Category: Diocese of Scranton News

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Teaching should be lived as ministry and mission, Pope Leo XIV told the Brothers of the Christian Schools, also known as the De La Salle Brothers or the Christian Brothers.

He praised and encouraged them to continue to pay attention to teacher training “and the creation of educating communities where teaching is enriched by the contribution of everyone.”

In fact, “an aspect of the Lasallian reality that I consider important is teaching lived as ministry and mission, as consecration in the church,” he said during an audience at the Vatican May 15 with a group of Christian Brothers.

The Brothers of the Christian Schools, founded by St. John Baptist de La Salle in 1680, is a Catholic lay religious congregation of men devoted to education and teaching. The brothers were celebrating the 300th anniversary of their recognition by Pope Benedict XIII in 1725 and the 75th anniversary of the proclamation of St. de La Salle as the patron saint of educators by Pope Pius XII in 1950.

“After three centuries, it is wonderful to see how your presence continues to bear the freshness of a rich and vast educational entity, with which, in various parts of the world, you still devote yourselves to the formation of young people with enthusiasm, fidelity and a spirit of sacrifice,” Pope Leo said.

Their saint founder “loved to say, ”Your altar is the classroom,'” which created something new in the church: lay teachers and catechists who were “invested in the community with a genuine ‘ministry,’ following the principle of evangelizing by educating and educating by evangelizing.”

St. de La Salle introduced a new way of teaching and other innovations in order to confront the challenges at the time, he said. As problems arose, the saint sought “creative answers” and forged “new and often unexplored paths” instead of being discouraged.

Today, there are new obstacles to be faced, he said. “Think of the isolation caused by widespread relational models increasingly marked by superficiality, individualism and emotional instability; the spread of patterns of thinking weakened by relativism; and the prevalence of rhythms and lifestyles in which there is not enough room for listening, reflection and dialogue – at school, in the family, sometimes among peers themselves – with the resulting loneliness.”

Even though young people are “a volcano of life, energy, feelings and ideas,” he said, they also need help “in order for this great wealth to grow in harmony, and to overcome what, albeit in a different way to the past, can still hinder their healthy development.”

Some “useful questions” to ask, he said, are “What are the most urgent challenges to be faced today in the world of young people? What values need to be promoted? What resources can we rely on?”

Pope Leo encouraged them to be like their founder and turn today’s challenges into “springboards to explore new ways, develop tools and adopt new languages to continue to touch the hearts of students, helping and encouraging them to face every obstacle with courage so that they may give the best of themselves in life, according to God’s plans.”

“The charism of the school, which you embrace with your fourth vow of teaching,” he said, is “a service to society and a valuable work of charity” as well as “one of the most beautiful and eloquent expressions of that priestly, prophetic and kingly ‘munus’ (role) that we have all received in baptism.”

“I hope that vocations to Lasallian religious consecration may grow, that they may be encouraged and promoted, in your schools and beyond, and that, in synergy with all the other formative components, they may contribute to inspiring joyful and fruitful paths of holiness among the young people who attend them,” he said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – During a meeting with Eastern Catholics, many of whom come from war-torn regions of the world, Pope Leo XIV pledged the Vatican’s full commitment to promoting peace and reconciliation.

“The peoples of our world desire peace, and to their leaders I appeal with all my heart: Let us meet, let us talk, let us negotiate!” the pope said May 14 during an audience in the Paul VI Hall with thousands of Eastern Catholics participating in their Jubilee pilgrimage to Rome.

“War is never inevitable,” the pope told them. “Weapons can and must be silenced, for they do not resolve problems but only increase them.”

The audience was the culmination of a multi-day Jubilee celebration that included liturgies in the diverse rites of the Eastern Catholic Churches – from the Syro-Malabar and Armenian traditions to the Byzantine and Coptic rites – held in Rome’s major basilicas.

Before the pope’s arrival, a vibrant atmosphere filled the hall as pilgrims waved flags from Ukraine, India, Iran, Lebanon and other nations; many were dressed in traditional attire — vividly expressing the Eastern churches’ global presence and the deep pride in the faith despite centuries of hardship and persecution.

