St. Peter’s Basilica, which is marking 400 years since its consecration, has completed a mosaic restoration in the dome of one of its most ornate chapels.

The Fabbrica di San Pietro — the Vatican institution responsible for maintaining St. Peter’s — announced the project’s completion on Sept. 17. The announcement described the project as necessary to conserve “one of the most significant decorative achievements of early seventeenth-century Rome.” The Italian Mannerist painter Cristofano Roncalli (also known as “Il Pomarancio”) created the mosaics between 1601 and 1604.

The circular hole contains the name of Pope Clement VIII, who commissioned the Clementine Chapel on the upper floor of St. Peter’s Basilica. The restoration of the dome’s mosaics was completed in September 2026. | Credit: Fabbrica di San Pietro

The Clementine Chapel, distinct from another of the same name in the Vatican Grottoes, contains the Altar of St. Gregory the Great (where he is buried), the monument to Pope Pius VII, the Altar of the Lie, and the Altar of the Transfiguration.

Deacons process through the Clementine Chapel in St. Peter’s Basilica during a chrism Mass with Pope Leo XIV on April 2, 2026. | Credit: Ishmael Adibuah/EWTN News

The restoration included preliminary inspections of the mosaics, cleaning and dust removal, removal of incompatible materials, and efflorescence treatment.

The Clementine Chapel was commissioned by Pope Clement VIII, who reigned from 1592–1605. It was begun and designed by the renowned Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarroti, who also designed the main dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. The Italian architect Giacomo della Porta completed the chapel’s dome in 1580, 20 years before the jubilee year of 1600.

An empty St. Peter’s Basilica. | Credit: Vatican Media

The mosaics were restored as St. Peter’s Basilica marked the 400th anniversary of its consecration. In February, the Vatican announced that it will open new parts of the basilica — including the full terrace — and roll out a “SmartPass” digital entry system.

The basilica, which replaced an earlier Constantinian basilica, was consecrated by Pope Urban VIII on Nov. 18, 1626.

A view of St. Peter’s Basilica during the canonization Mass of St. Giovanni Battista Scalabrini and St. Artemide Zatti on Oct. 9, 2022. | Credit: Daniel Ibañez/EWTN News

The Vatican has condemned hate speech to the United Nations (U.N.) as a threat to human dignity and a dangerous source of violence and division among peoples.

Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia El-Kassis, the new permanent observer of the Holy See to the U.N., made these remarks on Sept. 17, delivering his first address since being appointed by Pope Leo XIV in July. He delivered the address in New York at the Global Conference on Promoting Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue and Tolerance in Countering Hate Speech.

In his address, El-Kassis reaffirmed the Holy See’s position that all human beings possess inviolable human dignity that cannot be diminished. He also warned against threats to this dignity, including hate speech.

“Hate speech — whether directed against individuals or communities on the basis of their religion, ethnicity, nationality, or any other characteristic — contradicts the commandment to love one’s neighbor, poisons public discourse, inflames division, and too often prepares the ground for violence and persecution,” El-Kassis stated in his remarks.

El-Kassis also affirmed the Holy See’s recognition of the right to freedom of expression, provided that one be mindful of the responsibilities that accompany this freedom.

The archbishop also cited Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, reminding those present that the “first contribution we can make toward a more humane civilization is to be mindful of our words.”

“Pope Leo XIV insists, ‘… 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,’” El-Kassis concluded.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said nations should work together to face the challenges of artificial intelligence (AI).

Parolin expressed his concerns about AI on the sidelines of the conference “Faith and Reason in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” held Sept. 16 in Rome at the Palazzo Montecitorio, the seat of the Italian Parliament.

As originally reported by Vatican News, Parolin also delivered a keynote address at the conference, focusing on both the potential and the threats of AI. In his address, he thanked Italian President Sergio Mattarella for his recent appeal for greater collaboration among states on AI governance and said he hoped nations would respond.

“My concern is that there are countries which, in fact, want to go it alone,” Parolin said in his address. “Let us stop and genuinely reflect on what the consequences of artificial intelligence and its use might be.”

‘I try to put a little heart into my homilies’

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines, Parolin stated that he did not use AI to draft his homilies, preferring to “put a little heart” into them.

“Artificial intelligence is all head and no heart. I try to put a little heart into my homilies,” Parolin said to the journalists.

“Today artificial intelligence is imposing itself, because when you open your computer and read something, it already gives you a summary.”

His discouragement of using AI to draft homilies echoes that of Pope Leo XIV. During a Q&A session with priests of the Diocese of Rome in February, he warned priests against this practice.

Holy See diplomacy in Russia-Ukraine conflict

Parolin also responded to journalists’ questions about the Holy See’s advocacy of Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia. He expressed hope that it would reach a peaceful resolution.

“The diplomacy of the Holy See, the diplomacy of sowing, does not produce a harvest. So we hope that, by continuing to sow, one day, when God wills it, we may also reap,” Parolin said.

His comments follow recent interventions by the Holy See in pursuing a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia. Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states and international organizations, traveled to Russia from Aug. 25–27 to meet with its leaders to discuss potential resolutions to the war.

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Brendan Cahill of the Diocese of Victoria, Texas, as the seventh bishop of Joliet, Illinois.

Cahill’s appointment, announced by the Vatican on Sept. 17, makes him the successor to then-bishop Ronald Hicks, who led the diocese from 2020 to 2026. The pontiff appointed Hicks as archbishop of New York in December 2025.

According to the Vatican announcement, Cahill was born in Coral Gables, Florida, on Nov. 28, 1963. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in Texas on May 19, 1990.

Before his ordination, Cahill earned degrees in psychology, African American studies, and dogmatic theology. He studied at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Xavier University in Louisiana, and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

After his ordination, Cahill served as a parish priest in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston for four years before returning to St. Mary’s Seminary as a faculty member. He was promoted to rector of the seminary in 2001.

After a period of service in the archdiocesan curia, Pope Francis appointed Cahill as the third bishop of Victoria. He received episcopal consecration on June 29, 2015, from the then-archbishop of Galveston-Houston, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo.

In 2025, Cahill was appointed chair of the Committee on Migration for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

VATICAN CITY — Sixty years after the Second Vatican Council’s declaration Nostra Aetate, the Vatican is calling for a renewed approach to interreligious dialogue aimed at fostering peaceful coexistence without erasing religious differences.

“Today, in the face of those who foment divisions and stir up conflicts, believers of different traditions — and above all their leaders — while remaining aware of their irreducible differences, are called to seek, with clarity and hope, the conditions necessary for peaceful coexistence,” states a new joint note from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

The document, titled “A Journey of Hope: Sixty Years of Interreligious Dialogue and Fraternity in the Light of the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate,” was published Sept. 16. Pope Leo XIV approved the note at an audience with the prefects and secretaries of the three dicasteries on June 22 and ordered its publication.

The text reviews the teaching of successive popes on interreligious relations, looks back at the path traveled since Nostra Aetate was promulgated in 1965, and turns to the challenges facing dialogue today.

“In stark contrast to those rigid attitudes that seek to resolve conflicts by force, it is time to promote a new ethic of dialogue: a culture of complexity, flexibility, and friendship,” the document states. “It is no longer a matter of fearing or keeping one’s distance from the ‘other believer’ — another civilization, another way of thinking — but of daring the encounter.”

