With the announcement of Pope Leo XIVʼs first papal encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: “On the Protection of Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence," there is much anticipation as to what guidance the pope will provide on the digital revolution and emerging technologies such as AI.

But what are papal encyclicals, and what can they reveal about the popeʼs priorities on the world stage and for the Church?

The pope’s pastoral letter

A papal encyclical is a pastoral letter written by the pope, primarily addressed to bishops but also to Catholics and all people, typically reflecting on Church teachings and suggesting ways to apply them to modern issues.

According to the 1917 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia, encyclicals were “letters sent to all the bishops of Christendom, or at least to all those in one particular country, and intended to guide them in their relations with their flocks.”

Encyclicals are part of the pope’s everyday teaching authority, known as his “ordinary magisterium.” They are among the most common ways he presents Church doctrine and serve as authoritative and valuable sources of Catholic teaching and guidance on contemporary topics, including sexuality, Catholic social teaching, and stewardship of the earth.

Since Pope Leo XIII, encyclicals have become one of the most common means by which popes are heard across the globe on the most pressing issues of our time.

Are Catholics required to believe them?

A pope does not normally use an encyclical to make an "ex cathedra" declaration — a solemn, and rare, statement on faith or morals, normally promulgated in an apostolic constitution. Modern examples of "ex cathedra" proclamations include the popes' definitions of the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the Assumption (1950).

Encyclicals, however, are not merely letters or expressions of the popeʼs opinion. They carry significant doctrinal weight and are frequently cited as important sources of Catholic teaching.

According to canon law, Catholics are required to give “a religious submission of the intellect and will” to these letters and to “take care to avoid those things which do not agree with it.”

Simply put, Catholics are to presume that the pope teaches the truth in these letters and to sincerely respect the teachings they contain.

Recent encyclical trends

Initially addressed exclusively to bishops, papal encyclicals began reaching broader audiences in the modern period, beginning with Pope Leo XIII’s groundbreaking 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum. It marked the first time in many years that the bishop of Rome had written a pastoral letter on matters other than doctrine or internal affairs of the Church, instead addressing workers’ rights, the right to private property, and the dangers of socialism.

With St. John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris in 1963, pontiffs increasingly addressed their letters to “all men of goodwill,” shifting from a mainly Catholic audience to the global stage.

Pope Leo XIII in 1898. | Credit: Francesco De Federicis/Wikimedia Commons

Since the Second Vatican Council, papal encyclicals have increasingly focused on threats to the dignity of the human person and authentic human development. St. Paul VI wrote Humanae Vitae in 1968, reiterating and applying Church teaching to the question of artificial birth control. St. John Paul II dedicated four encyclicals to promoting Catholic social teaching, building on Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum. Pope Francis’ four encyclicals largely addressed the preservation of ecology and universal fraternity.

Despite the importance given to these letters in the modern period, the average number of encyclicals per pope is relatively small. Francis wrote only four, while Benedict XVI, his immediate predecessor, wrote just three. John Paul II wrote 14, but the average number of encyclicals per pope since the Second Vatican Council has been just seven.

Leo XIII has the most encyclicals of any pope, with 88, 11 of which are dedicated to the rosary.

Pope Leo XIVʼs first encyclical builds on others

Pope Leo XIV indicated at the beginning of his pontificate that he intended to follow in the footsteps of Pope Leo XIII, his predecessor, by responding to todayʼs industrial revolution: “developments in the field of artificial intelligence.”

May 15 marked the 135th anniversary of the publication of Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical on capital and labor, Rerum Novarum: “Of New Things” — the first in a long line of social encyclicals produced in the modern era of the Catholic Church.

Addressing the College of Cardinals on May 10, 2025, Leo said: “In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor.”

Magnifica Humanitas is expected to be released on May 25 at 11:30 a.m. Rome time in the Vaticanʼs Synod Hall.

Pope Leo XIV said Wednesday that the liturgy occupies a central place in the life of the Church, since it “touches the very heart” of the mystery of Christ — because it is “at once the space, the time, and the context” in which the Church receives from him “her very life.”

The liturgy, he said at the general audience in St. Peterʼs Square, is where “the work of our redemption is accomplished,” which makes us “a chosen lineage, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people whom God has acquired for himself.”

On May 20, the pontiff began a new series of catechesis about the Second Vatican Councilʼs constitution on the sacred liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium.

The conciliar text marks a shift in emphasis in the understanding of the liturgy: Whereas the Tridentine Mass prior to Vatican II focused primarily on the sacrificial dimension, the conciliar liturgical reform placed at the forefront Christ acting in the liturgy, setting at the center the paschal mystery — his passion, death, resurrection, and glorification — which is made sacramentally present in every celebration.

Not just a reform of the rites

The pope explained that the council fathers at Vatican II sought not only an external reform of the rites but also a broader spiritual deepening: “In drafting this constitution, the council fathers sought not only to undertake a reform of the rites but to lead the Church to contemplate and deepen that living bond which constitutes and unites her: the mystery of Christ.”

Pope Leo XIV stoops to greet a baby while circling St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile before his general audience on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN News

The pontiff thus affirmed that “every time we take part in the assembly gathered ‘in his name’ we are immersed in this mystery,” stressing that Christ continues to act in the Church as “he who is present in the proclaimed word, in the sacraments, in the ministers who celebrate, in the gathered community and, in the highest degree, in the Eucharist.”

Referring to St. Augustine, Leo recalled that in celebrating the Eucharist the Church “receives the body of the Lord and becomes what she receives,” thus becoming the body of Christ and “a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

The pope also insisted that the liturgy is not an isolated act but “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed … the font from which all her power flows.”

Leo highlighted the missionary and universal dimension of the liturgy, which “represents a sign of the unity of the entire human race in Christ,” and, quoting pope Francis, recalled that “the world still does not know it, but everyone is invited to the supper of the wedding of the Lamb.”

The pontiff concluded by inviting the faithful to allow themselves to be transformed by the liturgical action. “Let us allow ourselves to be shaped inwardly by the rites, symbols, gestures, and above all the living presence of Christ in the liturgy,” he said.

His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia, the head of the Armenian Church and one of the most important figures in Eastern Christianity, was also present during the general audience. The pope said the fraternal visit by the Armenian Orthodox leader “represents an important opportunity to strengthen the bonds of unity that already exist between us, as we move toward full communion between our churches.”

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 lamented that after being confirmed, many young people no longer attend church. He asked those awaiting confirmation to “pay special attention” to one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, perseverance.

The pope met on Saturday, May 16, with those awaiting confirmation from the Archdiocese of Genoa, Italy. In an impromptu message, the Holy Father said that “one of the greatest joys of a bishop is celebrating confirmations, because it is truly a gift of the Holy Spirit.”

“It is truly beautiful to receive this sacrament, for the fullness of the Holy Spirit gives us this enthusiasm, this strength, this ability to follow Jesus Christ, to always say ‘yes’ to the Lord, to have no fear of following him with courage, and to live out our faith in a world that so often seeks to draw us away from Jesus,” he told them.

After recalling the significance of the solemnity of Pentecost — to be celebrated on Sunday, May 24 — the pope lamented a sad reality: “At times, when the bishop administers confirmation, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the children are never seen again! They disappear from the parish.”

“Don’t forget what you have experienced during this time, including the joy of coming to Rome to celebrate together, to pray together. And may this joy live on in your hearts as you continue to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ,” Pope Leo urged.