“Who, better than you, can sing a song of hope even amid the abyss of violence?” Pope Leo asked them, citing the lived experience of communities from the Holy Land to Ukraine, from Syria and Lebanon to Tigray and the Caucasus.

On the stage alongside the pope were leaders of the Eastern Catholic churches, including: Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church; Cardinal Louis Sako, the Iraq-based patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church; Indian Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, major archbishop of Trivandrum and head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church; as well as Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches.

Pope Leo offered strong support for peacebuilding efforts across the globe and reiterated the Vatican’s role as a neutral ground for diplomacy.

“The Holy See is always ready to help bring enemies together, face to face, to talk to one another, so that peoples everywhere may once more find hope and recover the dignity they deserve — the dignity of peace,” he said.

The pope also thanked Eastern Catholics for their perseverance and witness, referring to their churches as “martyr churches,” and affirming their importance to the universal church.

“You are precious in God’s eyes,” he said. “Truly, you have a unique and privileged role as the original setting where the church was born.”

The pope warned that war and migration have placed many Eastern Catholics at risk of losing not only their homes, but their identity, calling on the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches to work with Latin-rite bishops to support the faithful in the diaspora.

“There is a need to promote greater awareness among Latin Christians” of the Eastern Catholic communities, he said, asking bishops to help Eastern Catholics preserve their traditions and “enrich the communities in which they live.”

He also asked Eastern Catholic leaders to remain rooted in Gospel values and resist worldly temptations.

“Continue to be outstanding for your faith, hope and charity, and nothing else,” he urged them.

The universal church, the pope said, needs the traditions, liturgies and spiritualities of the Eastern Christians.

“We have great need to recover the sense of mystery that remains alive in your liturgies, liturgies that engage the human person in his or her entirety, that sing of the beauty of salvation and evoke a sense of wonder at how God’s majesty embraces our human frailty!”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – A proposed House budget is drawing fire from some critics over its cuts to Medicaid, while drawing praise from others for promises to eliminate funds to health providers who also perform abortions.

In a letter to Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, said the committee’s reconciliation recommendations, released May 11, would reduce deficits by more than $880 billion by 2034 and “would not increase on-budget deficits in any year after 2034.”

The committee’s recommendations for what President Donald Trump refers to as his “big, beautiful bill” — which would enact key provisions of his legislative agenda on tax and immigration policy — include steep cuts to Medicaid, a joint federal and state health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans, as part of an effort to reduce federal spending.

Guthrie argued in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal that the recommendations, if implemented, “strengthens Medicaid” by reducing wasteful spending.

“Without Republican solutions, Washington risks a complete collapse of Medicaid,” he argued.

But Sister Mary Haddad, a member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas and president and CEO of Catholic Health Association of the United States said in a May 12 statement the organization is “deeply concerned” that the proposal “to overhaul Medicaid still includes harmful policies and hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to the federal Medicaid program, threatening access to care for millions of Americans — particularly those in underserved areas where our member systems work every single day to provide quality, compassionate care.”

“Changes to work reporting requirements, provider tax, state directed payments, and retroactive coverage are among the concerning policies in this legislation,” Sister Haddad said, pointing to CBO projections “that 8.6 million people will lose access to health insurance over the next decade as a result of this proposal.”

“Congress has a moral obligation to consider the harm that such disastrous cuts would have on America’s health safety net and the impacts this proposal would have for America’s most vulnerable communities,” Sister Haddad argued, adding that “cascading effects of lost coverage, including higher costs and greater strain on the system, will impact nearly all Americans — not just those who rely on Medicaid.”

“As we have continued to state: Medicaid is not just a health program — it is a lifeline,” she said. “It provides access to care for those who need it most — poor and vulnerable children, pregnant women, elderly, adults, and disabled individuals in our nation while ensuring their dignity. Congress should not take America down a dangerous path of drastically reducing access to health care in the United States. We will continue to work with House Republicans and all federal lawmakers to ensure our health safety net remains intact so that our health systems can continue to provide vital care to American patients and families.”