One of the document’s proposals is to give greater recognition to concrete initiatives undertaken by local Churches.

“At the same time, greater appreciation must be given to the concrete initiatives undertaken by the local Churches, which are on the front lines,” the note states. “It is they who, at the local level, develop the most creative and courageous forms of encounter: dialogue commissions, joint projects, educational or humanitarian initiatives, and shared celebrations.”

By gathering and sharing those experiences, the document says, “the universal Church can enrich her life while also identifying and guiding new pastoral paths.”

At the same time, the Vatican note stresses that dialogue does not mean abandoning claims to religious truth.

“It is not, therefore, a matter of renouncing the truth but of proclaiming it in a manner befitting the Gospel: with esteem, listening, and charity,” the document states.

The note says achieving genuine dialogue requires “a genuine shift in mindset,” defined as “abandoning the logic of defensiveness, hostility, or conquest in order to adopt an attitude that is open, benevolent, and courageous.”

It also calls for a renewed pedagogy of dialogue, beginning with formation in seminaries, theological institutes, and pastoral programs.

“It is no longer sufficient to proclaim the importance of dialogue; it must now be lived, providing the faithful with the tools to participate in it in an informed, critical, and serene manner,” the document states.

The note points to knowledge of religions, the history of interreligious relations, guidelines for dialogue, religious literacy, and an understanding of contemporary cultural and geopolitical issues as important elements of such formation.

In its conclusion, the document underscores the importance it assigns to interreligious fraternity amid contemporary conflicts and social challenges.

“Fraternity among believers of different religious traditions is not merely an ideal, but a moral, spiritual, and social imperative,” it states.

“Faced with contemporary challenges — religious extremism, global migration, secularization, and ecological and social crises — religions are called to transform the world and society so that they may become fraternal expressions of God’s will.”

“This commitment necessarily involves a renewed education in dialogue, especially among younger generations, to overcome fears and prejudices and to foster a genuine culture of encounter,” the note concludes.

A version of this story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

VATICAN CITY — As artificial intelligence reshapes workplaces and corporate decision-making, labor leaders and Catholic bishops are calling for workers to have a direct voice in how the technology is introduced and used.

Their argument is not that technological innovation should be resisted but that decisions affecting jobs, wages, and working conditions should not be left solely to corporate executives or automated systems. Instead, they point to collective bargaining, social dialogue, and human oversight as safeguards for workers’ dignity and rights.

Liz Shuler, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), said protecting workers requires confronting a model in which executives make far-reaching technological decisions without worker input.

“Right now, we have CEOs who want to play God to make decisions that affect hundreds of millions of working people without our input and consent,” Shuler said.

Shuler made the remarks at a Sept. 11 Vatican press conference held in connection with the Fourth Fratelli Tutti Synodal Meeting, a Sept. 10–12 gathering in Rome focused on dialogue between the Global North and South on social and environmental issues. The press conference brought together labor and Church leaders to discuss, among other questions, the impact of artificial intelligence on workers and the need for social dialogue. Other speakers included Bishop Daniel Flores, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Cardinal Jaime Spengler; and labor leader Gerardo Martínez.

For Shuler, social dialogue is essential to ensuring that AI is developed and deployed with human dignity in mind. She compared the current technological transition to the introduction of electricity during the second industrial revolution.

“Electricity was a new technology that was raw and revolutionary and dangerous, and companies were racing to make profits and people were suffering,” she said.

Shuler linked that history to Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed the relationship between labor and capital. It was “workers organizing together in a union who stood up to demand safety from the government, from power companies, and negotiated to make sure electricity was installed and used responsibly to benefit everyone,” she said.

She also pointed to the partnership between the AFL-CIO and Microsoft as an example of how organized labor can seek a formal role in the development and introduction of AI.

Shuler said the agreement “guarantees workers a voice in the development of AI” and “puts into writing our workers’ right to form a union.”

Martínez similarly argued that worker protections need not come at the expense of technological innovation. He summarized the labor movement’s approach in three principles: “Not resisting innovation, not accepting exclusion, and negotiating transition.”

Under that approach, unions do not reject technological advances but insist that automated systems should not independently determine fundamental working conditions.

“We cannot accept that an algorithm decides by itself about employment, salary, and rights that correspond to a worker,” Martínez said.

He said the objective should be integration rather than a confrontation between workers and technology: “The challenge is not technology against work. The challenge is technology with worthy work, productivity, distribution, and development with social justice.”

Flores connected the issue of worker participation to Catholic social teaching, particularly the principle of subsidiarity and the importance of allowing communities affected by technological change to express their concerns.

“From the Catholic point of view, history is not always a matter of what the powerful decide, that there are other things that move history,” Flores said. “One of them is social friendship, and a sense of justice, and a sense of what is right.”

Those themes also figure prominently in Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, which addresses the protection of human dignity amid the development of artificial intelligence.

Spengler cited the encyclical’s call to each generation to shape technological and social change in accordance with human dignity: “Each generation inherits the task of shaping its own era, of guiding history to become a place where the dignity of every person is safeguarded, justice is promoted, and fraternity is made possible.”

Taken together, the speakers presented worker participation as a central question in the development of AI. Their proposed safeguards include collective bargaining, negotiated technological transitions, human oversight, and cooperation among unions, employers, international organizations, and faith communities — with the aim of ensuring that innovation serves workers rather than leaving consequential employment decisions to algorithms alone.

A Vatican conference on modern Christian martyrs concluded with a speech by Pope Leo XIV, who praised their witness and the evangelizing power of their simple, daily holiness.

The pontiff held a private audience at the Vatican on Sept. 16 with participants in the conference “The 21st Century: A New Time of Martyrs?” held at the Patristic Institute Augustinianum in Rome from Sept. 15–16.

The conference, organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, discussed the ecumenical initiative “Commission for New Martyrs — Witnesses of the Faith” established by Pope Francis in 2023 to document the deaths of Christians of all denominations who have been killed for their faith since 2000.

Among the cases discussed was that of Sister Dorothy Stang, an American nun who was killed in Brazil in 2005 while serving the local population in the Amazon.

Christian witnesses propose a faith lived out daily, not an ideology

In his address, Pope Leo praised the dicastery’s work cataloging the lives of Christians killed for their faith and explained that their example can teach believers today to present the faith not as an ideology but as a way of life.

“The evangelizing strength of the new witnesses to the faith represents one of the Church’s greatest resources for proclaiming the Gospel in today’s world,” Leo said. “The witnesses to the faith do not propose an ideology but show a faith lived out in everyday life.”

He also explained the significance of those Christians to Catholics, saying they “are brothers and sisters who, in different geographical, historical, and political contexts, have given their life for the Gospel.”

The pope also said that daily holiness — the holiness next door — can help Christians explain and defend their faith in arguments.

“In indifferent cultural contexts, “holiness next door” and quiet heroism become powerful arguments, capable of speaking to everyone, even the most skeptical.”

Muslims in West Bank are tired of violence against Christians

Speakers at the conference included Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem.

