Catholic News
- Engage in dialogue, not strife, Pope tells Vatican lay employees (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV encouraged members of the Association of Lay Vatican Employees to engage in dialogue rather than foment conflict. - Pope encourages Korean priests, religious to live 'hidden martyrdom' of daily love (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV encouraged Korean priests and religious who reside in Rome to live the “hidden martyrdom” of daily love. - Slovenian leader praises Pontiff's moral guidance (CWN)
Prime Minister Janez Janša of Slovenia met with Pope Leo XIV on October 5 and praised the Pontiff for his moral guidance. - Vatican to publish The Private Diary of Pope Francis (Vatican News)
The Vatican Publishing House will release The Private Diary of Pope Francis on November 24. Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, described the text as “a book by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, presenting and commenting on notes Jorge Mario Bergoglio kept between 1992 and 2024.” - Pope prays for Gaza victims: 'How long, O Lord?' (Vatican News)
Pope Leo XIV sent a message of condolence to the pastor of Gaza’s sole Catholic parish after an Israeli airstrike on a residence killed two Orthodox Christian women. “Since learning the painful news of the deaths of Maysa and Mary, I have been praying to God for them, for their families and for the entire community of Gaza,” Pope Leo wrote. “How long, O Lord?” “Thank you for accompanying the parish and so many people who wish to live in peace,” the Pontiff added in his message to Father Gabriel Romanelli, I.V.E. - Cardinal Zuppi, in Assisi, marks 800th anniversary of St. Francis's death (CWN)
Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi of Bologna, the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, celebrated Mass in the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi on October 4, the 800th anniversary of the saint’s death. - St. Louis archdiocese files lawsuit over restrictions on sacraments for detainees (St. Louis Review)
The Archdiocese of St. Louis filed a lawsuit over a local detention center’s restrictions on sacraments. The jail has housed 3,000 ICE detainees since mid-2025. The archdiocesan newspaper reported that the “jail allows priests to use only phones (which the jail can monitor, the complaint says) to talk to detainees through a glass partition, preventing them from giving holy Communion or hearing confession, which cannot be conducted over a phone. Priests are not permitted to celebrate Mass inside the detention center.” - Peoria bishop gives Pope a relic of Blessed Fulton Sheen (OSV News)
Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria, Illinois, gave Pope Leo XIV a relic of Blessed Sheen during an October 5 audience. “To place a relic of this son of the Diocese of Peoria into the hands of the first American pope, both of whom are from Illinois, was an especially moving moment,” said Bishop Tylka. “The Holy Father’s own interest in Archbishop Sheen reminds us that his witness continues to speak to the Church today and challenges all of us to proclaim the Gospel with the same conviction and joy.” - Italy's President Mattarella: St. Francis was more than an ecologist, pacifist, or social worker (Presidenza della Repubblica)
President Sergio Mattarella of Italy paid tribute to St. Francis in an address in Assisi on October 4, the 800th anniversary of the saint’s death. “We would not be doing justice to the saint of Assisi if his figure were exhausted in that of an ecologist, pacifist and social worker,” said President Mattarella. “Francis and Clare—his disciple, friend and sister in choices, protagonist with Francis of that great work of religious and civil renewal—were above all in love with God and the Gospel.” “We would not be wrong, I believe, if we sought the most authentic Francis in the mystery of those silent, very long, intimate conversations with God in the grotto of the Shrine of La Verna,” he added. “Or if we grasped the most characteristic trait of his overflowing charity in that kiss, surprising and unexpected, given to the leper.” - Federal judge rejects Oakland diocese's bankruptcy plan (San Francisco Chronicle)
Siding with over 330 plaintiffs who allege they were abused as minors, a federal judge rejected the Diocese of Oakland’s $242-million settlement offer. “While today is a setback, we remain committed to providing fair and equitable treatment for the survivors, and to continuing our mission to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in service to the 500,000 faithful Catholics in our community,” said Bishop Michael Barber, S.J. - The Order of Carthusians: a numerical overview (CWN)
The Church today commemorates the memorial of St. Bruno (1030-1101), founder of the Order of Carthusians. - Preserve unity with the Pope and the apostolic faith, Pope tells Pontifical Teutonic College (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV received members of the Pontifical Teutonic College of Santa Maria in Campo Santo as it marked its 150th anniversary and urged its rector, priests, and associated faithful to preserve “closeness and unity with the Successor of Peter and with the faith of the apostles which he proclaims.” - Pope pays tribute to St. Francis of Assisi on 800th anniversary of his death (CWN)
During his October 4 Sunday Angelus address (video), Pope Leo XIV reflected on the parable of the wicked husbandmen (Matthew 21:33-43) and paid tribute to St. Francis of Assisi. - Guard your hearts and support one another, Pope preaches to Vatican Gendarmerie Corps (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for the members of the Vatican City State’s Gendarmerie Corps and encouraged them to guard their hearts and take care of one another. - Montenegro's president invites Pontiff to visit nation (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV received President Jakov Milatović of Montenegro in an October 3 audience. - Pope renews call for Rosary for peace in October (CWN)
At the conclusion of his Sunday Angelus address on October 4, Pope Leo XIV renewed his request to pray the Rosary for peace in October, the month dedicated to the Holy Rosary. - Pope requests prayers for extraordinary Amoris Laetitia meeting (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV requested prayers for the upcoming assembly on the tenth anniversary of Amoris Laetitia. - 1,300 priests, religious from Indonesian island serve as missionaries (Fides)
A thousand priests and 300 religious sisters from the Indonesian island of Flores have left their native land to serve as missionaries abroad, a bishop told the Fides News Agency. Bishop Yohanes Hans Monteiro of Larantuka also described the situation on the island six weeks after a severe earthquake. “Some of the faithful had already been forced to flee to another place and are internally displaced,” he said. “I am concerned about my people who are living in precarious conditions in this region.” - Cardinal Gambetti transferred from St. Peter's Basilica to Italian archdiocese (Vatican Press Office)
In an unprecedented move, Pope Leo XIV transferred Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, O.F.M. Conv., Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and vicar general of the Vatican City State, to the Archdiocese of Chieti-Vasto. Cardinal Gambetti will now lead a diocese of 270,000 Catholics. Appointment as Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica is typically a capstone, and Cardinal Gambetti’s predecessors as archpriest ended their tenure by retirement, death in office, or election to the papacy. Cardinal Gambetti, 60, was custos general of the General Custody of the Sacred Convent of Saint Francis in Assisi from 2013 to 2021. Pope Francis named him a cardinal in 2020 and transferred him to St. Peter’s Basilica in 2021. His tenure there has been marked by controversy. Pope Leo has not yet named a new archpriest. - Indigenous catechists crucial in Amazon River diocese, bishop tells Pope Leo (Vatican News (Portuguese))
Pope Leo XIV received Bishop Raimundo Vanthuy Neto of São Gabriel da Cachoeira—a Brazilian diocese about the size of the nation of Italy—on October 3. Bishop Neto spoke for 20 minutes with the Pontiff about the diocese, where “24 different indigenous ethnic groups coexist and 18 distinct languages are spoken,” according to Vatican News. “As the diocese is essentially river-based, travel depends on boats and canoes, requiring missionaries and bishops to undertake long journeys to navigate past waterfalls and reach the most remote communities.” Bishop Neto told Pope Leo that “the process of evangelization and formation relies heavily on the pivotal role of indigenous catechists,” according to the report. “To strengthen faith and leadership within the communities, extended training sessions are held, sometimes lasting up to 15 consecutive days, bringing together dozens of indigenous people from various regions.” - More...