But some pro-life groups celebrated language in the committee proposal that would block entities that perform abortions from receiving Medicaid funds.

Although the text does not name Planned Parenthood specifically, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a group that works to elect candidates who oppose abortion to public office, is among those pushing their congressional allies to strip federal funding from the nation’s largest abortion provider in the process.

“It’s time to stop forcing taxpayers to fund the Big Abortion industry,” Dannenfelser argued in a May 12 statement. “Thanks to Speaker Johnson and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, this year’s budget reconciliation bill contains the commonsense language to make that happen.”

“Taxpayers should never be mandated to prop up an industry that profits from ending lives and harming women and girls,” Dannenfelser said, pointing to Planned Parenthood’s new annual report showing an increase in abortions and a decrease in cancer treatment and prevention services.

Supporters of allowing Planned Parenthood to receive Medicaid funds point to its cancer screening and prevention services, but critics argue the funds are fungible and could be used to facilitate abortion, despite prohibitions on tax funding for elective abortion procedures. Efforts to strip Planned Parenthood of public funds are sometimes referred to as “defunding.”

“With this proposal, abortion opponents in Congress have declared they want working families to take on skyrocketing health care costs so they can give billionaires a tax break,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, argued in a May 11 statement. “Here is what ‘defunding’ Planned Parenthood and gutting Medicaid will mean: cancers will go undetected; it will be harder than ever to get birth control; the nation’s STI (sexually transmitted infections) crisis will worsen; Planned Parenthood health centers will close, making it significantly harder to get abortion care; and people across the country will suffer — all so the supremely wealthy can become even richer.”

But Dannenfelser argued community health centers outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities, and they can “provide much more comprehensive care without performing abortions — and because Medicaid dollars follow patients, they can continue to use Medicaid.”

“Forcing Americans to fund the abortion industry is a gross abuse of our hard-earned tax dollars and it’s unconscionable how long it has gone on,” Dannenfelser said, calling it “a historic opportunity” to eliminate Planned Parenthood’s federal funds.

However, a group of House Republicans have reportedly expressed opposition to eliminating Planned Parenthood’s federal funding through the budget reconciliation process.

Abortion in the U.S. is heavily correlated with poverty and low incomes. The abortion research firm Guttmacher Institute reported 75% of women seeking abortion were low-income, with 50% below the federal poverty line. About six out of 10 women seeking abortion were already mothers. The top concerns reported included not being able to afford another child, losing the ability to work or continue education, or having to care for dependents or other family responsibilities.

CHICAGO (OSV News) – “In honor of Pope Leo XIV, I’m going to have a thin crust pizza,” said Augustinian seminarian Brother Nathan Fernandes, a former chef at a fine dining Italian restaurant, in a tongue-in-cheek nod to the Chicago-born pope’s now permanent home in Rome.

Best known to this year’s set of seminarians from the Augustinian Midwest Province as Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, the native Chicagoan had just been elected pope the day before, on May 8, and the seminarians were taking a breather from the media frenzy that had descended on their formation house’s quiet block in Chicago’s Hyde Park.

But as details of Pope Leo’s past life come to light one thing, many are struck by his Chicago roots and his Chicago-ness.

Brother Nathan, a Canadian, told OSV News he knows in Chicago he’s swimming against the tide of deep-dish pizza that is a big part of this town’s signature fare.

And it’s a tide that Louis Prevost said he believes his youngest brother, Pope Leo XIV, still rides.

“I think it’s a place like Giordano’s,” Louis Prevost told OSV News. On the phone from his home on the southwest coast of Florida, he referred to what he thought was his brother’s preference, one of the city’s popular deep dish pizza joints. He said, with his brother Rob going off to seminary at 13, at the same time that he was drafted to the military, he remembered more of the pope’s childhood preferences.

“He liked cooking, he liked Italian food,” confirmed Augustinian Father John Lydon, a college classmate and longtime friend from Pope Leo’s missionary days in Peru. “After he studied at (Catholic Theological Union, graduating in 1982), he had gone to Italy for his doctoral degree in canon law. So he would prepare pizza for us.”