Pizzaballa, who delivered a speech on the suffering of Christians amid ongoing wars in the Holy Land, recounted his experience of explaining that suffering to Muslim students in Palestine.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, delivers an address at the conference “The 21st Century: A New Time of Martyrs?” held at the Patristic Institute Augustinianum in Rome from Sept. 15–16, 2026. | Credit: Ishmael Adibuah/EWTN News

“I agreed to meet with young people from the local university [in Palestine] who insisted I come,” Pizzaballa recounted. “I had never experienced that before and was afraid. About 600 students were there, all Muslims. During the discussion, I expected political questions about the war. Instead, all the questions were about life, faith, and Christianity.”

“When I said that Christianity rejects violence …, they stood up and applauded, saying they, too, are tired of living in a system of violence.”

The blood of the martyrs comes before theological disagreements among Christians

Semeraro, in his address, discussed the progress of the “Commission for New Martyrs — Witnesses of the Faith” initiative and emphasized the need to prioritize the sacrifice of Christians for the faith over theological debates.

“The blood of the martyrs comes before our theological dialogues,” Semeraro said. “Where our Christian confessions still have wounds that need to be healed, the martyrs tell us that what is essential is already shared: the confession of Christ, even unto the gift of oneʼs life. This is called the ‘ecumenism of blood.’"

Sister Dorothy Stang and the impact of 9/11 on Christian persecution

Among the Christians mentioned at the conference was Sister Dorothy Stang, an American nun who was murdered in Brazil in 2005 for defending the land rights of the Indigenous peoples. In 2025, she became the first U.S. woman to be included in a permanent memorial in Rome for modern Christian martyrs.

The Basilica of St. Bartholomew on Tiberina Island contains a permanent memorial honoring various 21st-century Christian martyrs, including Sister Dorothy Stang. | Credit: Ishmael Adibuah/EWTN News

Sister Nicoletta Spezzati, a consultor for the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, described Stang as a “woman of contemplative prayer” who understood that “the predatory devastation of the planet is not simply a moral offense but humanityʼs rebellion against the Creator.”

Marcia Goodman, a niece of Stang, added that her life was rooted in the belief in a sustainable environment for all people.

“It’s especially powerful that Dorothy, a woman, is being recognized as a modern martyr,” Goodman told EWTN News. “She led her life in the belief that all people matter and therefore deserve a place to call home.”

Besides Stang, the impact of the U.S. terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, on Christian persecution in Europe was also noted. Father Roberto Regoli, president of the Joseph Ratzinger Foundation, described those attacks as a precursor to a new scale of Christian persecution internationally.

“Twenty-five years ago, on Sept. 11, we remember the attacks on the Twin Towers. We remember the airplane that struck the Pentagon in Washington. From those years onward, there was an escalation of conflicts at the international level,” Regoli said.

The Tribute in Light annual 9/11 memorial’s twin shafts of light soar skyward over Manhattan’s skyscrapers in 2025. | Credit: George Wirt/Shutterstock

“In the face of secularism, social difficulties, psychological difficulties, and religious tensions, there are men and women — religious and laypeople — who remain where they are. And perhaps this is itself a form of testimony: to remain in oneʼs place,” Regoli added.

Elias Turk contributed to this report.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV said Wednesday that the diversity of the world’s peoples “must not be considered as a danger or a threat, but rather as a resource for enrichment and growth.” He also criticized confrontational attitudes that, at times, “degenerate into violence.”

“Conflict, which at times degenerates into violence, is the result of the power of sin and the way it conditions mindsets and actions at every level, causing destruction and death,” he said during the general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

He underscored the need to “be ever more open to the logic of reciprocity, sharing, and care, as is also the case amongst the various members of the human body.”

The pontiff thus continued his catechetical series dedicated to Gaudium et Spes, the pastoral constitution on the Church and its role in the modern world, approved by the Second Vatican Council on Dec. 7, 1965.

According to Pope Leo, the message of the document, which considers “the growing interdependence of men” as “one of the salient features of the modern world,” is especially urgent today.

Risk of delegating important decisions to algorithms

Although the development of communications technology, social media, and artificial intelligence is opening up new possibilities and helping to break down “barriers and distances,” the pope observed that human relationships “are tending to become less and less personal, more virtual.”

From this perspective, he also warned of the risk of “becoming accustomed to delegating to algorithms decisions that are the sole preserve of the human conscience.”

“Ensuring that social relationships have real substance and personal depth is, in this regard, the contribution that the Christian community seeks to offer,” he told the hundreds of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square to hear his teaching.

Pope Leo XIV speaks on the human community as described in “Gaudium et Spes” during his weekly general audience address in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 16, 2026. | Credit: Daniel Ibañez/EWTN News

The pope also recalled that the pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes offers a concise definition of the common good, understood as “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment.”

At the same time, he noted that the document recognizes the interdependence of peoples and states that “every social group must take account of the needs and legitimate aspirations of other groups, and even of the general welfare of the entire human family.”

Respect for human dignity

Building on this approach, the council fathers identified several “practical and particularly urgent consequences,” including respect for the human person.

The pope recalled that Gaudium et Spes states: “Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or willful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed.”

Likewise, the pope said that the second consequence of this message is “respect and love for adversaries or for those who think and act in ways different from our own.”

Third, Pope Leo emphasized that the fundamental equality of all human beings gives rise to the demand for social justice. In this regard, he urged people to “overcome the individualistic mindset” and adopt “an attitude of responsibility and participation.”

“The future of humanity depends on each person’s commitment to collaborate with God and with their brothers and sisters in building a more humane world,” the pope concluded.

At the end of the general audience, Leo XIV offered a special greeting to various groups of pilgrims and expressed his “deep appreciation” for the apostolate carried out by prison chaplains.

“May you always be a living presence of the Gospel and of Christian hope,” the Holy Father said, also thanking them for the assistance they provide both to him and to the Secretariat of State in the spiritual care of prisoners who write to the pope each day to share their personal struggles and wounds.

Among those present, Leo XIV also greeted participants in a pharmaceutical care course, encouraging them to combine scientific expertise with human closeness and an integral vision of the person.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Newark, New Jersey, auxiliary bishop Michael Saporito as the new bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey.

The Vatican announced his appointment on Sept. 15, ending a nearly one-year wait for a new bishop of the diocese. The diocese was previously led by then-Bishop James Checchio from 2016 to 2025, after he served as rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Checchio became the archbishop of New Orleans in 2026 after a brief period as its coadjutor archbishop.

The pope has also accepted the resignation of Bishop Francis Malone of Shreveport, Louisiana. Malone, 76, has led the diocese since 2019. Bishops are required to submit their resignations to the pope at the age of 75.

According to the Vatican announcement, Saporito was born in Newark on May 3, 1962. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark on May 30, 1992.

He also earned an accounting degree from Rutgers University and studied at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology in South Orange, New Jersey, for several years before his ordination.

After his ordination, Saporito served as a parish priest at several parish churches throughout the archdiocese: St. Peter the Apostle in River Edge (1994–1999), Our Lady of Visitation in Paramus (1999–2001), St. Elizabeth in Wyckoff (2001–2004), St. Joseph in Maplewood (2004–2011), and St. Helen in Westfield (2011–2020).

In February 2020, Pope Francis appointed Saporito as an auxiliary bishop of Newark. He received his episcopal consecration on June 30 of the same year from Cardinal Joseph Tobin, CSsR, who has served as archbishop of Newark since 2016.