He also invited young people to “persevere in the faith, to return to the parish — there are so many activities, so many opportunities — but above all in the life of faith, because Jesus Christ wants to walk with you, with each one of you, and with all of you in community, which is so important.”

“We do not live out our faith alone; we live it together. And forming these relationships of friendship and community is a way of living with perseverance as disciples of Jesus,” he added.

Finally, he called upon those to be confirmed to make a promise to the Lord: “that you truly desire to continue being his friends, his disciples, and his missionaries, and that you desire to persevere in the faith. So, I leave you with these words,” he 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.

On Monday, May 18, Pope Leo XIV received at the Vatican His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church, one of the most prominent figures in Eastern Christianity.

The Armenian Apostolic Church, part of the Oriental Orthodox Church, is headquartered in Antelias, Lebanon.

During the audience held at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father underscored the profound bond uniting the two churches, marked in a special way by the figure of St. Paul, whom he described as the “apostle of communion.”

In addition to St. Paul, the pontiff cited other saints who worked for Christian unity, such as St. Nerses, considered a “pioneer of ecumenism.” In this context, Leo underscored “the tireless ecumenical zeal” of Aram I, 79 years old and one of the founders of the Middle East Council of Churches.

Pope Leo XIV also thanked him for his closeness to the Church of Rome and especially for his personal commitment to promoting theological dialogue.

“I sincerely hope that, despite recent difficulties, this dialogue will continue with renewed vigor, for there can be no restoration of communion between our churches without unity in faith,” he emphasized.

The pope recalled his visit last December to Lebanon, a land that continues to “face severe trials” and that, for so long, “has shown the whole world that it is possible for people of diverse cultures and religions to live together as one nation.”

“At a time when the unity and integrity of your country are once again under threat, our churches are called to strengthen the fraternal bonds that unite not only Christians amongst themselves but also with their brothers and sisters from other communities in their shared homeland,” he noted.

Pope Leo XIV assured Aram I of his prayers for the nation and conveyed his “deep concern” for the people of Lebanon and for the Churches of the Middle East.

The pontiff asked the Holy Spirit to grant them the gift of unity and lasting peace.

At the close of the audience with the Holy Father, a moment of ecumenical prayer took place in the Urban VIII Chapel of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.

This marks the first official meeting between Leo XIV and the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, who will also participate in the pope’s general audience on Wednesday, May 20.

During his visit to the Vatican, Aram I will also meet with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and visit the Dicasteries for Promoting Christian Unity, Interreligious Dialogue, and Eastern Churches, as well as the Pontifical Armenian College.

On May 19, he is scheduled to deliver a lecture titled “The Challenges of the Churches in the Middle East” at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

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.

In an address to its board of governors, Pope Leo XIV thanked the Catholic Extension Society on May 18 for the assistance it provides to the poor.

The pontiff praised the organization’s founder, Father Francis Clement Kelley, who more than 120 years ago “sought to reach out to remote faith communities across the United States in order to bring to them the very life of Christ through the sacraments and the support of a larger Catholic community.”

“This missionary enthusiasm is still needed today, and so I would like to thank you for your continued efforts to minister to the needs of the poorer Catholic communities both in the United States and abroad,” the pope noted.

“In a particular way, I would like to commend your work in Cuba and in Puerto Rico. The support you provide to these communities is a beautiful expression of the universality of the Church and a living reminder that ‘love for our neighbor is tangible proof of the authenticity of our love for God,’" the pope emphasized, citing his apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te.

He praised the pastoral care the society offers to the most disadvantaged “as well as to the numerous immigrant families in the United States.”

“It is imperative that our brothers and sisters experience the warmth of a community which is marked by the presence of Christ,” he emphasized.

The Catholic Extension Society raises funds to support and strengthen under-resourced mission dioceses throughout the United States. Founded in 1905, it is headquartered in Chicago.

The pope, a native of the Chicago area, took this opportunity to make a joke: “When someone from Dolton, Illinois, comes, we have to open all the doors! There aren’t many of us around anymore," he quipped.

As they continue their mission, he added, Catholic Extension Societyʼs dedication to not “only alleviate the temporal needs of those less fortunate” but also to “invest in building up vibrant Catholic communities is particularly necessary today.”

“Faith-filled communities provide an opportunity for individuals to experience the joy of new life in Christ lived out in a daily, ordinary fashion,” the Holy Father pointed out.

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 Vatican announced Monday that Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical will be published on May 25, with the title Magnifica Humanitas.

Pope Leo will speak at a presentation for the release of the social encyclical — a papal letter to the Church — at 11:30 a.m. Rome time on May 25, in the Vaticanʼs Synod Hall.

The Vatican also confirmed that the full title of the encyclical is Magnifica Humanitas: On the Protection of Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Magnifica Humanitas is Latin for “Magnificent Humanity.”

Leo signed the letter, which is expected to provide moral guidance on the digital revolution and emerging technologies such as AI, on May 15.

The speakers at the encyclicalʼs presentation will be: Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, prefect of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development; Anna Rowlands, professor of ethics and political theology at the University of Durham in the United Kingdom; Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic USA; and Léocadie Lushombo, it, professor of theological ethics at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University in Berkeley, California.

Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin will offer concluding remarks.

May 15 marked the 135th anniversary of the publication of Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical on capital and labor, Rerum Novarum, “Of New Things” — the first in a long line of social encyclicals produced in the modern era of the Catholic Church.

Pope Leo XIV indicated at the beginning of his pontificate that he intended to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Leo XIII by responding to todayʼs Industrial Revolution: “developments in the field of artificial intelligence.”

Addressing the College of Cardinals on May 10, 2025, the new pope said he chose to take the name Leo XIV for various reasons, “but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.”

“In our own day,” he continued, “the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.”

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) went from full communion with Rome to formal rupture in less than two decades, a break that has never been fully healed.

On May 13, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, warned that the episcopal consecrations without a papal mandate — which the society has announced will take place July 1st — will constitute a schismatic act entailing automatic excommunication, the very same scenario the SSPX bishops experienced in 1988.

Origins

The SSPX fraternity was founded in Switzerland as a priestly society of diocesan right by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and canonically erected in 1970 within the Diocese of Fribourg, with the approval of the Ordinary; that is, in full communion with Rome. The SSPX celebrates exclusively the Traditional Latin Mass and maintains doctrinal differences regarding certain teachings and reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

The first cracks in the relationship with the Catholic Church emerged just four years after its founding. In 1974, following an apostolic visitation to the seminary he had established in the Swiss town of Écône, Lefebvre publicly expressed his rejection of various teachings of the Second Vatican Council, not only regarding liturgical matters but also concerning broader doctrinal issues.

In a statement to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Italian sociologist Massimo Introvigne, one of the leading international experts on Lefebvrism, the “truly insurmountable” stumbling block for the Lefebvrists was the document Dignitatis Humanae. Promulgated in 1965, this document represented one of the most audacious theological and pastoral shifts of the Second Vatican Council, in which the Church affirmed the principle of religious freedom for the first time.

Dispute over religious freedom

“According to Lefebvre, only the Catholic Church should be guaranteed the right to religious freedom; other religions may, at most, be tolerated,” summarized the sociologist, who also explains that this entails a rejection by the Lefebvrists of any openness toward ecumenical and interreligious dialogue.

