Pope Leo XIV opened 2026 on Thursday with a plea for peace, singling out in particular countries “bloodied by conflict” and families wounded by violence.
Leo celebrated a New Year’s Day Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and then delivered a special noontime prayer from his studio overlooking the piazza, which was full of pilgrims and tourists on the bright, chilly day.
Leo noted that Jan. 1 marks the church’s World Day of Peace and used the occasion to issue a prayer.
“Let us all pray together for peace: first, among nations bloodied by conflict and suffering, but also within our homes, in families wounded by violence or pain,” he said.
Pope Leo XVI leads the Holy Mass for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Jan. 1, 2026.
Massimo Valicchia/NurPhoto via Getty Images
In Leo’s first Christmas homily last week, he condemned the “rubble and open wounds” left behind by wars and singled out the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. He also urged Russia and Ukraine — in a Christmas blessing — to find the “courage” for direct talks to end their war.
After a busy Christmas season, Leo will have a few days of rest before he celebrates the church’s Epiphany holiday on Jan. 6. On that day too, he officially closes out the 2025 Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration that brought millions of pilgrims to Rome.
Immediately thereafter, he is to preside over a two-day meeting of the entire College of Cardinals, the princes of the church who elected him pope, as well as those who are over age 80 and didn’t participate in the conclave but still remain part of the college. Leo is resurrecting a tradition largely eschewed by Pope Francis to convene cardinals every so often to seek their counsel on how to govern the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church.
Pope Leo XIV became the first American pontiff in church history when he was chosen by his fellow cardinals in May at a Vatican conclave.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with U.S. representatives on Christmas Day about ongoing peace proposals after Russia launched a deadly attack on Ukraine.Zelenskyy said in a video message that he had “a good conversation” with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, during which they drafted new ideas about how to bring about real peace.This comes after Russia fired more than 600 drones and three dozen missiles at Ukraine earlier this week, killing at least three people, including a 4-year-old child. The attack caused significant damage, collapsing homes and knocking out the power grid in 13 regions of Ukraine, leading to widespread outages in bitter cold temperatures.The strikes are “an extremely clear signal of Russian priorities,” Zelenskyy said. In Rome, Pope Leo XIV delivered his first Christmas message as pontiff, condemning the violence and praying for the fighting to end.”Let us pray in a particular way for the tormented people of Ukraine. May the clamor of weapons cease and may the parties involved with the support and commitment of the international community find the courage to engage in sincere, direct and respectful dialogue,” the pope said. Leaders in Ukraine will continue to speak with U.S. representatives Friday. Additionally, Zelenskyy said on social media that Ukraine agreed to a meeting with Trump in the near future.Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:
Zelenskyy said in a video message that he had “a good conversation” with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, during which they drafted new ideas about how to bring about real peace.
This comes after Russia fired more than 600 drones and three dozen missiles at Ukraine earlier this week, killing at least three people, including a 4-year-old child.
The attack caused significant damage, collapsing homes and knocking out the power grid in 13 regions of Ukraine, leading to widespread outages in bitter cold temperatures.
The strikes are “an extremely clear signal of Russian priorities,” Zelenskyy said.
“Let us pray in a particular way for the tormented people of Ukraine. May the clamor of weapons cease and may the parties involved with the support and commitment of the international community find the courage to engage in sincere, direct and respectful dialogue,” the pope said.
Leaders in Ukraine will continue to speak with U.S. representatives Friday. Additionally, Zelenskyy said on social media that Ukraine agreed to a meeting with Trump in the near future.
Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:
Pope Leo celebrates first Christmas as pontiff – CBS News
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Pope Leo XIV celebrated his first Christmas since he became pontiff. At Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, Leo urged people to care for the poor and for migrants.
We’re holding *** few activities for the children to help with their mental health. We just want to relieve the children from the shock that they have experienced in the last two years of war and the conditions that completely swallowed them. They couldn’t control it, but those were our conditions. They have suffered *** lot, so we’re trying *** different touch this holiday season, different activities, so that they can feel some amount of joy. It is true that we always have hoped that it will get better and Gaza will become better, that we go back to our homes, celebrate, go back to the same way we were before the war, go to pray and celebrate, that we would reunited again as *** family around the table tomorrow or at dinner on Christmas Day, and we would talk, relax, and laugh. Every time I remember those moments, I feel sad of what our lives have become.