The Catholic Church has documented 304 martyrs in Latin America so far this century. These are men and women killed not only for professing their faith but also for defending the poor, confronting organized crime, and protecting creation.

Their stories are part of a global catalog of martyrs promoted by the Vatican that already exceeds 1,700 documented cases.

“Many were murdered for reasons related to drug trafficking, deforestation, or for opposing the exploitation of natural resources,” explained Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

The cardinal noted that while many were missionaries, the group also included lay faithful who gave their lives defending the Gospel and denouncing drug traffickers, protecting Indigenous territories from deforestation, or fighting the illegal exploitation of natural resources.

As he explained, the common thread in these cases is that these individuals became “inconvenient” to those controlling illicit activities. Their Gospel witness clashed directly with economic interests and criminal structures.

A conference to reflect on the new martyrs

Semeraro offered these reflections while presenting the international conference “The 21st Century: A New Era of Martyrs?” at the Vatican, a day of study and reflection dedicated to exploring the witness of Christians who have lost their lives for the sake of the Gospel in various parts of the world.

The gathering, organized by the Commission for New Martyrs — Witnesses to the Faith, was scheduled to take place Sept. 15 at the Pontifical Augustinianum Institute in Rome.

The international congress will bring together some of the most prominent voices from the Church, academia, and journalism in Rome to reflect on Christian witness in the contemporary world.

Participants include Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem; and Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio. Experts will also speak, such as Archbishop Fabio Fabene, president of the Commission for New Martyrs; journalist Lucia Capuzzi; historian Father Roberto Regoli; and South Sudanese religious sister Alice Jurugo Drajea, who will share about Christian life amid the war ravaging her country.

The initiative comes a year after the commemoration of the martyrs and witnesses of the faith of the 21st century, presided over on Sept. 14, 2025, by Pope Leo XIV together with representatives of other Christian churches and communities at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

Pope Leo XIV celebrate Mass for the commemoration of the martyrs and witnesses of the faith of the 21st century on Sept. 14, 2025, at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. The commemoration was an ecumenical event that also brought together representatives from Eastern Orthodox churches, Oriental Orthodox churches, various Christian communities as well as ecumenical institutions and officials from Vatican dicasteries. | Credit: Vatican Media

The commission continues to gather testimonies and information regarding Christians killed for their faith, aiming to preserve their memory and document the various forms of persecution and Christian witness in contemporary times.

According to data released by the organization last year, 1,624 martyrs worldwide had been documented between 2000 and 2025. Of these, 304 were from the Americas, a figure that reflects the specific nature of martyrdom in this region today.

The commission also noted that the record now exceeds 1,700 documented cases and that between 100 and 150 new testimonies were added in the last year alone, confirming that the phenomenon remains very much ongoing.

Holiness goes beyond canonization

In his remarks, Semeraro emphasized that holiness in the Church is not limited to those officially canonized.

“The grace of holiness in the Church is represented by canonization, but it is not exhausted by them. Obviously, this does not rule out the possibility that, provided the necessary conditions are met, the corresponding processes of beatification and canonization could be initiated for some of those listed in the catalogue,” he noted.

This is the case, for example, of Floribert Bwana Chui, a young Congolese man from the Community of Sant’Egidio who was murdered in 2007 for refusing to accept bribes and who was beatified in 2025.

However, he noted that the primary goal is to highlight the “high standard of ordinary Christian living” spoken of by St. John Paul II in Novo Millennio Ineunte, which Pope Francis later referred to as that of “the saints next door.”

The anthropological value of holiness

The cardinal also highlighted the deeply human dimension of Christian holiness.

“We need witnesses, martyrs, who have given themselves completely to demonstrate this to us day after day. We need them so that, even in the small choices of daily life, we may choose the good over comfort, knowing that this is precisely how we truly live life,” he explained, citing Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi.

Semeraro also highlighted the ecumenical value of this project, a characteristic that he noted St. John Paul II had sought to instill in the commission from its very inception.

Martyrdom continues to grow in the 21st century

During the presentation of the conference, historian Riccardi, vice chair of the commission, maintained that the Church is truly experiencing a “new era of martyrdom.”

He recalled that St. John Paul II promoted the gathering of testimonies from 20th-century martyrs for the jubilee of the year 2000, an initiative deeply shaped by his personal experience under the Nazi and communist regimes. In Riccardi’s view, that insight has proven even more relevant today.

For this reason, he explained, Pope Francis decided to reactivate and consolidate the Commission for New Martyrs, convinced that “the time of martyrdom continues.”

The Churchʼs response has been extensive. Dioceses, religious congregations, lay movements, episcopal conferences, and apostolic nunciatures have sent hundreds of testimonies to the Vatican.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, former prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, will be honored as the first recipient of the Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal in October.

Father Peter Donohue, OSA, president of Villanova University, made the announcement at a Vatican press conference on Sept. 14.

The medal, established by Villanova University and named after Pope Leo XIV, recognizes individuals who have worked toward ecological sustainability. The pontiff will personally present the award at a ceremony on Oct. 13 in the Borgo Laudato Si’ garden, part of the Pontifical Gardens in Castel Gandolfo.

Father Joseph Farrell, OSA, prior general of the Augustinians, was also present at Monday’s press conference.

Villanova University is a Catholic liberal arts university in Pennsylvania. Leo XIV, formerly Robert Prevost, earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1977 and an honorary doctorate in 2014 from Villanova University.

‘Sustainability is about accompanying those who suffer’

In announcing the recipient of the Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal, Donohue praised Czerny’s “extraordinary passion for justice, human dignity, and the care of creation,” noting that his witness is an apt reminder of what authentic sustainability is.

“His witness reminds us that authentic sustainability is never solely about environmental stewardship. It is also about accompanying those who suffer, defending the dignity of the human person, and building a future that leaves no one behind,” Donohue said.

In his speech accepting the honor, Czerny cited Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, saying the pope highlighted the need for shared responsibility in achieving sustainability.

Press conference on the Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal recipient at the Sala San Pio X in Rome on Sept. 14, 2026. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN News

“[The pope] has made responsibility even more explicit. We are responsible for the world, not just to take care of it, even though it would be part of sustainability, but in fact we are building it,” the cardinal said.

The morality of data centers

As artificial intelligence (AI) drives a rapid expansion of data centers worldwide, concern has grown about their environmental impact, particularly water consumption and human displacement.

Speaking to EWTN News after the conference, Czerny noted that many AI companies building data centers often do not consult residents before building on their land.

“The decision to build data centers is like all the big developmental decisions that we make,” Czerny told EWTN News. “It is not an unusual question, and itʼs one that needs to be answered with the participation of the significant stakeholders.”

“You have to ask about whether the people living there are going to pay the price, carry the burden, and suffer the consequences. Were they consulted? Otherwise, it is an imposition and an injustice,” he added.

Pope Leo XIV marked his 71st birthday at the Vatican with the launch of an art exhibit focused on water at the Vatican Apostolic Library on Monday.

The pontiff inaugurated the exhibit, “AQVA,” part of the theme “Catastrophe and Wonder,” which will be on display at the Vatican Library through May 14, 2027. The exhibit includes artwork highlighting a “reflection on water as both a threat and a resource” and reflects a recent focus on promoting contemporary art at the Vatican.