Father Lydon, the formator of the seminarians, stood at the sunlit front steps of the theologate where the pope used to be the formator in the early 2000s. He told OSV News the pizzas then-Father Prevost made were not deep dish.

“We were in a poor place, living more simply than you can imagine here in the United States. So you had to make the pizza go for a lot of people, the crust had to be thin. He liked, and we talked about, Chicago-style pizza. But in Peru in the ’90s … that would have been luxurious,” said the formator, himself a Canadian.

Louis Prevost, 73, said his “baby brother” ate just about everything that was placed in front of him, and still does today. He said among other typical Chicago food, Pope Leo would prefer a Chicago-style hotdog — no ketchup, which is usually on a poppy seed bun with onions and bright green pickle relish among other toppings. And he had just learned that another Chicago staple, the Italian beef sandwich, was being marketed with hot or sweet peppers as “The Leo” for a limited time at Portillo’s, a Chicago hotdog and sandwich chain. But he said he couldn’t recall if his brother was actually an Italian beef type.

He and his brothers grew up in a deeply Catholic home in a south suburb on the edge of Chicago, where the rosary was said every night before dinner. Louis Prevost said the family had fish on Fridays, which he himself “grew to not like.” Pope Leo, on the other hand, had “no problem with it,” and apparently, neither did the 69-year old have any problem with entirely exotic foods that he would tell his big brother about on the phone while traveling around the world as prior general of the Augustinians.

He described one occasion when then-Father Prevost, Augustinian prior general, ate a special delicacy at a restaurant with a delegation of leaders in an Asian country. It was a plate of moving seafood that he was told should be swallowed.

Louis Prevost, a retired chief petty officer with the Navy, said he had his own share of eating unfamiliar food. But he had to interrupt his brother’s story. “It’s one thing to eat fried calamari. But when they’re alive and you can feel them trying to save themselves, wriggling back up (your throat) … I was like, ‘Stop! Don’t tell me anymore!'” He said his brother simply took it with no complaints.

“They made him feel welcome and he accepted it gratefully, gracefully and continued in good graces with these people. … Who knows how much they spent to put that together for him and why would he (say no)? What would they think? Oh, no. He’s not that kind of guy,” said Louis Prevost.

Since the three boys were mostly tennis players, Louis Prevost said Pope Leo didn’t follow all the city’s big-name sports teams like the Chicago Bulls (basketball), nor the Bears (football) and certainly not the Cubs on the city’s Northside. “He was big into baseball” but “he was a big (White) Sox fan.” Years later in the late ’80s through the ’90s in Peru, his then-superior in the Augustinians’ vicariate, a fellow Southsider, said being so far from home, they dropped hardcore preferences and supported all Chicago teams, even the Cubs.

Louis Prevost described the family’s regular outings to distinctly Chicago destinations like yearly trips to State Street at Christmas time to look at the storefront of Marshall Field’s department store. For more than a century the famous displays of dolls and toy animals in motion depicted Christmas scenes. That would be followed by a meal at the Berghoff, an iconic German fine dining restaurant at the heart of downtown Chicago, where Louis said the restaurant offered special treats for children.

Louis Prevost said their father used to take them to Chicago landmarks that satisfied their curious children’s minds: the Museum of Science and Industry in Hyde Park, the Field Museum of Natural History and the Art Institute, both downtown. The eldest brother found art boring, but said his youngest brother most likely would have liked the Art Institute.

Louis Prevost pointed to his brother’s decades living outside of the U.S. in the developing world, as a missionary in Peru, and then in Rome, along with knowing multiple languages and extensive international travels visiting Augustinians, holding leadership roles assigned by the late Pope Francis, combined with a distinctly Chicago upbringing. He said, as a Catholic, he couldn’t think of a more well-rounded background for a pontiff as leader of the church now.