The core of the disagreement regarding Dignitatis Humanae was the subject of intense correspondence with the then-prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who held that position between 1981 and 2005 before being elected pope as Benedict XVI.

In a letter titled “Liberté religieuse. Réponse aux ‘dubia’ présentés par S.E. Mgr. Lefebvre,” (Religious Freedom. Response to the ‘dubia’ presented by H.E. Archbishop Lefebvre) dated March 9, 1987 — one year prior to Lefebvreʼs excommunication — Ratzinger attempted to persuade Lefebvre that there was no rupture regarding religious liberty between the Magisterium preceding the Second Vatican Council and Dignitatis Humanae, and that the concept could be upheld on theological and philosophical grounds that exclude relativism.

“We have preserved the correspondence exchanged between the two, which reveals how, in the end, Cardinal Ratzinger concluded that Archbishop Lefebvre’s positions were diverging from orthodoxy and from communion with Rome,” Introvigne explained.

Introvigne, who interviewed Lefebvre on several occasions before his death in 1991, noted a little-known fact: the archbishop participated in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council as superior general of the Fathers of the Holy Spirit and even signed all the conciliar documents.

However, Lefebvreʼs views became more radicalized after the council when he “began to be concerned about what he considered to be progressive drifts within the Church — drifts which, in his view, were moving away from tradition,” the expert explained.

In that context, in 1970, he founded a seminary in Switzerland with the aim of offering a traditional priestly formation. “Gradually, throughout the 1970s, he also began to formulate responses that led him toward positions of rupture,” Introvigne noted.

The first rupture

These responses led, in 1975, to the canonical suppression of the fraternity by the bishop of Fribourg, a decision that Lefebvre challenged unsuccessfully.

A year later, the situation escalated with his suspension ab ordinum collatione (from the conferring of orders) and, subsequently, a divinis, which prohibited him from performing any sacred act, including the celebration of Mass.

Although these categories belong to the 1917 Code of Canon Law then in force, their legal effect today is unequivocal: Lefebvre was deprived of the lawful exercise of his ministry.

Despite this, he continued to ordain priests, and the fraternity continued to expand its activities, “all under objective conditions of canonical illegality;” that is, outside of ecclesial norms, as explained to ACI Prensa by professor of Roman Law, Father Pierpaolo Dal Corso.

1988: Episcopal consecrations and schism

The definitive breaking point occurred on June 30, 1988, when Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without the required pontifical mandate, openly defying the authority of the Roman pontiff, John Paul II. According to Dal Corso, that act constituted “a wound of extreme gravity to the hierarchical communion of the Church” and had a clear schismatic dimension.

In the face of this new and grave act of insubordination, the then-Congregation for Bishops declared the Society of St. Pius X to be schismatic on July 1, 1988.

Dal Corso rejects the thesis of the supposed “state of necessity” invoked by the fraternity to justify the consecrations of 1988. Although the Code of Canon Law recognizes this concept as an exempting or mitigating circumstance, the Vatican clarified in 1994 that it was not applicable in this case, given the pope’s explicit warning and the extreme gravity of the act.

“A state of necessity cannot be used to legitimize opposition to the authority of the Successor of Peter, nor to cast doubt upon the infallibility of the pope and the indefectibility of the Church,” Dal Corso said.

The following day, John Paul II promulgated the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei, in which he affirmed that Lefebvre, the bishop who consecrated with him, and the four men consecrated as bishops had incurred latae sententiae (automatically upon the commission of the offense) excommunication in accordance with Canon 1364 of the 1983 Code for the crime of schism. 

Lefebvre died in 1991 without having shown public signs of repentance, an indispensable condition for an eventual canonical reconciliation.

Gestures of rapprochement without full regularization

In subsequent pontificates, there were significant attempts at rapprochement.

In 2007, Benedict XVI promulgated the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, which recognized the legitimacy of using the 1962 Missal, otherwise known as the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, an act which the fraternity highly values.

“It was an important step toward rapprochement, as it legitimized from a merely liturgical standpoint celebrations according to the 1962 Missal of John XXIII; they never accepted the missal resulting from the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council,” Dal Corso explained.

Two years later, in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication incurred for the specific offense of episcopal ordination without a pontifical mandate.

However, as Dal Corso emphasized, this remission “did not affect the excommunication for schism,” which remained legally in force. The canonical status of the fraternity therefore remained irregular.

Pope Francis took further pastoral steps, granting SSPX priests the faculty to hear confessions and granting diocesan bishops or other local ordinaries the authority to give SSPX priests the ability to celebrate licitly and validly the marriages of the faithful who follow the Societyʼs pastoral activity. These measures, however, did not entail full juridical regularization.

Now, under the leadership of the Italian priest Davide Pagliarani, the fraternity has announced new episcopal consecrations for July 1, 2026, a date chosen with seemingly deliberate intent. “It is the very same day as the consecrations of 1988. Beyond being a provocation, it symbolically signifies a reaffirmation of that stance,” the expert explained.

Meanwhile, the prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, has reiterated that lacking the requisite pontifical mandate, should they take place, these episcopal ordinations will constitute a schismatic act.

Introvigne said the current scenario brings the situation back to the one that existed before the papacy of Benedict XVI. As long as the doctrinal rejection of certain parts of the Second Vatican Council persists, he said, “reconciliation is impossible. The future, as the saying goes, is in the hands of God.”

Canonical status of the faithful

Regarding the faithful who adhere to the SSPX, Dal Corso said that the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts clarified in 1996 that excommunication for schism does not automatically apply to those who attend or participate in worship celebrated by the SSPX.

In this regard, Monsignor William King, JCD, professor of canon law at The Catholic University of America, told ACI Prensa that “if a person attends a Mass celebrated by a priest in schism, that individual is not excommunicated, unless he attends that Mass deliberately because he does not accept the authority of the pope or the authenticity of the Catholic Church.” That is to say, for formal schism, it is necessary that the person freely and consciously embrace the essential core of schism: the denial of the pope’s authority, outwardly manifested.

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 — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday urged Catholics and communicators to promote forms of communication that respect the truth of the human person in the age of artificial intelligence, while also calling for renewed care for creation and peace as Laudato Si’ Week begins.

Speaking after praying the Regina Caeli May 17 from the window of the Apostolic Palace, the pope noted that many countries were marking World Communications Day, whose theme this year, he said, is “Preserving Human Voices and Faces.”

“In this era of artificial intelligence, I encourage everyone to commit themselves to promoting forms of communication that always respect the truth of the human person, on which every technological innovation should be focused,” Pope Leo XIV said.

The appeal comes as the Vatican is preparing for the pope’s first encyclical, expected to treat extensively the ethical and social questions raised by artificial intelligence through the lens of Catholic social teaching.

The pope also marked the start of Laudato Si’ Week, which runs through next Sunday and is dedicated to the care of creation, inspired by Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical.

“In this jubilee year of Saint Francis of Assisi, we recall his message of peace with God, with our brothers and sisters, and with all creatures,” he said. “Sadly, in recent years, due to wars, progress in this direction has been greatly impeded.”

Pope Leo encouraged the members of the Laudato Si’ Movement and all those who promote an “integral ecology” to renew their commitment, adding: “Indeed, caring for peace is caring for life!”

In his catechesis before the Marian prayer, the pope reflected on the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, celebrated Sunday in many countries.

The image of Jesus “lifted up from the earth and ascending toward heaven,” he said, may make the mystery seem like “a distant event from long ago.”