Pope Leo XIV views the “AQVA Catastrophe and Wonder” exhibit at the Vatican Apostolic Library on Sept. 14, 2026. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN News ‘The pope’s library is a heart’

The occasion also marked Leo’s first visit to the library since his election to the papacy in 2025. In his remarks, he described the Vatican Library — the pope’s library — as a beating heart and a symbol of life.

“How should we describe the pope’s library? I will use a metaphor: The Apostolic Library is a heart,” Leo said. “A beating heart is a symbol of life, and it results from two opposing movements, systole and diastole: a contraction and a relaxation, a movement towards the center and another towards the periphery.”

Archbishop Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, the Holy See’s archivist and librarian, shows Pope Leo XIV one of the artifacts of the Pontifical Apostolic Library during the inauguration of the exhibit “AQVA” on Sept. 14, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media

The pope then explained that the heart’s movements of contraction and relaxation are mirrored in both the quiet atmosphere of the Vatican Library and its engagement with human history.

Archbishop Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, the Holy See’s librarian and archivist, reflected on the library’s and the Church’s role in promoting dialogue, as shown by the new exhibit.

“This exhibition, among other things, precisely by putting together a centuries-old library and contemporary artists, says exactly this: Generations are intertwined. Let us not pretend to be men and women alone, because we are already in the company of all generations, and to them we are indebted,” Pagazzi told EWTN News at the inauguration.

Works from Bill Moran’s “Letterfishes” series, which are part of an exhibit titled “AQVA” at the Vatican Library, are unveiled in a ceremony with Pope Leo XIV on Sept. 14, 2026. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN News

The exhibit features contemporary art, including an enormous art installation inspired by Gustave Doré’s iconic 1866 wood engraving of the Great Flood, a collection of short culinary stories by Italian chef Fulvio Pierangelini, and marine artwork by American typographer Bill Moran as well as pieces from the Vatican’s permanent collections, such as historic cookbooks from around the world centered on seafood.

The pope also encouraged all present, particularly the Vatican Library employees, to “keep finding new pathways towards reconciliation.”

JR, a French artist who created the exhibit’s installation of an ocean wave on the outside of the library, reflected on his role as a bridge-builder.

“Well, you know, as an artist, my role is to create bridges, and so I feel in my place, like where I need to be working, even if it’s pretty intimidating to work in a place like the Vatican,” JR told EWTN News.

“Aquatilium Animalium Historia” (1557), the centerpiece of the Vatican Library’s “AQVA” exhibit, is a masterwork of Renaissance typography, scientific rigor, and fine engraving by Ippolito Salviani. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN News More room at the Vatican Library

In a document issued the same day, Leo decreed that a new building be constructed in Vatican City to house the Vatican Library’s growing manuscript collection. He noted that current storage was insufficient, citing Pope Francis’ 2024 move of parts of the library to the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary building near the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

“Unprecedented opportunities have arisen to create new facilities within the territory of the Vatican City State, which are undoubtedly preferable, for a variety of reasons, to the solution that had previously been identified,” the pope wrote. The new building will be located in an area currently reserved for the parking of service vehicles.

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Thirty-four dioceses received Vatican permission to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass in parish churches in 2025, matching the 2024 total and remaining broadly consistent with previous years despite the election of a new pope. The United States accounted for 24 of the 34 decrees issued.

Pope Francis restricted the use of the 1962 Roman Missal with the 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes. Under subsequent Vatican regulations, diocesan bishops must obtain permission from the Holy See to authorize celebrations according to that missal in parish churches.

The 2025 figure was also close to the 35 dioceses and other ecclesiastical jurisdictions that received permission in 2022, the first full year after Traditionis Custodes took effect. The number rose to 55 in 2023 before returning to 34 in each of the following two years.

The figures appear in the Summarium Decretorum for 2025, the annual summary of decrees issued by the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

The document shows that permission was granted during 2025 for celebrations according to the 1962 Roman Missal in parishes located in 34 dioceses around the world.

Seven of the decrees were issued during the pontificate of Francis, who died April 21, 2025, at the age of 88. The other 27 were issued after the election of Pope Leo XIV on May 8, indicating continuity in the Vatican’s case-by-case handling of requests during the change of pontificates.

The vast majority — 29 of the 34 published decrees — renewed existing permissions for an additional two years for communities already celebrating the liturgy according to the 1962 missal promulgated by St. John XXIII. In several cases, a single authorization covered more than one parish in the same diocese.

United States received most permissions

The U.S. decrees included permissions for Traditional Latin Mass celebrations in the dioceses of Sacramento, California; Nashville, Tennessee; Lincoln, Nebraska; Davenport, Iowa; and Cleveland, as well as the Archdiocese of Seattle.

According to the Summarium Decretorum for 2022, the Holy See that year granted permissions to 35 dioceses and ecclesiastical jurisdictions, 20 of them in the United States, making the country the leading recipient of such concessions.

The Traditional Latin Mass, also called the Tridentine Mass, traces its form to the liturgy codified by St. Pius V following the Council of Trent. The reform was set out in the Roman Missal of 1570 in response to the council’s call to unify the various liturgical uses then in existence.

The missal currently used for these celebrations is based on that promulgated by St. Pius V but was revised by St. John XXIII in 1962.

One of the form’s most distinctive characteristics is that the priest generally celebrates “ad orientem” — facing liturgical east rather than the congregation — as he leads the faithful in common prayer.

The permissions granted across the two pontificates in 2025 show that the Holy See continued to consider requests individually under the restrictions established during Francis’ pontificate.

The annual Summarium Decretorum is one of the few official sources indicating how the provisions of Traditionis Custodes are applied in practice.

The decree indexes published from 2022 through 2025 also document the Holy See’s broader work regulating the liturgy. The records include approvals of translations of liturgical books, confirmations of calendars particular to dioceses and religious congregations, grants of the title of minor basilica, canonical coronations of Marian images, and recognitions of new heavenly patrons.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Pope Leo XIV has officially repealed the salary cuts Pope Francis imposed on cardinals and other senior officials working in the Roman Curia.

In a decree published by the Vatican on Sept. 14, the pontiff canceled the cost-cutting measures Francis had established in 2021 to address the Vatican’s financial deficit that year, projected at $60 million.

A Vatican cardinal’s monthly stipend is about $5,768 (5,000 euros). Under those measures, the Vatican cut cardinals’ stipends by 10%.

Francis had previously described these cuts in a March 2021 decree as necessary for an “economically sustainable future” at the Vatican.

Those measures, introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, also reduced the pay of other senior officials and employees of the Holy See and Vatican City State by 8%. Clergy and religious employed by the Vatican saw their salaries reduced by 3%.

Leo stated in his motu proprio that those salary cuts “may now be set aside, in the certainty that the Institutions of the Holy See and of the Vatican City State will continue, through different means, their commitment to ensuring economic sustainability.”

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV remembered the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Sunday and renewed his appeal for peace amid conflicts and violence around the world.

Speaking in English after praying the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 13, the pope recalled the 25th anniversary of the attacks, which was observed two days earlier.

“Two days ago marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks in the United States of America. I renew my prayers for those who lost their lives and for those who continue to bear the wounds of that tragic day. At a time when conflict and violence afflict so many of our brothers and sisters, I invite everyone to pray that the Lord will bestow his gift of peace upon the world,” he said.