“He went to places where I didn’t expect there to be Catholics; China, Korea, Japan … India or even Pakistan. These places, ‘we have Augustinians there,'” he recalled his brother saying.”‘I have to go there to promote the faith’ and that’s what he did. He went to all these places, maybe some with a little trepidation, but he did it. And I look at it and think, OK, what does it take to be pope? Well, you ought to know the people you’re trying to shepherd, right?”

On a personal note, Father Thomas Joseph White, the American rector of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, told OSV News May 12 that “seeing the pope in a White Sox jersey at a 2005 World Series game in Chicago fills me with a mix of healthy spiritual joy and serious bemusement.”

“It’s a little soon to say, but I would predict that the people of Chicago are going to lose their minds because the pope is going to do something like say Mass in the White Sox stadium, and it’s going to be a White Sox fan as pope saying Mass in the stadium. And there’s going to be people dressed like the Blues Brothers holding up signs that say: ‘We’re on a mission from God.’ I think it’ll be, you know, very colorful.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Among his first messages, Pope Leo XIV expressed his intention to strengthen the Catholic Church’s ties with the Jewish community.

“Trusting in the assistance of the Almighty, I pledge to continue and strengthen the church’s dialogue and cooperation with the Jewish people in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council’s declaration ‘Nostra Aetate,'” the pope wrote in a message to Rabbi Noam Marans, director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee (AJC).

Promulgated 60 years ago, “Nostra Aetate” affirmed the Catholic Church’s spiritual kinship with the Jewish people and condemned all forms of anti-Semitism.

The pope’s message signed May 8 – the day of his election – was posted on the AJC’s X account May 13.

The AJC is an advocacy group that “stands up for Israel’s right to exist in peace and security; confronts antisemitism, no matter the source; and upholds the democratic values that unite Jews and our allies,” according to its website.

Although Pope Leo did not address the Israel-Hamas war explicitly after praying the “Regina Coeli” with pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square May 11, he called for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip.

“Let humanitarian aid be provided to the stricken civil population, and let all the hostages be freed,” he said.

Pope Leo also sent a personal message to Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, the chief rabbi of Rome, “informing him of his election as the new pontiff,” according to a statement posted May 13 on the Facebook page of Rome’s Jewish community.

In his message, the statement said, “Pope Leo XIV committed himself to continuing and strengthening the dialogue and cooperation of the church with the Jewish people in the spirit of the Vatican II declaration ‘Nostra Aetate.'”

“The chief rabbi of Rome, who will be present at the celebration of the inauguration of the pontificate (May 18), welcomed with satisfaction and gratitude the words addressed to him by the new pope,” the statement added.

Jews have lived in Rome since long before Christ was born, and centuries of interaction between the city’s Jewish community and the popes means Jewish-Vatican relations in the city have a unique history, much of it sad.

In 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI visited the Rome synagogue, the staff of the Jewish Museum of Rome, located in the synagogue complex, planned a special exhibit illustrating part of that history.

The centerpiece of the exhibit was comprised of 14 decorative panels made by Jewish artists to mark the inauguration of the pontificates of Popes Clement XII, Clement XIII, Clement XIV and Pius VI in the 1700s.

For hundreds of years, the Jewish community was obliged to participate in the ceremonies surrounding the enthronement of new popes — often in a humiliating manner.

Various groups in the city were assigned to decorate different sections of the pope’s route between the Vatican and the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the pope’s cathedral. The Jewish community was responsible for the stretch of road between the Colosseum and the Arch of Titus, which celebrates the Roman Empire’s victory over the Jews of Jerusalem in the first century. The Roman victory included the destruction of the Temple, Judaism’s holiest site, and the triumphal arch depicts Roman soldiers carrying off the menorah and other Jewish liturgical items.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV’s devotion to St. Augustine, his life and ministry as a member of the Augustinian order and his focus on the unity of the church are reflected in his episcopal motto and coat of arms.

When he appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica shortly after his election May 8, he introduced himself as “an Augustinian, a son of St. Augustine.”

