Catholic News
- Pope thanks those who prayed for him during hospitalization, says he will resume activities gradually (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV thanked those who prayed for him during his hospitalization and said that he will resume his activities gradually. - 'Live without compromise,' Pope says in 1st address since discharge from hospital (CWN)
In his first public appearance since his discharge from Gemelli Hospital, Pope Leo XIV delivered his Sunday Angelus address (video) on October 18. - Pope recalls World Mission Sunday (CWN)
At the conclusion of his Sunday Angelus address, Pope Leo XIV recalled World Mission Sunday. - 20 Balearic Islands martyrs, slain during Spanish Civil War, beatified (CWN)
Twenty diocesan priests slain by Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War were beatified on October 17. - Cardinal Parolin calls for rediscovery of Humanae Vitae (Vatican News (Italian))
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, called for the rediscovery of Humanae Vitae, Pope St. Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical letter on the regulation of birth. The encyclical “stresses the need to respect the dignity of the person when morally evaluating methods of birth regulation,” Cardinal Parolin said during an October 16 address at the Rome campus of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. “This is a choice that should be shared by the spouses, becoming a common heritage and a way of life for them.” In his address, entitled “The Dignity and Beauty of Procreation in the Church’s Magisterium,” Cardinal Parolin criticized the “so-called culture of separation,” in which “procreation has increasingly become reproduction, detaching itself not only from conjugal love but also from the sexual act.” - Vatican diplomat calls for international cooperation to bridge digital divide (Holy See Mission)
A leading Vatican diplomat said that it is “vital to increase international cooperation, including capacity-building and technology transfer, in order to bridge the current digital divide.” Addressing a UN committee meeting, Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia El-Kassis, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, said on October 12 that “2.2 billion people are still not connected to the internet, most of whom live in low and middle-income countries.” “Artificial Intelligence (AI) adds another new dimension to this reality,” he continued. “While its potential to serve integral human development is considerable, so too are the risks of a new divide.” - Pope greets young Ukrainian cancer survivor as he leaves hospital (Vatican News)
As he left Gemelli Hospital on October 17, Pope Leo XIV spoke with a 13-year-old Ukrainian cancer survivor whom he first met last December. The Pontiff’s embrace last December gave the teenager, whose first name is Vavara, “the strength to overcome the illness that, fortunately, I have now beaten,” she recalled. Vavara said she “wanted to come to Rome to pray for him beneath his window and return that important embrace,” along with the wish that “you, too, will overcome this moment and continue your work of spreading the Gospel.” - New film on St Peter's tomb features Pope Leo (Vatican News)
Pope Leo XIV discussed St. Peter the Apostle in Pétros ení, a new documentary for the 400th anniversary of St. Peter’s Basilica. The documentary was written by Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication, and narrated by American actor Chris Pratt. - Cardinal Cupich hails 'prophetic voice and legacy' of Cardinal Bernardin (Vatican News)
Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago hailed “the prophetic voice and the legacy” of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, the archbishop of Chicago from 1982 to 1996. In an October 16 address in Trento, Italy—Cardinal Bernardin’s ancestral region—Cardinal Cupich said that Cardinal Bernardin’s “reading of the signs of our times led him to the conclusion that it was useless to address issues such as abortion, capital punishment, nuclear proliferation, use of military force, or anything else separately.” “The moral framework of a ‘consistent ethic of life’ championed by the cardinal is essential today, at a time when deep social divisions set people against one another in extreme ways,” Cardinal Cupich continued. Cardinal Cupich’s address was swiftly republished by the Vatican newspaper and by Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. - Another priest is kidnapped amid Nigeria's security crisis (OSV News)
The Diocese of Otukpo, Nigeria, appealed for prayers for Father John Inalegwu Otache after he was abducted on October 13. Father Otache is the second priest kidnapped from his parish. The first, Father Anthony Adikwu, was abducted in June 2023 and rescued days later. Over 200 Nigerian priests have been kidnapped since 2015. - Vatican newspaper: Haiti's postponed elections are 'symbol of a broken promise' (CWN)
The Vatican newspaper published a front-page article lamenting the postponement of Haiti’s elections amid mounting gang violence. - Priest in Ecuador dies after crucifix falls on him during livestreamed Mass (AP)
A priest in Ecuador died on October 17 after a large crucifix fell on him while he was celebrating a Mass that was being livestreamed. The priest, Father Patricio Alfredo Sánchez Molinari, C.Ss.R., ministered in Guayaquil. - Pope Leo discharged from hospital, returns to Vatican (Vatican News)