Continuing in Italian, Leo said the memory of the tragedy should prompt a renewed commitment to peace, above all through prayer entrusted to the intercession of the Virgin Mary.

The pope then greeted the Romans and pilgrims gathered in the square, including groups from Brazil and other countries, pilgrims who had traveled from Assisi along the Way of St. Francis, and motorcyclists gathered in support of peace and life.

Earlier, in his reflection before the Angelus, Leo focused on the Sunday Gospel and the Christian meaning of forgiveness, recalling that Christ taught forgiveness and bore witness to it even on the cross, when he prayed to the Father for his persecutors.

Reflecting on Peter’s question to Jesus about how many times he should forgive someone who sins against him, the pope noted that Peter’s suggestion of seven times already indicated abundance, since the number seven symbolizes fullness in Scripture. Jesus, however, went further, telling him to forgive “70 times seven” — without limit or measure.

Leo then recalled the parable of the servant whose enormous debt was forgiven by his master but who refused to show the same mercy to a fellow servant who owed him far less.

“All things are given to us by God out of pure love, and none of us can claim to be perfect in responding to such goodness. For this reason, gratuitousness — which is the source of our existence — is also the best rule for our life together,” the pope said.

“We experience this every day. Forgiveness is indispensable, and without it, we cannot live in peace.”

Without forgiveness, Leo warned, conflicts, accusations, grudges and acts of vengeance eventually arise, destroying relationships, dividing families and unleashing wars.

“Only forgiveness sets us free and restores the light, even where human material and moral poverty has darkened the horizon and made the path uncertain. Forgiveness, like a gentle breeze, sweeps away even the thickest clouds until the sun shines once more,” he said.

The pope also pointed to St. Peter’s own experience of forgiveness after denying and abandoning Jesus during the Passion. When Peter encountered the risen Christ on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus asked him only whether he loved him and once again called him to follow.

Leo said that forgiving and healing love confirmed Peter in his mission as the first of the apostles.

Concluding his reflection, the pope asked the Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy, to help Christians forgive even when taking the first step is difficult, and to spread the healing light of a love that overcomes hatred and disarms resentment.

This story was first published in two parts by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

A vegetable garden and orchard inside the Vatican walls, which historically provided food for the pope’s household, is now cultivated using exclusively organic farming techniques.

The private garden covers almost a tenth of an acre of cultivable land inside the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery property, where Pope Benedict XVI lived during his retirement and now reside cloistered Benedictine nuns from the Abbey of St. Scholastica in Victoria, Argentina.

Sometimes known as “the pope’s garden,” the vegetable plot “has always been a defining feature of the Vatican Gardens because, in fact, the Vatican Gardens were originally created primarily for that purpose — to provide sustenance for the [Apostolic] Palace,” Stefano Giampaolo, a forestry expert and head of the Gardens and Environment Service of the Vatican, told EWTN News.

Giampaolo explained that now the plot is more accurately understood as the vegetable garden of the Vatican Gardens — an area that covers roughly half of Vatican City at 57 acres.

Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, built inside Vatican City in the 1990s to house nuns who support the ministry of the pope through prayer, has an adjoining vegetable garden and orchard. | Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/EWTN News

The Benedictine nuns at Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, who pray for the pope, eat the fruit and vegetables grown in the garden and use them to make jams and other food preserves. The excess produce is given to a Vatican soup kitchen run by the Missionaries of Charity.

The move to biological farming techniques has been underway for several years, partly in response to Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, Giampaolo said.

The challenges of organic

According to Gilberto Bianchi, the gardener responsible for the orchard and vegetable patch since 2008, the Vatican has a “desire to respect nature” in how it cares for the plants and trees on its land.

But it’s far from easy.

“Clearly, running a completely organic vegetable garden presents challenges, partly because insects are aggressive, and we use natural predators in the soil to control them,” Bianchi said. “No chemical fertilizers or insecticides are used.”

He added that soil drainage and water conservation are also challenges.

“This type of soil drains very well, so to conserve water, we add coconut fiber to retain moisture. And it’s watered with a drip irrigation system specifically to target the plants and avoid wasting water,” he said.

Part of an organic agriculture also means respecting the seasons, he said. “Right now, the winter crops are being planted, while the summer crops are being harvested.”

The fresh produce grown in the vegetable garden and orchard in Vatican City feeds the Benedictine nuns living in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery and supports the nearby Missionaries of Charity-run soup kitchen. | Credit: Governorate of Vatican City State

The end-of-summer harvest includes tomatoes, eggplants, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, and peppers, while the fall and winter crop has broccoli, spinach, lettuce, and pumpkins.

According to Vatican Media, the garden also includes garlic, basil, and a Peruvian variety of chili peppers known for its intensity. Kiwi plants were also added recently at the request of the Argentinian nuns.

Next to the garden is a small orchard of around 15 citrus trees, some of which are 150 years old.

“At this time, we’re planting savoy cabbage,” Bianchi said. “In short, whatever is in season. … So whatever is planted is because nature dictates it at that moment. The plants are grown from seed. We don’t use lab-grown plants.”

A historic collection of gardens

Bianchi, who has worked for more than three decades in the Vatican Gardens, “is the one with the most expertise in this field, and he is now passing that knowledge on to a new gardener,” Giampaolo said.

The expert gardener is part of a team of around 35 gardeners and administrators who oversee the Vatican’s green spaces and provide the flower arrangements for papal ceremonies.

Stefano Giampaolo, left, head of the Gardens and Environment Service of Vatican City, and expert gardener Gilberto Bianchi, right, the main caretaker of the orchard and vegetable garden commonly known as “the pope’s garden,” share their expertise with EWTN News in the Vatican Gardens on Sept. 9, 2026. | Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/EWTN News

“People expect to see a single garden, but in reality, as the name suggests, they are the Vatican Gardens — a collection of gardens,” Giampaolo said.

The Gardens date to the mid-13th century, when Pope Nicolas III moved the papal residence from the Lateran Palace to the Vatican, had the city state’s walls built, and ordered the creation of a lawn, orchard, and “viridarium” — a Roman-style garden with flowerbeds and a fountain.

Today, Giampaolo said, “there are countless different species, both trees and flowers. This is because, over time, the gardens have been enriched by donations and the search for specific botanical material, to the point of becoming a true botanical garden.”

“Visitors are often struck by the diversity of the spaces — so many different gardens contained within this small area.”

Ultimately, he said, the gardeners hope to one day eliminate all synthetic fertilizers and pesticides from their care of the entire Vatican territory.

“It’s a process — the transformation of all the Gardens into organic ones,” he said.

Pope Leo XIV sent greetings to Rome’s Jewish community as it prepares to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot in a telegram addressed to the city’s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni.

“I wish to extend to you and to the entire beloved Jewish community of Rome my most heartfelt good wishes on the occasion of the solemn feasts you are preparing to celebrate. I hope that these celebrations will be an occasion of abundant blessings from the Most High and a source of joy,” the pontiff wrote.

Rosh Hashanah begins the evening of Sept. 11, followed by Yom Kippur on Sept. 20 and Sukkot on Sept. 25.

