The theme reached its most concrete expression during his apostolic journey to Africa, where Pope Leo presided over a peace meeting in Bamenda, Cameroon, a region scarred by ongoing conflict, and where, on the papal plane, he pointedly responded to harsh words from U.S. President Donald Trump by saying “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

A ‘son of St. Augustine,’ a missionary at heart

Two aspects of Pope Leo’s personal identity emerged unmistakably in that first speech. When he finally spoke of himself, about halfway through his address, he did not begin with his nationality or other biographical information. He identified himself with his religious order and spirituality as “a son of St. Augustine,” an Augustinian friar who had given decades of his life to missionary work in Latin America.

“‘For you I am a bishop, with you I am a Christian,'” he said, quoting St. Augustine directly in the first of many such citations of the fifth-century doctor of the Church frequently woven into his speeches and writings throughout the year, from invoking the “City of God” in a meeting with an African dictator to addressing young Catholics in Chicago via video message.

His missionary identity has shone in his first year through his linguistic range, delivering speeches, homilies and Masses in Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese, in addition to his native English, and offering greetings in Arabic and even Kimbundu, a language spoken in Angola. His very first speech gave a preview of this as well when the pope broke into Spanish to offer a warm greeting to the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, where he had served both as a missionary and as a bishop.

What the first speech did not reveal

Not everything was foretold on the loggia.

Pope Leo spoke in Italian, then Spanish, but notably offered no word of English, and no acknowledgment of his American roots. That reticence was reflected, in part, throughout his first year, in which he did not visit the United States, did not meet the American president, and appeared, at first, to be deliberately careful about wading into American domestic politics until the U.S. president criticized him by name.

American Catholics, for their part, were not so restrained in their enthusiasm — sending him Chicago pizza, custom White Sox jerseys and pumpkin pie. And as the year went on, Pope Leo appeared to begin to recognize the singular reach that comes with being the first native-born English speaking pope in the 21st century: a statement in English outside Castel Gandolfo or aboard the papal plane can land on every major news outlet around the world within the hour.

Pope Leo’s first speech notably omitted any reference to technology, artificial intelligence or Catholic social teaching, an interest that he revealed later in his first week when he explained why he had chosen the papal name Leo as a reference to Pope Leo XIII, the pope who addressed the upheavals of industrial capitalism in the landmark social encyclical “Rerum Novarum.”

The first encyclical from Pope Leo XIV, addressing artificial intelligence ethics, is now widely anticipated as the defining document of the start of the second year of his pontificate.

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV met the leadership of Catholic Charities USA in an audience at the Vatican on May 4, offering words of encouragement to one of the country’s largest disaster relief networks as it navigates growing demand for food and basic services to aid the poor in the United States.

Kerry Alys Robinson, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, spoke after the papal audience about Catholic Charities’ Gospel-driven mission, its emergency food response amid disruptions to federal food stamp programs, and the new “People of Hope” initiative currently traveling the country.

She said the encounter with Pope Leo XIV left the delegation “deeply moved and confirmed in our commitment to serve poor and vulnerable people of all backgrounds … to bring merciful love and aid to people who need it the most, wherever they are suffering.”

In Pope Leo’s speech to the organization’s board of directors and senior staff, the pope encouraged their work to “seek to find solutions to inhumane situations, to alleviate the suffering of individuals and families, and to relieve the burden of those who are weighed down by hardship and strife.”

The pope also acknowledged the difficulties inherent in charitable work, from securing sufficient resources to combating discouragement, and urged them not to lose heart.

“I am fully aware that the Catholic Charities agencies in the United States of America are by no means immune from these challenges,” the pope said. “Yet it is precisely when we are confronted with such obstacles that we must learn to hear Jesus’ voice saying to us once again, ‘I am with you always!'”

The papal audience comes at a moment when “many Americans are struggling to make ends meet,” Robinson said, describing how donors to Catholic Charities stepped up to fill in the gap following disruptions to federal nutrition programs.

When funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP and commonly referred to as food stamps, was disrupted during the 43-day shutdown of the federal government in 2025, Catholic Charities USA launched an emergency fundraising appeal.

SNAP, which serves approximately 42 million Americans, provides food-purchasing assistance to low- and no-income individuals and families.

Catholic Charities was ultimately able to provide 2.5 million pounds of food to families facing hunger, distributing 100% of donated funds directly to local Catholic agencies and food distribution partners serving those in need.

“When Americans are made aware of the names and the faces of hungry people, they want to help,” Robinson said.

She noted that the organization has seen a rise in private giving as donors become more aware of hardship at the local level, “We’re seeing an increase in anxiety around just the basics.”

“Catholic Charities USA is the official disaster response agency of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and the third largest in the country, second only to the Red Cross and Salvation Army, but the only one without a congressional mandate to serve as such,” she said.