“Yet this is not so, for we are united to Jesus as the members of one body united to the head,” Pope Leo said. “By ascending into heaven, then, he draws us with him toward full communion with the Father.”

Quoting St. Augustine, the pope said that “the head’s advance is the hope of the members.”

Christ’s whole life, he continued, is “a movement of ascent,” through which he embraces the world, redeems humanity from sin, and brings “light, forgiveness and hope where previously there was darkness, injustice and desperation.”

“The Ascension, therefore, does not speak to us of a distant promise, but of a living bond, which draws us also toward heavenly glory, already elevating and expanding our horizon in this life and directing our way of thinking, feeling and acting more closely to the measure of God’s heart,” he said.

The pope said this path of ascent is found in Christ’s life, example, and teaching, and is also marked out by the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints.

He also recalled Pope Francis’ teaching on the saints “next door” — ordinary fathers, mothers, grandparents, and people of every age and condition who “with joy and commitment, make the effort to live sincerely according to the Gospel.”

“With them, with their support and thanks to their prayer, we too can learn to ascend day by day toward heaven,” Pope Leo said.

The pope urged Christians, with God’s help, to put into practice all that they have “heard and seen,” so that the divine life received in baptism may grow and “spread the precious fruits of communion and peace in the world.”

“May Mary, the Queen of Heaven, who illuminates and guides us in every moment, support us on our path,” he said.

At the end of the Regina Caeli, the pope greeted pilgrims from Rome and abroad, including marching bands from Germany, the “Sant’Antonu di u Monti” Confraternity from Ajaccio, students from the University of Montana, young people from Oppido Mamertina, youth leaders from Lorenzaga in the Diocese of Concordia-Pordenone, and confirmation candidates from the Archdiocese of Genoa.

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.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has approved the creation of a new Vatican commission on artificial intelligence to coordinate the Holy See’s response to the rapidly expanding technology and its implications for human dignity, integral development, and the Church’s own internal use of AI.

The move comes as the Vatican is preparing for the release of Leo’s first encyclical, which is expected to deal extensively with artificial intelligence and its ethical, social, and economic consequences. Reports have indicated that the document will likely frame AI as one of the defining moral questions of the present age, drawing a parallel with the social upheavals of the Industrial Revolution addressed by Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum.

The Holy See Press Office announced the decision May 16. It followed a May 3 audience with Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

The Vatican said the pope made the decision in light of the development of artificial intelligence in recent decades, its rapid acceleration in general use, its potential effects on the human person and humanity as a whole, and the Church’s concern for the dignity of every human being, particularly in relation to integral human development.

The new commission will include representatives from the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Dicastery for Culture and Education, the Dicastery for Communication, the Pontifical Academy for Life, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

Any changes to the commission’s composition will be submitted to the approval of the Holy Father.

The head of each participating institution will delegate a representative to the commission. Its coordination will be entrusted for one year, renewable, to the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. After that, the Roman Pontiff will entrust coordination to one of the participating institutions, again for a period of one year.

The coordinating institution will be responsible for facilitating collaboration and the exchange of information among the group’s members regarding activities and projects related to artificial intelligence, including policies governing its use within the Holy See. The commission is also tasked with promoting dialogue, communion, and participation.

Pope Leo XIV has stressed the global challenges posed by artificial intelligence since the beginning of his pontificate.

Explaining his choice of papal name in an address to the College of Cardinals on May 10, 2025, Leo said: “In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.”

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.

Pope Leo XIV will undertake an apostolic journey to France from Sept. 25 - 28, a visit which will include a stop at the headquarters of UNESCO.

The trip was officially announced on May 16 by Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni. The Holy See did not immediately release the full itinerary of the trip.

The visit will mark the popeʼs fifth international apostolic journey.

The pope has already visited Turkey and Lebanon (in late 2025) and Monte Carlo (in March 2026).

In April he undertook a major voyage to Africa — with the trip spanning Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea — and is scheduled to visit Spain from June 6 - 12.

He is widely expected to also visit Latin America in the fall.

The last visit by a pope to France dates to Dec. 15, 2024, when Pope Francis traveled to Ajaccio, Corsica.

This story was originally published by ACI Stampa, EWTN News’ Italian-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

A total of 72 young people from the Gaza Strip arrived in Rome this week to continue their academic studies at various universities across the city, an opportunity that opens up for them a hopeful path amidst the tragedy of war.

Their arrival in the Italian capital was made possible thanks to an initiative promoted by the Diocese of Rome, together with the Sant’Egidio Community and Sapienza University.

Four of the students were able to greet Pope Leo XIV on the morning of May 14, during his visit to La Sapienza public university, the largest in Europe and one of Italy’s most prestigious academic institutions.

In his address to the students, the pontiff warned that “what is happening in Ukraine, in Gaza and the Palestinian territories, in Lebanon, and in Iran illustrates the inhumane evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies, in a spiral of annihilation.”

At the conclusion of the event, the Holy Father took a moment to personally greet some of the students, among whom were Nada Jouda and Salem Abumustafa, who had recently arrived from the Gaza Strip.

Accommodations and scholarships for the future

The university has awarded scholarships to all Palestinian students admitted through the special program, which includes orientation services, healthcare, and psychological support.

Furthermore, the Diocese of Rome has committed to providing free accommodations to all these young people, who will remain in Italy until March 2029, with the possibility of extending their stay for an additional year should they decide to complete their theses.

For its part, the Sant’Egidio Community is offering the students courses in Italian language and culture as part of its program to facilitate humanitarian corridors, an initiative promoted by the community for a decade, thanks to which thousands of refugees have been able to reach Italy safely.

Hope amidst the horrors of war

Nada, 19, shared her heartbreaking testimony with Vatican News. The war broke out two years ago, while she was in her final year of high school, and she has not returned to school since.

Following her fatherʼs death in 2023, she was forced to flee multiple times under extreme conditions, alongside her mother, who had suffered from leukemia, and her two younger sisters.

Despite leaving her family behind and her concern for her motherʼs health, Nada said with confidence that her stay in Rome will be an opportunity to improve her future and bear witness to the suffering endured by the people of Gaza.

Instagram post

Salem Abumustafa, 20, embarked on his journey to Rome, leaving behind a devastating reality. After his home was destroyed by bombs, his family was forced to live in a tent, without electricity, struggling to find food and water each day.

As he told Vatican News, resuming his studies in Rome represents an opportunity to restore hope to his family: “I came here to have a better future and to make my family proud of me,” 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.

Pope Leo XIII was known for his engagement with the profound social changes of the industrial revolution, especially through his 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum.

His successor Pope Leo XIV chose his papal name, in part, because of his desire to address what he has called the next “industrial revolution” — developments in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) that “pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.”

Though not yet announced by the Vatican, Pope Leo’s first encyclical of his pontificate will soon be released and is expected to address the ethical challenges AI poses and the profound consequences it may have for human work, social relations and the dignity of the person. 

As the world awaits further guidance on AI from the Holy Father, here’s a summary of some of the most important components of the Church’s response, so far, to the phenomenon of AI.

February 2020: Rome Call for AI Ethics

The Pontifical Academy for Life released the “Rome Call for AI Ethics” in 2020, and several major global tech companies, including Microsoft and Cisco, have since signed on to the pledge. The relatively brief document calls for the ethical use of AI guided by the principles of transparency, inclusion, accountability, impartiality, reliability, and security and privacy. It notes that AI must serve all people without discrimination, avoid exploitation, and help people to develop their own abilities.