“May the arrival of Rosh Hashanah bring with it the promise of serene renewal and the sweetness of an auspicious beginning; may the sacred silence of Yom Kippur be an occasion of peace and inner light; may the feast of Sukkot be filled with joy, gratitude and fellowship,” the pontiff added.

“Renewing my esteem and that of the entire Church, I ask the Eternal One to grant that we may grow in mutual friendship, in our city of Rome and throughout the world. Shalom aleichem!” Leo XIV concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

VATICAN CITY — For centuries, “ad limina apostolorum” visits — the periodic pilgrimage of diocesan bishops to the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul and their meetings with the successor of St. Peter — have often been perceived primarily through an administrative or canonical lens.

In response to the 2021–2024 synodal process, however, Study Group 7 of the Synod of Bishops has proposed a significant structural and spiritual renewal of the visits from what it describes as a “missionary synodal perspective.”

The study group is examining “Some Aspects of the Person and Ministry of the Bishop,” including criteria for selecting candidates for the episcopate, the judicial function of bishops, and the nature and course of ad limina visits.

A call for missionary synodality

Rooted in Pope Francis’ apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium and the final document of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, the study group argues that the ad limina visit should go beyond routine administrative reporting.

As the synod’s final document states: “The visits ad limina Apostolorum are the apex of the relation between the Bishops of local Churches and the Bishop of Rome and his closest collaborators in the Roman Curia. Many Bishops desire that the way these visits are conducted will be reviewed to make them more and more an opportunity for open exchange and mutual listening” (No. 135).

Study Group 7 says the central purpose of revising the process is to ensure that “the ad limina visit should not concern itself primarily with matters relating to the internal administration of the particular Church, matters that can be addressed just as effectively through the ordinary contacts with the Curia.”

Instead, the group says, the visits should, “in keeping with the biblical witness, support the mission that the Christian community is called to carry out in the world in which it lives, becoming an instrument at the service of the missionary conversion of ordinary pastoral ministry.”

Theological grounding: The Church as the people of God and a communion of Churches

To explain the proposed renewal, Study Group 7 grounds its framework in the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council, particularly Lumen Gentium and Ad Gentes.

The ad limina visit historically developed within a theological understanding of the Church as a “communion of Churches,” as described in Lumen Gentium 23. The relationship is based on reciprocal exchange between the particular Churches and the See of Rome.

The visit provides an opportunity for local pastors to give an account of the Church’s mission and to share how the Gospel is proclaimed in different cultural contexts, while ensuring that these local expressions find their proper place within “Catholic unity,” as described in Lumen Gentium and Ad Gentes.

At the same time, the visit serves the Petrine ministry by giving the bishop of Rome an opportunity to encourage his brother bishops while exercising Peter’s unique primatial service.

As Vatican II teaches, the Chair of Peter “presides over the whole assembly of charity” and “protects legitimate differences, while at the same time assuring that such differences do not hinder unity but rather contribute toward it” (Lumen Gentium, 13).

Scripturally, the study group compares this dynamic to St. Paul’s journeys to Jerusalem to meet Peter and the apostles, as recounted in Acts and Galatians, where the central concern was maintaining unity in faith while fostering missionary expansion among the nations.

Praedicate Evangelium, meanwhile, says structures such as episcopal conferences express a “Communio Episcoporum ... in service to the Communio Ecclesiae grounded in the Communio Fidelium.”

Preparation in the particular Church: Convoking the people of God

One of the most significant elements of Study Group 7’s proposal is the re-centering of the ad limina process within the entire people of God.

Rather than being an exercise restricted to the bishop and a small number of diocesan officials, preparation for the visit would begin in the local Church through a process of shared ecclesial discernment.

Study Group 7 states that before bishops travel to Rome, “it will be necessary for the Bishop to convoke the People of God so that they may engage co-responsibly in the preparation of the Preliminary Report through a process of ecclesial discernment, nourished by prayer and participation, in a manner corresponding to the various charisms, missions, and ministries.”

That communal preparation would make use of existing participatory structures and involve “Priests, Deacons, Consecrated Men and Women, and Lay faithful, particularly within the various diocesan bodies, beginning with the Presbyteral Council and the Diocesan Pastoral Council.”

By grounding the “Relatio Praevia,” or Preliminary Report, in periodic local processes of evaluation and accountability, the group says moments such as the ad limina visit “must be understood and lived as events that involve, insofar as possible, all the members of the People of God.”

The goal, it adds, is that “the People of God living within each local Church will come to perceive the ad limina visit as an event that directly concerns them.”

Roman dialogue and returning home

In Rome, the focus would shift toward spiritual revitalization and collegial dialogue.

Rather than concentrating on formal briefings, Study Group 7 envisions an “exchange of gifts.”

“The dialogue, understood as an ‘exchange of gifts’ and conducted in a collegial style, should be frank, cordial, and reciprocal rather than one-directional,” the group states. “It should be capable of bringing to light both the strengths and the needs of the local Churches, while fostering the sharing of good practices.”

To give greater expression to the participation of the people of God, the study group also says “it is desirable that a diocesan delegation accompany the Bishop during the ad limina visit, in whatever manner may seem most appropriate, giving preference to those who collaborated in its local preparation.”

After returning home, the bishop and other delegates would report back to the local Church through public meetings, allowing diocesan participatory bodies to discern concrete pastoral steps flowing from the visit.

From canonical requirement to missionary instrument

By grounding ad limina visits more firmly in the image of the Church as the people of God, Study Group 7 seeks to turn what can be perceived primarily as an authoritative or bureaucratic requirement into an instrument of missionary synodality.

Under the proposal, the local Church would discern its mission together, send its pastor — potentially accompanied by representatives of the faithful — to meet the successor of St. Peter, and then receive the fruits of that encounter as a renewed impetus for evangelization.

In this vision, the ad limina visit becomes a more visible expression of co-responsibility, Catholic unity, and missionary conversion.

Pope Leo XIV said the first task bishops must place before every other responsibility is to “remain with Jesus,” because, he emphasized, “we are bishops, but first and foremost we are disciples.”

“To speak about him, we need to be with him; to lead his people, we must allow ourselves, every day, to be led by him. Among the many things you will be called to do as bishops, this is the most important,” he explained.

On Thursday, Sept. 10, the Holy Father received at the Vatican 147 bishops from five continents who participated in formation courses in Rome aimed at strengthening ecclesial communion and providing tools for the exercise of their ministry.

Participants in this yearʼs program came from numerous countries in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America, including Algeria, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Ghana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Myanmar, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Central African Republic, Senegal, Seychelles, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Kyrgyzstan, and Thailand.

“Together you have listened, prayed, celebrated the Eucharist, and shared the hopes and dreams that you carry in your hearts for the Churches that the Lord has just entrusted to your pastoral care. All of this will help you remember something very simple and very precious: No bishop walks alone,” the pope said.

During his address, Leo XIV shared several reflections on the theme of the meeting, “Bishops, Servants of Communion in the Church and in Today’s World.”

A heart of the Good Shepherd

The pope highlighted as a second fundamental aspect the need for bishops to have the “heart of Jesus the Good Shepherd, a heart completely turned toward the Father and, precisely because of this, wholly given to his brothers and sisters.”