Pope Leo XIV was discharged from the hospital today—four days after he underwent lung surgery—and returned to the Vatican. “Before leaving, the Holy Father thanked Professor Stefano Margaritora, who performed the surgery, together with the medical and nursing team,” the Holy See Press Office said in a statement. “He also greeted the healthcare staff, Professor Elena Beccalli, Rector of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, and the leadership of the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital.” - Pope speaks with Russian President Putin, calls for ceasefire in Oleshky (Holy See Press Office)
Pope Leo XIV spoke by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on October 16 and called for a ceasefire to permit the delivery of food to the besieged Ukrainian city of Oleshky, as well as the evacuation of civilians. During the conversation—the first with President Putin since June 2025—“the Holy Father expressed his deep concern about the grave humanitarian situation in the city of Oleshky, in the Kherson region, and called for a ceasefire to allow the delivery of food and medical assistance, and the voluntary and safe evacuation of the civilian population,” according to a statement issued by the Holy See Press Office. “Finally, the Holy Father reaffirmed the Holy See’s commitment to promoting dialogue and peace.” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, said that “It was the Holy Father who took the initiative to plead the case of this besieged city, where some 2,000 civilians need humanitarian routes through which they can leave.” “I hope that, in response to the Holy Father’s request, President Putin will agree to do what the Pope has asked,” Cardinal Parolin added. “The fact that he accepted the call and spoke with the Pope may, I hope, be a sign that the Pope’s request will indeed be carried out.” - Pope continues 'steady improvement,' celebrates Mass for hospital staff (Vatican News)
Pope Leo XIV was the principal celebrant of a Mass at Gemelli Hospital on October 16, three days after he underwent lung surgery. Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora—the Pope’s personal physician and the head of the surgical team—said in an October 16 statement that the Pope “underwent blood tests and a chest X-ray this morning, which confirmed the steady improvement in his overall condition.” “Respiratory physiotherapy sessions have continued,” and the Pope’s “postoperative recovery allows him to carry out normal daily activities entirely independently,” the statement continued. Following the noon Mass, Pope Leo held separate meetings with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, one of the two pro-prefects of the Dicastery for Evangelization and dean of the College of Cardinals, and with Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome. - Vatican statement: Pope Leo will leave hospital today (Vatican News)
The Holy See Press Office announced that Pope Leo XIV will be discharged from Gemelli Hospital today, four days after he underwent lung surgery. After celebrating Mass at the hospital, Pope Leo “will leave the hospital in the early afternoon and return to the Vatican,” according to the statement. “Tomorrow, he will lead the Angelus prayer from the window of the papal apartment.” - Cardinal Parolin: Inauguration of Iraqi embassy building 'a sign of hope' (Vatican News)
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, spoke on October 15 at the inauguration of a new Iraqi embassy to the Holy See. The Holy See and Iraq established diplomatic relations since 1966. Cardinal Parolin said that “these sixty years of bilateral relations have demonstrated” the “importance of maintaining a qualified and continuous diplomatic channel between us, especially during the most difficult and painful chapters of Iraq’s history, of which Iraqi Christians are an integral part as citizens of the country.” - Archbishop Gallagher makes pathbreaking trip to Pakistan (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher recently concluded a three-day visit to Pakistan—the first-ever visit by a Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations to the world’s fifth-most populous nation. Highlights of the visit, which marked the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Pakistan, included an October 9 address on the Holy See’s diplomatic emphases on peace and human dignity. - Number of Catholics rose to 1.42 billion in 2024; number of priests increased (Fides)
The number of Catholics worldwide rose by 16,690,000 in 2024, to 1,422,144,000, according to data published by Fides, the news agency of the Pontifical Mission Societies, ahead of World Mission Sunday. At the end of 2024, as at the end of 2023, 17.8% of the world’s population was Catholic. The number of priests rose by 425 in 2024, to 407,421, ending five years of decline. The statistics are not new: they come from the 2024 edition of the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae, which was published in March. During 2024—the last full year of Pope Francis’s reign—the 13-year decline in the number of seminarians accelerated. - Members, consultants of US bishops' AI task force announced (USCCB)
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops announced the members and consultants of its new Task Force on Preserving Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Bishop Oscar Cantú of San Jose, California, is the task force’s chairman; he is joined by Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago and six other bishops. The task force’s three consultants are Charles Camosy, Ph.D., of the Catholic University of America; Kim Daniels, J.D., of Georgetown University; and Meghan Sullivan, Ph.D., of the University of Notre Dame. - More...