“As we design and plan for the society of tomorrow, the use of AI must follow forms of action that are socially oriented, creative, connective, productive, responsible, and capable of having a positive impact on the personal and social life of younger generations,” the pledge says.

January 2025: Antiqua et Nova 

The most in-depth guidance the Vatican has provided so far when it comes to artificial intelligence can be found in Antiqua et Nova, (“old and new”), a roughly 30-page document released under Pope Francis in January 2025.

The document contrasts humanity’s relational and truth-seeking nature with modern AI systems, which operate largely through pattern recognition and lack the creative, spiritual and moral dimensions of human thought.

Calling for a strong ethical framework to guide the development and deployment of AI, the document points out several potential pitfalls of AI development and insists that the technology must always respect and promote the intrinsic dignity of every human being. The development of AI should spur us to “a renewed appreciation of all that is human,” it adds.

May 2025: Address to the College of Cardinals

Pope Leo’s first public reference to AI came on his second full day as Pope, in a speech to the College of Cardinals:

“In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.”

June 2025: Message to the Second Annual Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Corporate Governance

In his speech to a conference in Rome, Pope Leo noted that acknowledging and respecting what is uniquely characteristic of the human person, especially the welfare of children, is essential to the discussion of any adequate ethical framework for the governance of AI.

The way forward “entails taking into account the well-being of the human person not only materially, but also intellectually and spiritually; it means safeguarding the inviolable dignity of each human person and respecting the cultural and spiritual riches and diversity of the world’s peoples. Ultimately, the benefits or risks of AI must be evaluated precisely according to this superior ethical criterion,” he said.

June 2025: Address to Participants in the Jubilee of Governments

In an address to political leaders, Pope Leo stressed that “our personal life has greater value than any algorithm, and social relationships require spaces for development that far transcend the limited patterns that any soulless machine can pre-package.”

The pontiff continued: “Our memory, on the other hand, is creative, dynamic, generative, capable of uniting past, present and future in a lively and fruitful search for meaning, with all the ethical and existential implications that this entails.”

July 2025: Message to the AI for Good Summit 2025

In a message delivered by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state, Pope Leo sent greetings to participants in the AI for Good Summit 2025. He reiterated that AI must be developed and used for the common good, ensuring it serves the interests of humanity as a whole.

“While AI can simulate aspects of human reasoning and perform specific tasks with incredible speed and efficiency, it cannot replicate moral discernment or the ability to form genuine relationships. Therefore, the development of such technological advancements must go hand in hand with respect for human and social values, the capacity to judge with a clear conscience, and growth in human responsibility,” the Pope said.

November 2025: Message to the Builders AI Forum 

In this message to a conference for builders of AI held at the Vatican, Pope Leo expressed gratitude to “all who, through research, entrepreneurship and pastoral vision, seek to ensure that emerging technologies remain oriented toward the dignity of the human person and the common good.”

Quoting Antiqua et Nova, Pope Leo noted that AI, like all human invention, springs from the creative capacity that God has entrusted to all people:

“The Church therefore calls all builders of AI to cultivate moral discernment as a fundamental part of their work — to develop systems that reflect justice, solidarity, and a genuine reverence for life.”

November 2025: Message of the Holy Father Leo XIV to Participants in the International Congress of the Pontifical Academy for Life: “Artificial Intelligence and Medicine: the Challenge of Human Dignity” 

Addressing a medical conference, Pope Leo said that in order to ensure true progress in the medical field, it is “imperative that human dignity and the common good remain resolute priorities for all, both individuals and public entities.”

“It is easy to recognize the destructive potential of technology and even medical research when they are placed at the service of antihuman ideologies. … From this point of view, I consider your dedication to exploring the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine to be of great significance,” the Pope said.

“If AI is to serve human dignity and the effective provision of healthcare, we must ensure that it truly enhances both interpersonal relationships and the care provided.”

November 2025: Audience with Participants in the Conference “The Dignity of Children and Adolescents in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”

“Children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to manipulation through AI algorithms that can influence their decisions and preferences. It is essential that parents and educators be aware of these dynamics, and that tools be developed to monitor and guide young people’s interactions with technology,” Pope Leo said, addressing a conference on the welfare of children in the age of AI. Above all, minors need guidance in the use of AI through “daily, ongoing educational efforts,” he said.

Governments and international organizations have a responsibility to design and implement policies that protect the dignity of minors in this era of AI, he said. This includes updating existing data protection laws to address new challenges posed by emerging technologies, and promoting ethical standards for the development and the use of AI.

November 2025: Live Address to Young People at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis

Speaking via live link to thousands of young people, Pope Leo responded to a young man’s question about how to use AI responsibly, telling him it means “using it in ways that help you grow, never in ways that distract you from your dignity or your call to holiness. In your education, make the most of this time.”

“AI can process information quickly, but it cannot replace human intelligence. And don’t ask it to do your homework for you. It cannot offer real wisdom. It misses a very important human element: AI will not judge between what is truly right and wrong. And it won’t stand in wonder, in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation,” the Holy Father said.

“So be prudent; be wise; be careful that your use of AI does not limit your true human growth. Use it in such a way that if it disappeared tomorrow, you would still know how to think, how to create, how to act on your own, how to form authentic friendships. Remember, AI can never replace that unique gift that you are to the world.”

December 2025: “Artificial Intelligence and Care for Our Common Home”

In this speech to a conference seeking to identify the risks, abuses and inequalities stemming from the unethical or unregulated production and use of AI, Pope Leo reiterated the importance of protecting young people’s “freedom of mind.”

“Artificial intelligence has certainly opened up new horizons for creativity, but it also raises serious concerns about its possible repercussions on humanity’s openness to truth and beauty, and capacity for wonder and contemplation. Recognizing and safeguarding what characterizes the human person and guarantees his or her balanced growth is essential for establishing an adequate framework for managing the consequences of artificial intelligence,” the Pope said.

January 2026: Message for the 60th World Day of Social Communications 

In his first message for the 60th World Day of Social Communications, Pope Leo warned that artificial intelligence and digital technologies can undermine human relationships and distort reality unless they are guided by responsibility and rooted in education. He cautioned against surrendering human judgment to algorithms and automated systems, particularly those built to maximize engagement on social media. 

“Our faces and voices are unique, distinctive features of every person. … Faces and voices are sacred,” the Pope said.

March 2026: Quo Vadis, Humanitas 

This document from the International Theological Commission, a body chaired by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, was approved by Pope Leo XIV. Addressing AI, the commission cautioned that forms of knowledge and calculation detached from embodied, situated human intelligence — and from relational knowledge passed down through generations via education — can become a threat to the true good of humanity. 

This article was originally published by The National Catholic Register, a news service of EWTN News, and has been adapted for and updated by EWTN News English.

The traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) addressed Pope Leo XIV this week with a statement of faith it called “the minimum necessary to be in communion with the Church.”

In an introduction to the “Declaration of Catholic Faith” — published May 14 on the society’s website — the SSPX said that for more than 50 years it has raised the issue of what it believes are “errors that are destroying Catholic faith and morals” but that the group has never received “any truly satisfactory response” from the Holy See.

The statement, signed by SSPX superior general Father Davide Pagliarani, said it "places this simple Declaration of Faith” into the hands of Pope Leo: “It seems to us to correspond to the minimum necessary to be in communion with the Church, to call ourselves truly Catholic and, consequently, Your children.”