Pope Leo XVI addresses a group of new bishops, participants in a formation course in Rome, during an audience on Sept. 10, 2026, in the Synod Hall of the Vatican. | Credit: Vatican Media

“The bishop is a man who learns each day to love his people more deeply: to know the joys and sorrows of his people, to share in their dreams, and to rejoice at the growth of their communities,” he explained.

In this regard, he entrusted them with the task of learning the names of the people who live in their dioceses.

“Learn their names, listen to their stories, enter their homes whenever possible, and pray with them. Especially in young Churches, the presence of the bishop often speaks volumes even before his words do.”

According to the pope, “a visit, a blessing, time given to a priest, listening to a family, dialogue with a young person: These are small gestures, yet they can remain in a person’s heart for a lifetime.”

Another characteristic of the bishop is what tradition calls “sollicitudo pastoralis” — that is, pastoral solicitude or concern.

“This is proper to episcopal fatherhood: having a heart large enough to make room for everyone, carrying your children within you and presenting them each day to the Lord in prayer,” he stressed.

Special care for priests

The pope also invited the prelates to take special care of their priests: “In this regard, dear brothers, I urge you to love your priests. Let each one find in you a father and a brother. Listen to them, encourage them, pray for them, rejoice in the good they accomplish, and accompany them with trust in their ministry. Give particular attention to those who are elderly and ill. Let them feel that they are precious, that the Church is grateful to them, and that the bishop does not forget them. Sometimes a telephone call, a visit, or an affectionate word from you is enough.”

Ministry as a service of love

The Holy Father also recalled another essential dimension of episcopal ministry, described by St. Augustine with a beautiful expression: “amoris officium” — that is, a service of love.

“Our preaching is an act of love, just as listening, prayer, discernment, time given to others, and our presence are acts of love. It is pastoral charity, through which Christ the Shepherd reaches the people he loves through our poor humanity,” he said.

Pope Leo XVI addresses a group of new bishops, participants in a formation course in Rome, during an audience on Sept. 10, 2026, in the Synod Hall of the Vatican. | Credit: Vatican Media

Leo XIV noted that humanity is living through an age marked by rapid change.

“Developments in communication technologies and artificial intelligence have opened possibilities that, until only a few years ago, we could hardly have imagined. Yet they certainly cannot free humanity from sin and its consequences; the crises through which our world is passing tragically demonstrate this,” he said.

In this context, he recalled that the Church celebrated the Jubilee of Hope last year.

“Within a complex and in some respects troubling landscape such as the present one, the Church celebrated last year the Jubilee of Hope. Was this because she lives apart from the world? On the contrary, it is because, through Christ crucified and risen, she is sent to proclaim the Gospel of salvation to everyone. And we bishops are the first recipients of this mandate,” he said.

The pope also referred to his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, which he said was intended to offer “a vision and a method for addressing the great challenge of safeguarding what is human in the age of artificial intelligence.”

A Church open to everyone

Finally, Leo XIV underscored the missionary dimension of the episcopate and said that bishops must have hearts open to everyone: “not only to those who attend our parishes but also to Christians of other denominations, believers of other religions, people who profess no faith, and all men and women of goodwill.”

“He listens to and respects everyone; he draws close to everyone and knows how to recognize the good that is present in every human heart,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The General Secretariat of the Synod on Tuesday, Sept. 8, published the final report of Study Group 6, which presents concrete proposals for renewing relations among bishops, consecrated life, and ecclesial associations, including specific mechanisms to promote greater equality between men and women in Church workplaces.

The document, originally written in Italian and also available in an English translation and a Spanish summary, states: “A clear mechanism for implementing gender equality in the workplace must be developed.”

It also proposes publishing new criteria for approving the establishment of institutes of consecrated life and appointing a delegate for consecrated life in every diocese.

The nonbinding report, which will now be reviewed by Pope Leo XIV, is part of the work undertaken by the 10 study groups created by Pope Francis in 2024 in connection with the Synod on Synodality. The groups are dissolved once their respective final reports have been published.

The working group was coordinated by Cardinal Joseph William Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, New Jersey. Its members included Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life; Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization; and Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Sister Simona Brambilla, prefect of that dicastery, also participated.

One of the report’s main conclusions is that the Church should move toward broader participation by consecrated men and women in discernment and decision-making processes.

It therefore calls on Church leaders to “strengthen the relationship between the conferences of major superiors and the episcopal conferences to include consecrated persons in decision-making processes.”

The experts consider the distinctive charisms of religious life an indispensable contribution to the Church’s evangelizing mission and argue that consecrated people should have a greater presence in bodies where pastoral decisions are made.

The document adds that such participation should not be limited to national bodies but should also extend to the diocesan level.

Clear protocols between dioceses and religious congregations

Another issue addressed in the report is the need for clearer procedures governing institutional relations between dioceses and religious congregations.

“There is a need to develop a standard memorandum of understanding model and accompanying guidelines, taking into account current challenges,” the report states.

According to the experts, these agreements should help prevent disputes and guarantee transparent cooperation between both parties.

The group recommends that such protocols clearly define issues including pastoral responsibilities, the administration of assets, the use of property, and financial matters.

“Issues related to property and remuneration should also be clearly and fairly agreed upon in the memoranda of understanding,” the document states, with the aim of avoiding disputes and adequately protecting the rights of everyone involved.

It also says: “The timely resolution of issues, while respecting privacy and confidentiality, should be prioritized and subject to specific deadlines.”

The study group argues that every Church institution should have mandatory dispute-resolution procedures. It therefore recommends that “the establishment of procedures for resolving conflicts should be made mandatory, through the creation of conciliation committees, particularly for matters relating to property.”

These committees should include representatives of both bishops and consecrated men and women, ensuring the participation of both sides in seeking solutions.

Oversight and accountability

The report also addresses the need to establish effective oversight and accountability systems.

“Relevant statutory measures, with specific deadlines, are necessary to ensure oversight and accountability in relations between bishops and consecrated men and women,” the experts state.

They also emphasize the importance of ensuring that future priests are better acquainted with the realities of consecrated life. The report therefore calls on episcopal conferences to “ensure that the formation of the clergy includes knowledge of consecrated life, both in centers of study and in joint missions involving clergy, consecrated persons, and laity.”

Among the report’s most notable proposals is the possibility of expanding the participation of women religious in certain Church selection processes.

The document proposes allowing “women religious to participate in the process of electing bishops responsible for consecrated life at the national and diocesan levels, and in the election of chaplains for the works of communities of consecrated life.”

Although the report does not specify the mechanisms through which this participation would be implemented, the proposal is one of the most significant initiatives to emerge from Study Group 6, pointing toward a greater presence of women religious in areas traditionally reserved to the clergy.

Seven of the Synod’s 10 original study groups have now published their final reports. Reports are still pending from Study Group 1, on relations between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Latin Church; Study Group 8, on the role of papal representatives; and Study Group 10, on ecumenism.

Final reports are also pending from two additional groups: one on “the liturgy in a synodal perspective” and another on “the status of episcopal conferences, ecclesial assemblies, and particular councils.” Both were created at the initiative of Leo XIV.

The study groups are also accompanied by three commissions: the Canonical Commission, the Eastern Canonical Commission, and the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar Commission on Polygamy, which published its final report in March. The reports of the other two commissions remain pending.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.