“When there is a flood or a wildfire or a hurricane, I just see people rushing in to help,” she added. “I see the goodness that is common to all of us, and the desire to be part of a solution, to kind of be bridge builders, to be people of mercy and hope — and that covers the full theological and political spectrum.”

Founded in 1910, Catholic Charities USA serves as the national membership organization for 169 independent Catholic Charities agencies operating across the United States and five territories. Collectively, those agencies serve more than 16 million people annually, regardless of their religious background.

Robinson, who has led the organization for two and a half years, spoke of the spiritual dimension of serving the poor and its challenges. “That work, while deeply meaningful, is hard because you are bearing witness to human suffering every day, and there never seems to be enough resources to meet the plight of poor families and communities,” she said.

“We know that in our 115 year history, whenever there is any kind of a dramatic change or upheaval, it is the poor who suffer disproportionately, and we see an increase in the demand for the services that we offer, basic things like food, shelter, job training,” she said.

Robinson recalled a moving story shared with her by a Catholic Charities worker in the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey, in which a man approached a staffer years after his mother had brought him to a safe shelter as a child. “‘It was the first time that I could sleep through the night and knew that I was safe,'” he told her, adding that because of the help he had received, he had broken a five-generation cycle of family violence.

“Now I am married and I am a father,” he told her. “And for the first time … in five generations, because of your help… the violence in our family has been broken.”

Robinson reflected, “It seems like you’re making a difference in one day for one family, but it can lead to ending this cycle of violence and poverty.”

During the audience, Robinson presented Pope Leo with a bound edition of “People of Hope: Faith-Filled Stories of Neighbors Helping Neighbors,” a book filled with stories of people Catholic Charities serves, drawn from the organization’s new traveling museum of the same name.

The museum, housed in a retrofitted semi-truck and made possible by a nearly $5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., features 42 first-person video testimonials from Catholic Charities staff and volunteers across the country. It began a three-year national tour in March and is expected to visit more than 150 communities across the U.S.

The book was offered as a gesture of gratitude to Pope Leo, who in a letter to the Catholic Charities network last fall called its members “agents of hope.”

“I have never seen such unity in the Catholic Church. And I’ve worked for the Catholic Church since I was 14,” Robinson said. “This is a moment in the United States where we feel enormously supported by Catholic bishops for all of the work we do. And I think that they are speaking increasingly with a unified voice, reminding all Catholics and people of goodwill about the Gospel mandate to be merciful, that you cannot separate authentic Christian life from care for and love of the poor.”

The papal audience took place as Catholic Charities USA board began a series of meetings in Rome, including with Caritas Internationalis, the worldwide federation of Catholic social service organizations of which Catholic Charities USA is a member.

Pope Leo entrusted the organization to intercession of Mary Immaculate, patroness of the United States, and imparted his apostolic blessing to all of Catholic Charities 169 agencies across the country.

“Your work with the less fortunate continues to provide a privileged opportunity to share the joy of the Resurrection, and I thank you for this sincere witness of faith,” Pope Leo said.

CHICAGO (OSV News) – A year into his papacy, Pope Leo XIV is still enjoying popularity and rockstar-like fame, especially in Chicago, his hometown. Beyond the pop-culture interest, some of the faithful told OSV News his message of peace, dedication to the faith and outreach to young people have stood out.

After Easter morning Mass, Victoria Mendez and her family stopped to talk by the heavy bronze doors of St. Rita of Cascia Catholic Church on Chicago’s South Side. The parish is run by Augustinians, the religious order and its Midwest province that formed Pope Leo.

“I think we’ve seen a lot of people fall in love with Catholicism, seeing that their pope is from Chicago,” said 24-year-old Mendez.

While anecdotal, said she has the sense Pope Leo is drawing interest in the faith. She has observed more youth in the church since his election. She also mentioned an uptick in conversions to the faith — not just in the U.S. but also Europe, particularly this Easter. Though none of the reports about the bump in new Catholics have tied the pope’s popularity to the numbers, several people told OSV News it may play a role.

“He’s just very good with people. He’s very into creating peace within different forms of Catholicism. And he’s just so open-minded. And he cares about everybody,” said Mendez. “You see that in all his actions and everything he says and does, and the way he reflects himself. You can tell he’s really trying to bring peace on earth.”

On the day of his election, from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Pope Leo’s first words were, “Peace be with you all!”

His message for peace has been consistent throughout the past year. And these days, it is more vehement because of the war in Iran that the U.S. and Israel began Feb. 28.

Mendez pointed out Pope Leo also “connects with the younger generation” through his social media posts and stories of his youth told by his brothers about growing up in Dolton, a southern suburb of Chicago.

Pope Leo, born Robert F. Prevost, lived in Dolton until he entered the Augustinians’ minor seminary in Holland, Michigan, when he was 13. He completed an undergraduate degree in math at Villanova University near Philadelphia in 1977, earned a master’s degree from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1982, the year he was ordained to the priesthood, and earned a doctorate in canon law in 1984 at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.