The Vatican’s prefect for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, issued a brief statement on May 13, warning that if the SSPX carried out the “schismatic act” of consecrating new bishops without papal mandate — as the group has announced it plans to do on July 1 — it will result in excommunications as established by canon law.

Fernández also said Pope Leo XIV is praying that the leaders of the SSPX “may reconsider the very grave decision they have made.”

In the society’s declaration following Fernández’s statement, it reiterates the teachings of the Catholic faith about the existence of only one faith and one Church, and that Jesus Christ is the one mediator between God and men.

The declaration appears to reject a document issued by the DDF last year stating that “Co-Redemptrix” is not an appropriate way to describe the Virgin Mary’s participation in salvation because “it carries the risk of eclipsing the exclusive role of Jesus Christ.”

The SSPX said, “By divine decree, the Most Holy Virgin Mary has been directly and intimately associated with the entire work of Redemption; to deny this association — in the terms received from Tradition — is therefore to alter the very notion of Redemption as willed by divine Providence.”

The “declaration of Catholic faith” also appears to make oblique references to some of the theological questions contested by the SSPX, which are mostly tied to the interpretation of post–Second Vatican Council teaching, including God’s will regarding the plurality of religions; and the differing levels of assent required by various Vatican II texts and their interpretation.

For example, the society’s statement says the necessity to be a part of the Catholic Church to save one’s soul “concerns the whole of humanity without exception and embraces without distinction Christians, Jews, Muslims, pagans, and atheists” and that the mandate “to convert every man to the Catholic Faith, remains binding until the end of time and responds to the most absolute and most pressing necessity in the world.”

The declaration also says a couple living a “lifestyle” that includes “sins of impurity” should be helped to free themselves from sin and that the couple “can in no way be blessed — formally or informally — by ministers of the Church” — an apparent reference to Pope Francis’ 2023 declaration Fiducia Supplicans, which allows priests to offer private, nonliturgical blessings to same-sex couples.

Pope Leo XIV called for respect for human dignity in the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking and reiterated his rejection of the death penalty, torture, and any degrading punishment in the face of a scourge that, he warned, “imperils the very future of our societies.”

In a May 15 audience with participants in the Second International Conference on the Fight against Drugs and Organized Crime in the OSCE region — dedicated to the “grave and urgent struggle against the scourge of illicit drugs” — the pope expressed his concern about criminal and drug enterprises.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) works to promote security, political cooperation, conflict prevention, and the protection of human rights in Europe, Central Asia, and North America. The May 14-15 conference was hosted by the Italian Parliament.

Leo stated firmly that the Holy See maintains that “the rule of law, crime prevention and criminal justice must advance together in unity."

Citing the Churchʼs social doctrine, the pope emphasized that “no truly just society can endure unless the law — and not the arbitrary will of individuals — remains sovereign."

Prevention as respect for human dignity

The Holy Father underscored that no one, regardless of power or status, “may ever claim the right to violate the dignity and rights of others or of their communities.”

Therefore, he insisted that preventing and responding to criminal activities “is closely interrelated with the respect for and protection of universal human rights.”

The pontiff appealed to the responsibility of society as a whole and reiterated that efforts must not fall solely on public authorities.

For this reason, he stressed that the Holy See supports every initiative that seeks “to establish an effective, just, humane and credible criminal justice system capable of preventing and countering the production and the trafficking of illicit drugs.”

He also emphasized that punishment cannot be the only response of the justice system, but that efforts must “embrace approaches marked by perseverance and mercy, aimed at the re-education and full reintegration of offenders into the fabric of society.”

He affirmed that respect for the dignity of every person “precludes the use of the death penalty, torture, and every form of cruel or degrading punishment.”

Education must begin in the family

Pope Leo also urged the development of comprehensive programs so that those “enslaved by addiction” may “rediscover and live anew the fullness of their God-given dignity.”

He highlighted that education “is key to prevention,” especially today in light of misinformation circulated on social media, where the risks of drugs are often trivialized. He indicated that education must begin in the family and be strengthened in schools.

The pope insisted that “preventing and countering organized crime is essential to building safe, just and stable societies.” He also recalled the members of law enforcement who have “sacrificed their lives or suffered injury in the courageous performance of their duties.”

At the conclusion of his address, Leo urged conference participants “to promote policies that truly serve the common good and the inalienable dignity of every human being.”

This story was originally published by ACI Prensa, EWTN News’ Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Pope Leo XIV spoke by phone with Tawadros II, the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria, on May 15. The conversation marked the 13th Day of Friendship between Copts and Catholics.

The Vatican said that the discussion between the two took place in a “cordial and fraternal atmosphere,” and that they expressed the mutual desire to “overcome any potential obstacles to the dialogue of faith and charity” between Catholics and Coptic Orthodox.

They also discussed the need to continue promoting peace efforts in the Middle East. In a letter to Tawadros to mark the anniversary, Leo stressed the importance of continued collaboration among Christians to promote peace in the Holy Land.

“At a time when our world is afflicted by so many conflicts, particularly in the Middle East, Christians must, more than ever, strive for full unity so that we may bear witness together to the Prince of Peace,” Leo wrote. “In doing so, we can be confident in the powerful intercession and example of the countless martyrs who have suffered for the name of Christ.”

The pope also praised the friendship between the Catholic and Coptic churches, which began over 50 years ago with the meeting of St. Pope Paul VI and Shenouda III. In his letter, he expressed his hope that ecumenical efforts would eventually lead to visible unity, recalling last yearʼs celebration of the 1,700th anniversary of the first Council of Nicaea.

“I am confident that the reflections undertaken on the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council will rekindle our desire to achieve the visible unity of the Church — a unity rooted in the one baptism that we profess in the Nicene Creed, and which, I sincerely pray, we shall attain,” Leo said.

Pope Leo XIV visited Rome’s public La Sapienza University on Thursday, the largest university in Europe and one of Italy’s most prestigious academic institutions, where he denounced the “great lie” he said is causing anxiety and depression among young people.

Speaking in the university’s Aula Magna after a brief moment of prayer in the “Divina Sapienza” chapel, the pope referred to the “spiritual malaise” affecting many university students and recalled that “we are not the sum of what we have, nor matter randomly assembled in a mute cosmos.”

“We are a desire, not an algorithm!” he stressed.

Leo XIV strongly criticized “the pervasive lie of a distorted system that reduces people to numbers, heightens competitiveness, and abandons us to spirals of anxiety.”

“For everyone there are difficult seasons,” he added. “Yet some may have the impression that they never end. Today this depends increasingly on the blackmail of expectations and the pressure to perform.”

The pope was welcomed upon his arrival by the university’s rector, Professor Antonella Polimeni, who accompanied him through the campus and during his visit to the exhibition “La Sapienza and the Papacy,” which explores the historical and cultural ties between the University of Rome and the Holy See.

That bond has not been without tension. In 2008, the university’s then-rector invited Pope Benedict XVI to inaugurate the academic year, but a heated controversy, driven by a small group of professors and students, ultimately derailed the visit. The German pope decided not to attend. The address he had prepared, published days later, argued that “the Christian message should always be an encouragement toward truth and thus a force against the pressure of power and interests.” The following Sunday, some 200,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square in a show of support.