And he explained that the cardinals who elected him “have chosen me to be the Successor of Peter and to walk together with you as a Church, united, ever pursuing peace and justice, ever seeking to act as men and women faithful to Jesus Christ, in order to proclaim the Gospel without fear, to be missionaries.”

His episcopal motto is, “In Illo uno unum,” or literally “In the One, we are one.”

Vatican News explained that the phrase is taken from St. Augustine’s “Exposition on Psalm 127,” where he explains that “although we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one.”

As a cardinal, he told Vatican News in 2023, “As can be seen from my episcopal motto, unity and communion are truly part of the charism of the Order of St. Augustine, and also of my way of acting and thinking.”

“I believe it is very important to promote communion in the church, and we know well that communion, participation and mission are the three keywords of the Synod” of Bishops on synodality, he said. “So, as an Augustinian, for me promoting unity and communion is fundamental.”

His shield, now topped by a miter instead of the red galero hat on the shield of cardinals, is divided diagonally into two. The upper half features a blue background with a white lily or fleur-de-lis, symbolizing the Virgin Mary, but also his French heritage.

The lower half of the shield has a light background and displays an image common to the religious orders named after and inspired by St. Augustine: a closed book with a heart pierced by an arrow.

Vatican News said, “This is a direct reference to the conversion experience of St. Augustine himself, who described his personal encounter with God’s word using the phrase: ‘Vulnerasti cor meum verbo tuo’ — ‘You have pierced my heart with your Word.'”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Pope Leo XIV for his support of a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, and he invited the newly-elected pontiff to visit the war-torn nation.

“I spoke with Pope Leo XIV. It was our first conversation, but already a very warm and truly substantive one,” the president said on his X account May 12. The Vatican press office confirmed the call took place but would not specify who initiated the phone call.

“I invited His Holiness to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine. Such a visit would bring real hope to all believers and to all our people,” he said on X.

The president said he “thanked His Holiness for his support of Ukraine and all our people. We deeply value his words about the need to achieve a just and lasting peace for our country and the release of prisoners. We also discussed the thousands of Ukrainian children deported by Russia. Ukraine counts on the Vatican’s assistance in bringing them home to their families.”

At his first “Regina Coeli” address from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica May 11, Pope Leo prayed for the people of Ukraine, saying, “May everything possible be done to achieve as soon as possible an authentic, just and lasting peace. May all prisoners be freed, and may the children return to their families.” Ukraine says thousands of children have been forcibly taken to Russia during the war.

Zelenskyy said on X that he also told the pope about the agreement between Ukraine and Western nations calling for “a full and unconditional ceasefire for at least 30 days” beginning May 12.

He told Pope Leo that Ukraine remains ready for “further negotiations in any format, including direct talks — a position we have repeatedly emphasized. Ukraine wants to end this war and is doing everything to achieve that. We now await similar steps from Russia.”

Zelenskyy said the two leaders “agreed to stay in contact and plan (an) in-person meeting in the near future.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV asked journalists to be peacemakers by shunning prejudice and anger in their reporting, and he called for the release of journalists imprisoned for their work.

“The suffering of these imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling on all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press,” the pope said May 12.

Not counting his meeting May 10 with the College of Cardinals, Pope Leo’s first special audience was reserved for members of the media who covered his election and the death of Pope Francis.

“Thank you for the work you have done and continue to do in these days, which is truly a time of grace for the church,” he told the media representatives and staff of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication.

The new pope particularly thanked reporters “for what you have done to move beyond stereotypes and clichés through which we often interpret Christian life and the life of the church itself.”

After giving his speech and his apostolic blessing, the pope personally greeted dozens of journalists. One asked if he would be traveling home to the United States soon, the pope responded, “I don’t think so.”

Asked about the May 13 feast of Our Lady of Fatima, Pope Leo, referring to himself, said, “Cardinal Prevost had planned to go, but the plans changed.”

Another reporter asked the pope if he planned to fulfill Pope Francis’ promise of going to Turkey this year to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The council was held in 325 in what is now Iznik, Turkey.

“We are preparing for it,” the pope responded. But he did not say when the trip would be.