He then served in Peru’s impoverished northwest for nearly 20 years, where in 2015 he became bishop. He also held leadership positions in Rome, including prior general for the Augustinians, head of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. He was elevated to cardinal in September 2023 and elected pope May 8, 2025.

Born and raised on Chicago’s South Side herself, Mendez said “it makes me happy” that Pope Leo is relatable to even non-Catholics, especially as a fellow fan of the South Side-based Chicago White Sox.

Mendez’s mother, Maria, said the family was drawn to St. Rita and recently began attending Mass there because of its ties to the pope. She said the papal connection and the Augustinian charism of fostering unity have made the parish very attractive.

The Augustinians “approach people in a different way, that makes people come back. (It’s) the welcoming (way), their hospitality,” said Maria.

The 70-year old Pope Leo is “a happy pope,” she said, adding, “He brings happiness to every individual. Doesn’t matter the nationality or age, he’s there for everyone. Yeah, we could feel it.”

Northeast of St. Rita, people walked April 7 under a bright spring sun and braced themselves against strong, cold wind as they left the downtown Holy Name Cathedral following daily Mass.

Tom Pyden was descending the cathedral’s steps when he told OSV News Pope Leo has “done a very good job” for the Church and the world because of “his repeated calls for peace and not backing down from that.”

Pyden was in Chicago from Plymouth, Michigan, to visit his son for Easter week. Though he is not from the Windy City, he said of Pope Leo that he was “so very proud that he’s from the U.S.”

“I read daily inspirational sayings from him. I think he’s very inclusive. And I don’t know him, but it seems like he has a wonderful personality that draws people together,” said Pyden, who also remarked on his possible impact on the number of new Catholics entering the Church at Easter vigil, even at his own parish.

Ellie Greg, a 26-year-old dog walker who lives near the cathedral, said she might have been baptized Catholic but was raised as a non-denomination Christian. She told OSV News she does not practice any faith now, but, she said, for pope “obviously, it’s good to have somebody hometown.”

“I haven’t had any complaints,” she said of the pope. “Honestly, I don’t pay too much attention to news of the Vatican, but I haven’t heard anything offensive (from Pope Leo).”

Even though she is not practicing the faith, Greg has a personal connection to the American pope. She grew up in Frankfurt, a south Chicago suburb. “It’s pretty close to where Pope Leo grew up,” she said, “and they said his favorite restaurant is Aurelio’s. I used to work at Aurelio’s.”

The local south suburban-based pizza chain created a “poperoni pizza” within days of his election.

A passerby who said she was on her way to her nearby mainline Protestant church shouted over her shoulder, “I think he’s doing a great job! Love him! Just love him!”

Pilar Villa of Guadalajara, Mexico, was visiting Chicago over Easter with her twin teenage daughters. She told OSV News she likes that Pope Leo has given clear messages and has dedicated time to youth and young people.

“He recently talked about the importance of young people not having ties to artificial intelligence, that they should follow God and believe in God,” she said.

Pope Leo has spoken via video twice with American youth, first in June and then in November.

In a video message to youth in June at the Chicago archdiocese Mass of thanksgiving for his election as pope, he emphasized the importance of recognizing God’s presence in their lives, especially “that longing for love in our lives, for … searching, a true searching, for finding the ways that we may be able to do something with our own lives to serve others.”

In November, Pope Leo had a live video encounter with young people at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis. “Look to Jesus. Trust his mercy and go to him with confidence. He will always welcome you home,” he said.

Retired Bishop Daniel T. Turley of Chulacanas, Peru, a native Chicago South Sider and Pope Leo’s past Augustinian superior during his missionary work, said Pope Leo’s solid upbringing in the faith and missionary life in impoverished Peru beset with domestic terrorism have influenced Pope Leo’s leadership.

“(He) is a pope at a very time of crisis, so he brings to his papacy, a great deal of balance, of joy, but also a message asking for peace, asking for non-violence, asking to respect the dignity of life throughout the world, and asking countries to search out ways of unity. And he is a pope that is trying to build bridges,” he told OSV News.

Bishop Turley said a “Leo effect” might be having some impact on the faithful coming into the Church or returning. He said he has celebrated numerous large-group confirmations throughout the Chicago archdiocese over the past year, and pastors at those parishes have observed increased numbers of those entering rites of initiation.

“There’s a ‘Leo effect’ for Chicago in particular,” he said. “It’s like a ripple of the ocean, the waves, you know. So it’s a wave of energy, happiness, joy, hope. That’s rippling through the Augustinian order. It’s rippling through the United States of America because he’s the first American pope in the history of the Church. But he’s also the first pope from Chicago. There’s a ‘Leo effect’ in Chicago, in the United States, and then in the whole world.”