The atmosphere Thursday was radically different. Students waited for Leo XIV outside the building, greeting him with enthusiasm and joy while chanting “Long live the pope.” Because of the large turnout, many had to remain outside and follow his speech on screens set up for the occasion.

Leo XIV did not mention the 2008 episode. In his address, he described a world “distorted by wars and by words of war,” warning against “a contamination of reason that, from the geopolitical level, invades every social relationship.”

Correcting the simplification that creates enemies

“It is a contamination of reason that, from the geopolitical level, invades every social relationship. The simplification that creates enemies must be corrected, especially in the university, through care for complexity and the wise exercise of memory,” he said.

“The cry of ‘never again war!’ of my predecessors, so in tune with the rejection of war enshrined in the Italian Constitution, urges us toward a spiritual alliance with the sense of justice that dwells in the hearts of young people, with their vocation not to close themselves off within ideologies or national borders,” he added.

In that context, the pope criticized the rise in military spending, particularly in Europe.

“Let us not call defense a rearmament that increases tensions and insecurity, impoverishes investments in education and health care, contradicts trust in diplomacy, and enriches elites that care nothing for the common good,” he said.

According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, global military spending rose for the 11th consecutive year in 2025, reaching a record $2.887 trillion. Europe accounted for a large share of that increase, with a 14% rise in arms investment, reaching $864 billion.

The Holy Father also warned about the risks of the use of artificial intelligence, both in military and civilian contexts, and urged vigilance so that its development does not “relieve human decisions of responsibility or worsen the tragedy of conflicts.”

“What is happening in Ukraine, in Gaza and the Palestinian territories, in Lebanon, in Iran describes the inhuman evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of annihilation,” he warned.

Faced with this scenario, the pope issued a direct appeal to young people: “Be a radical ‘yes’ to life! Yes to innocent life, yes to young life, yes to the life of peoples crying out for peace and justice.”

History does not fall hopelessly into the hands of death

Leo XIV also devoted part of his address to ecology, citing Laudato Si’, the 2015 encyclical of his predecessor Pope Francis.

“Beyond good intentions and some efforts in that direction, the situation does not seem to have improved,” he lamented, encouraging young people to “transform restlessness into prophecy” and not to give in to discouragement.

“Especially those who believe know that history does not fall hopelessly into the hands of death, but is always guarded, no matter what happens, by a God who creates life from nothing, who gives without taking, who shares without consuming,” he said.

The pope also criticized the “implosion of a possessive and consumerist paradigm” and encouraged university students to seek a “horizon of meaning” beyond immediacy.

“So little considered by a society with ever fewer children, you show that humanity is capable of a future when it builds that future with wisdom,” he told them.

He also emphasized the value of teaching, defining it as a form of charity “as much as helping a migrant at sea, a poor person in the street, or a despairing conscience.”

“It means always and in every case loving human life, valuing its possibilities, so that one can speak to the hearts of young people, not only to their knowledge,” he added.

For Benedetta Marchiori, a student at La Sapienza, the pope’s visit was a moment of encouragement.

“It gave so much joy, so much happiness, so much hope,” Marchiori told EWTN News. “It is truly beautiful to hear someone speak who really sees so many different situations every day and brings them back to us — reminding us that we truly have an active role in our own growth, through our study and through being truly centered. It is really beautiful.”

Chiara Clementoni, a medical student, said the pope’s address was “really encouraging.”

“The idea that we are not the sum of what has happened to us, but that through knowledge and study we can also build ourselves as people and open ourselves more to the mysteries that God has placed in nature, that God has placed in everything we can make the object of our study,” Clementoni said.

At the end of the meeting, the university gave the pope a reproduction of a stone from the Holy Sepulcher, where a team of La Sapienza archaeologists has been conducting excavations in the basilica in Jerusalem since March 2022.

The project, carried out in collaboration with the various communities that guard the site — the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land, the Latin Patriarchate, and the Greek and Armenian churches — will make it possible for the first time to reconstruct the full stratigraphic history of the building, erected in the fourth century during the time of Emperor Constantine and his mother, St. Helena.

Ishmael Adibuah contributed reporting to this article.

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

Pope Leo XIV appointed Father Emilio Biosca Agüero, OFM Cap, as the third bishop of Venice, Florida, on May 13. The Capuchin Franciscan priest has been pastor of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington, D.C., since 2018 and served for more than 20 years as a missionary in Papua New Guinea and Cuba.

The pope also accepted the resignation of Bishop Frank J. Dewane, 76, who has reached the usual age of retirement after leading the diocese since 2007, after having first served for nine months as its coadjutor bishop.

Agüero, who was born in Fairfax, Virginia, on Dec. 15, 1964, entered the Order of the Friars Minor Capuchin in 1987. He was ordained a priest on May 21, 1994.

With his consecration and installation, the bishop-designate will become the second active Capuchin Franciscan bishop currently leading a U.S. diocese, the other being Bishop Marc V. Trudeau, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles.

Agüero begins his new role in Florida after having served as a missionary for more than two decades. He served as a missionary in Papua New Guinea from 1994–2006 and in Cuba from 2007–2019.

According to a press release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Agüero speaks Spanish and Tok Pisin (a Creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea) in addition to English.

The bishop-designate also holds several academic degrees, including a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Borromeo College earned in 1987; masterʼs degrees in theology and divinity from Oblate College earned in 1992; and a licentiate in sacred theology from the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington, D.C., earned in 2007.

His most recent assignment has been pastor of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington, D.C. He belongs to the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Augustine in Pittsburgh.

In an unexpected gesture as he was greeting people at the general audience in St. Peterʼs Square on Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV stopped at the exact spot where, 45 years ago, St. John Paul II was shot in an assassination attempt.

Leo got out of the vehicle and remained in silence to pray before the white marble plaque marking the place where the Polish pope was struck by four gunshots fired by the Turkish gunman Ali Agca on May 13, 1981. Leo then knelt and touched the plaque before continuing his ride around the square.

The attack on John Paul II coincided with the anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady to three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal.

Days after the attempt on his life, while still recovering, John Paul II read the third part of the secret of Fátima, until then known only to the popes and later made public. Written by one of the seers, Sister Lucia, it describes the vision of the Holy Father “afflicted with pain and sorrow,” praying “for the souls of the corpses he met on his way.”

Pope John Paul II never ceased to express his gratitude to the Virgin Mary for saving his life. “One hand fired; another guided the bullet,” he said in an interview with the French writer André Frossard. After being discharged from the hospital and resuming general audiences in St. Peter’s Square following five months of hospitalization, he also said he had experienced “the extraordinary maternal protection which proved stronger than the deadly projectile.”

In 1982, St. John Paul II celebrated Mass in Fátima and consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On May 13, 2000, he beatified the shepherd children Francisco and Jacinta at the Portuguese shrine.

Pope Leo XIV touches the plaque marking the spot in St. Peter’s Square where St. John Paul II was shot in an assassination attempt on May 13, 1981. Leo stopped at the plaque during his own general audience on the feast of Our Lady of Fátima, May 13, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media ‘Mary, model of the Church’

Today, Leo XIV wanted to underscore that the attempt on John Paul II’s life was not fatal “thanks to the protection of Our Lady, as he himself confirmed in many ways.”

For this reason, he explained, he dedicated his May 13 catechesis to “the Virgin Mary, model of the Church” and to his predecessor, whose motto was “Totus Tuus.”