In his formal talk, Pope Leo focused on how the media can promote division and discord or peace.

The Gospel beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” is a challenge for everyone, he said, but especially for the media. It calls “each one of you to strive for a different kind of communication, one that does not seek consensus at all costs, does not use aggressive words, does not follow the culture of competition and never separates the search for truth from the love with which we must humbly seek it.”

“Peace begins with each one of us: in the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others,” he said. “In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance: we must say ‘no’ to the war of words and images, we must reject the paradigm of war.”

The words and style journalists use are “crucial,” he said, because communication is not only about transmitting information; it should create a culture and “human and digital environments that become spaces for dialogue and discussion.”

“We do not need loud, forceful communication, but rather communication that is capable of listening and of gathering the voices of the weak who have no voice,” he said.

“Let us disarm words and we will help to disarm the world,” he said. “Disarmed and disarming communication allows us to share a different view of the world and to act in a manner consistent with our human dignity.”

“You are at the forefront of reporting on conflicts and aspirations for peace, on situations of injustice and poverty and on the silent work of so many people striving to create a better world,” he told the reporters. “For this reason, I ask you to choose consciously and courageously the path of communication in favor of peace.”

The pope had told members of the College of Cardinals that he chose his name in homage to Pope Leo XIII, recognizing the need to renew Catholic social teaching to face today’s new industrial revolution and the developments of artificial intelligence “that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.”

That technology, he told the reporters, poses special challenges for them. “I am thinking in particular of artificial intelligence, with its immense potential, which nevertheless requires responsibility and discernment in order to ensure that it can be used for the good of all, so that it can benefit all of humanity.”

ROME (OSV News) – When Catholics heard on May 8 the new pope had chosen the name Leo XIV, the thoughts of many turned immediately to Leo XIII, the last pope to bear the name.

That most recent Leo, who served as pope from 1878 to 1903, is especially remembered for articulating the church’s teaching on social justice in a rapidly changing and ever industrialized society. He was also interested in promoting the political, theological and philosophical vision of St. Augustine, the namesake and inspiration of the new pope’s religious congregation, and St. Thomas Aquinas.

Leo XIII, was also known as “the Rosary Pope” for his unmatched 11 encyclical letters on Marian devotion.

Aside from Leo XIII, himself not canonized, there have been 12 others who share a name with the new pope, and five of those predecessors attained the heights of sanctity and have been proclaimed saints.

The first pope to bear the name, Pope Leo the Great (c. 400-461), truly had the character of a lion, from which the familiar papal name draws its meaning. A bold defender of the faith amid times of controversy and division, Leo is also remembered for successfully persuading Attila the Hun to spare Italy from an intended invasion of Italy. In doing so, Leo the Great is credited as one of the most influential patristic-era popes, who greatly increased the church’s influence and authority.

Leo the Great was a steady and sure leader amid many threats to the peace and stability of Roman culture at his time, including famine, disease, poverty and a rise in immigration.

His homilies and writings are evidence of the teaching that helped the church overcome various Christological controversies in the fifth century, in the lead up to the Council of Chalcedon in 451. For his doctrinal clarity and ability to articulate unity, Leo the Great was declared a doctor of the church in 1754, one of only two popes so designated.

Pope Benedict XVI said that Leo the Great taught the church “to believe in Christ, true God and true Man, and to implement this faith every day in action for peace and love of neighbor.”

St. Leo II (611-683), who was elected Peter’s successor two centuries later, only reigned for just under nine months. Remembered for a love of music and a unique skill for preaching, Leo II’s brief pontificate is best remembered today through various hymns he composed for the Liturgy of the Hours.

St. Leo III, who reigned as pope for nearly two decades before his death in 816, crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor in 800. This honor stemmed from, no doubt, Leo’s gratitude for Charlemagne’s protection of him after an attack on his reputation and his life.

St. Leo IV, whose eight-year pontificate ended in 855, restored several churches in Rome after Muslim invaders plundered the sacred structures. The Italian Renaissance painter Raphael commemorated various scenes associated with Leo IV’s time in office. One fresco called “Battle of Ostia” recalls how Leo IV assembled various naval fleets to defend the ancient port at the mouth of Rome’s Tiber River. Another, “The Fire in the Borgo” depicts how Leo’s blessing extinguished a fire near the Vatican in 847.

The relics of popes Leo II, Leo III and Leo IV are enshrined in an altar in St. Peter’s Basilica, close to another altar that contains the relics of St. Leo the Great.

The most recently sainted Leo, St. Leo IX (1002-1054), brought reform to the church, reiterating mandatory clerical celibacy and defending the church’s belief in Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist amid scandal.

A native of modern-day France, Leo IX was allegedly born with red crosses marking his entire body, considered by some as a form of the stigmata. Divisions between Eastern and Western halves of the church intensified during his pontificate, with the Great Schism coming amid the interregnum just after his death.

The relics of St. Leo IX are also separately enshrined in an altar in St. Peter’s Basilica.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – With a huge and festive crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV led his first Sunday recitation of the “Regina Coeli” prayer and urged all Catholics to pray for vocations, especially to the priesthood and religious life.

Before the pope appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica May 11, the crowd was entertained by dozens of marching bands and folkloristic dance troupes who had marched into the square after attending an outdoor Mass for the Jubilee of Bands and Popular Entertainment.

Pope Leo also noted that it was Mother’s Day in Italy, the United States and elsewhere. “I send a special greeting to all mothers with a prayer for them and for those who are already in heaven,” he said. “Happy holiday to all moms!”

Italian officials estimated 100,000 people were in St. Peter’s Square or on the surrounding streets to join the new pope for the midday prayer.

In his main address, Pope Leo said it was a “gift” to lead the crowd for the first time on the Sunday when the church proclaims a passage from John 10 “where Jesus reveals himself as the true Shepherd, who knows and loves his sheep and gives his life for them.”

It also is the day the Catholic Church offers special prayers for vocations, especially to the priesthood and religious life.

“It is important that young men and women on their vocational journey find acceptance, listening and encouragement in their communities, and that they can look up to credible models of generous dedication to God and to their brothers and sisters,” the pope said.

Noting that Pope Francis had released a message in March in preparation for the day of prayer, Pope Leo told the crowd, “Let us take up the invitation that Pope Francis left us in his message for today: the invitation to welcome and accompany young people.”

“And let us ask our heavenly Father to assist us in living in service to one another, each according to his or her state of life, shepherds after his own heart, capable of helping one another to walk in love and truth,” the new pope said.

Setting aside his prepared text, he told young people in the square, “Do not be afraid! Welcome the call of the church and of Christ the Lord.”

After reciting the “Regina Coeli,” he mentioned how the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe was celebrated May 8, the day of his election.

While that is reason to celebrate, he said, “‘the Third World War is being fought piecemeal,’ as Pope Francis often said. I, too, appeal to the leaders of the world, repeating this ever-relevant plea: Never again war!”

Pope Leo prayed for the people of Ukraine, saying, “May everything possible be done to achieve as soon as possible an authentic, just and lasting peace. May all prisoners be freed, and may the children return to their families.” Ukraine says thousands of children have been forcibly taken to Russia during the war.

The pope also told the crowd, “I am deeply saddened by what is happening in the Gaza Strip. Let the fighting cease immediately. Humanitarian aid must be given to the exhausted civilian population, and all hostages must be released.”

He praised India and Pakistan for reaching a ceasefire agreement, but said, “But how many other conflicts are there in the world?”

Pope Leo entrusted his “heartfelt appeal” for peace to Mary, “Queen of Peace, that she may present it to the Lord Jesus to obtain for us the miracle of peace.”

Earlier in the day, Pope Leo had celebrated Mass at an altar near the tomb of St. Peter in the grotto of St. Peter’s Basilica. Father Alejandro Moral Anton, the prior general of the Order of St. Augustine, to which the pope belonged, was the principal celebrant.

Afterward, the Vatican press office said, he stopped to pray at the tombs of popes who are buried in the grotto.