The pope thus continued his cycle of catechesis on the Second Vatican Council, pausing on the final chapter of the dogmatic constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Leo said Mary “is hailed as a preeminent and singular member of the Church, and as its type and excellent example in faith and charity.”

“Mary is the perfect model of what the whole Church is called to be: a creature of the Word of the Lord and mother of the children of God, begotten in docility to the action of the Holy Spirit,“ the Holy Father said. ”Furthermore, as she is the believer par excellence, in whom we are offered the perfect form of unconditional openness to the divine mystery within the communion of God’s holy people, Mary is an excellent member of the ecclesial community.”

He also explained that the Virgin Mary is the “woman who is the icon of the Mystery,” who was granted the grace to live “the extraordinary experience of becoming the mother of the Messiah.”

“In her, both God’s gratuitous election and her free consent of faith in him shine forth. Mary is therefore the woman who is the icon of the Mystery, that is, of the divine plan of salvation, once hidden and now revealed in its fullness in Jesus Christ,” he said.

Pope Leo XIV waves at crowds of people as he circles St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile before his weekly general audience on May 13, 2026. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN News

In the Virgin Mary, he continued, there is also reflected “the mystery of the Church: in her, the people of God find the representation of their origin, their model, and their homeland.”

Model of maternal charity

In the mother of the Lord, the Church contemplates its own mystery, “not only because she finds in her the model of virginal faith, maternal charity, and the spousal covenant to which she is called but also and above all because in her she recognizes her own archetype, the ideal figure of what she is called to be,” Leo said.

The reflections contained in Lumen Gentium, he concluded, teach us to love the Church and to serve within her the fulfillment of the kingdom of God, which is coming and which will be fully realized in glory.

He invited the faithful to allow themselves to be challenged by the example of Mary, virgin and mother, with concrete questions: “Do I live my participation of the Church with humble and active faith? Do I recognize in her the community of the covenant that God has given me to respond to his infinite love? Do I feel that I am a living part of the Church, in obedience to the pastors given by God? Do I look to Mary as a model, an outstanding member and mother of the Church, and ask her to help me be a faithful disciple of her son?”

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 Vatican’s doctrine chief warned Wednesday that the plan of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) to consecrate new bishops without papal mandate will represent a schismatic act resulting in excommunication.

“This act will constitute ‘a schismatic act’ and ‘formal adherence to schism constitutes a grave offense against God and entails the excommunication established by the law of the Church,’” said Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The cardinal’s brief statement quoted from St. Pope John Paul II’s letter Ecclesia dei, which the late pope wrote shortly after the society’s unlawful ordination of four bishops conferred by SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in June 1988.

Fernández went on to say that the Holy Father "continues in his prayers to ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten the leaders of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X so that they may reconsider the very grave decision they have made.”

Under canon law, a bishop who consecrates another bishop without a papal mandate and the person who receives that consecration incur automatic excommunication.

The SSPX has declared it intends to proceed with illicit episcopal consecrations at its international seminary in Écône, Switzerland on July 1, in defiance of the Vatican’s warnings of schism.

The decision to proceed with the consecrations without papal approval was confirmed in a Feb. 18 letter penned by SSPX superior general Father Davide Pagliarani a week after his Feb. 12 meeting with Cardinal Fernández, during which the Vatican proposed a structured theological dialogue in order to avoid ecclesial rupture.

The SSPX, which exclusively celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass, maintains doctrinal differences with certain teachings and reforms of the Second Vatican Council, particularly with regard to religious freedom and the Church’s approach to other faiths.

Cardinals Gerhard Müller and Robert Sarah, prominent supporters of the Traditional Latin Mass, have spoken out against the SSPX’s decision to defy the Vatican. Cardinal Joseph Zen, the retired archbishop of Hong Kong, has also urged the traditionalist group to avoid schism “at all costs.”

The proposed July 1 date for the episcopal consecrations coincides with the anniversary of the 1988 excommunication of SSPX founder Archbishop Lefebvre for consecrating four bishops without the permission of Rome.

The Society of St. Pius X did not immediately respond to a request for comment from EWTN News.

The Vatican has called on religious leaders around the world to take an active role in promoting peace and urged them not to become “complicit through silence or fear” in the face of those who fuel division and confrontation.

The appeal is contained in the message “Buddhists and Christians for an ‘Unarmed and Disarming’ Peace,” signed by Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, and Monsignor Indunil Janakaratne Kodithuwakku Kankanamalage, secretary of the dicastery, for the Buddhist feast of Vesak.

In the message, addressed to the Buddhist community and published Monday, May 11, the Vatican said religious leaders “are called to be authentic partners in dialogue and true agents of reconciliation.”

The text stressed that a passive attitude is not enough. Together with all believers, it said, “we are invited to become artisans of peace — not passive observers but courageous witnesses capable of fostering encounter, healing wounds, and rebuilding trust.”

“As citizens and believers, we share a responsibility to promote peace, challenge injustice, and urge those in positions of authority not to inflame division but to pursue dialogue over confrontation,” the message said. “We must also guard against becoming complicit through silence or fear.”

A peace born in the heart

The message, issued for Vesak — which commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and passing of the Buddha — reflected on the meaning of peace, defining it not merely as the absence of war but as “a gift that seeks to dwell within the human heart” and “a quiet yet powerful presence that enlightens and transforms.”

The message cited Pope Leo XIV’s words for the 2026 World Day of Peace: “Peace exists; it wants to dwell within us. It has the gentle power to enlighten and expand our understanding; it resists and overcomes violence. Peace is a breath of the eternal: While to evil we cry out ‘Enough,’ to peace we whisper ‘Forever.’”

Even when peace appears fragile, the Vatican message said, it “must be protected and nurtured.” It described this peace as “an unarmed and disarming peace that does not rely on force but flows from truth, compassion, and mutual trust.”

Facing the world’s shadows

The Vatican did not ignore the gravity of the current international context, marked by conflicts and growing tensions.

“We cannot ignore the shadows weighing upon the world,” the message said. “Wars, violence, rising ethno-religious nationalism, and the manipulation of religion continue to wound our common humanity.”

In response, the Vatican emphasized the irreplaceable role of religious traditions, which it said “can offer a vital contribution.”

“Goodness is truly disarming,” the message said. “It breaks the cycle of suspicion and opens paths where none seemed possible.”

Buddhism and Christianity converge

The message highlighted the deep harmony between Buddhist and Christian teachings on peace.

It recalled the Buddha’s teaching: “Hatred is never appeased by hatred; by non-hatred alone is hatred appeased. This is an eternal law.” It also cited Jesus’ command to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” and his proclamation “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

Both traditions, the document said, point toward “a peace that is lived — one that disarms hearts before it disarms hands.”

A concrete, daily commitment

The message concluded with a call to translate these principles into concrete action, noting that peace is “lived daily — in gestures of kindness, in patience, in the refusal of hatred and vengeance, and in the courage to hope.”

Far from being a utopia, the Vatican said, “peace is not an illusion or a distant ideal; it is a real possibility already placed within our reach, waiting to be welcomed and shared.”

With that spirit, the Vatican expressed hope that Buddhists and Christians may “increasingly become witnesses of this disarming peace — one that heals wounds, restores relationships, and opens new horizons for humanity.”

“May your celebration of Vesak be filled with serenity and joy, and may it inspire all of us to walk together on this path,” the message concluded. “We wish you a blessed and fruitful celebration of Vesak!”

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.