During his first Christmas Day message Thursday, Pope Leo XIV urged the faithful to shed indifference in the face of those who have lost everything, like in Gaza, those who are in impoverished, like in Yemen, and the many migrants who cross the Mediterranean Sea and the American continent for a better future.Related video above: Gaza’s tiny Christian community tries to revive holiday spirit during ceasefireThe first U.S. pontiff addressed some 26,000 people from the loggia overlooking St. Peter’s Square for the traditional papal “Urbi et Orbi” address, Latin for “To the City and to the World,” which serves as a summary of the woes facing the world.While the crowd gathered under a steady downpour during the papal Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica, the rain had subsided by the time Leo took a brief tour of the square in the popemobile, then spoke to the crowd from the loggia.Leo revived the tradition of offering Christmas greetings in multiple languages that was abandoned by his predecessor, Pope Francis. He received especially warm cheers when he made his greetings in his native English and Spanish, the language of his adopted country of Peru, where he served first as a missionary and then as archbishop.Someone in the crowd shouted out, “Viva il papa!” or “Long live the pope!” before he retreated into the basilica. Leo took off his glasses for a final wave.Leo surveys the world’s distressDuring the traditional address, the pope emphasized that everyone can contribute to peace by acting with humility and responsibility.“If he would truly enter into the suffering of others and stand in solidarity with the weak and the oppressed, then the world would change,” the pope said.Leo called for “justice, peace and stability” in Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria, prayers for “the tormented people of Ukraine,” and “peace and consolation” for victims of wars, injustice, political stability, religious persecution and terrorism, citing Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and Congo.The pope also urged dialogue to address “numerous challenges” in Latin America, reconciliation in Myanmar, the restoration of “the ancient friendship between Thailand and Cambodia,” and assistance for the suffering of those hit by natural disasters in South Asia and Oceania.“In becoming man, Jesus took upon himself our fragility, identifying with each one of us: with those who have nothing left and have lost everything, like the inhabitants of Gaza; with those who are prey to hunger and poverty, like the Yemeni people; with those who are fleeing their homeland to seek a future elsewhere, like the many refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean or traverse the American continent,” the pontiff said.He also remembered those who have lost their jobs or are seeking work, especially young people, underpaid workers and those in prison.Peace through dialogueEarlier, Leo led the Christmas Day Mass from the central altar beneath the balustrade of St. Peter’s Basilica, adorned with floral garlands and clusters of red poinsettias. White flowers were set at the feet of a statue of Mary, mother of Jesus, whose birth is celebrated on Christmas Day.In his homily, Leo underlined that peace can emerge only through dialogue.“There will be peace when our monologues are interrupted and, enriched by listening, we fall to our knees before the humanity of the other,” he said.He remembered the people of Gaza, “exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold” and the fragility of “defenseless populations, tried by so many wars,’’ and of “young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them, and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths.’’Thousands of people packed the basilica for the pope’s first Christmas Day Mass, holding their smartphones aloft to capture images of the opening procession.This Christmas season marks the winding down of the Holy Year celebrations, which will close on Jan. 6, the Catholic Epiphany holiday marking the visit of the three wise men to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.___Barry reported from Milan.
VATICAN CITY —
During his first Christmas Day message Thursday, Pope Leo XIV urged the faithful to shed indifference in the face of those who have lost everything, like in Gaza, those who are in impoverished, like in Yemen, and the many migrants who cross the Mediterranean Sea and the American continent for a better future.
Related video above: Gaza’s tiny Christian community tries to revive holiday spirit during ceasefire
The first U.S. pontiff addressed some 26,000 people from the loggia overlooking St. Peter’s Square for the traditional papal “Urbi et Orbi” address, Latin for “To the City and to the World,” which serves as a summary of the woes facing the world.
While the crowd gathered under a steady downpour during the papal Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica, the rain had subsided by the time Leo took a brief tour of the square in the popemobile, then spoke to the crowd from the loggia.
Leo revived the tradition of offering Christmas greetings in multiple languages that was abandoned by his predecessor, Pope Francis. He received especially warm cheers when he made his greetings in his native English and Spanish, the language of his adopted country of Peru, where he served first as a missionary and then as archbishop.
Someone in the crowd shouted out, “Viva il papa!” or “Long live the pope!” before he retreated into the basilica. Leo took off his glasses for a final wave.
Leo surveys the world’s distress
During the traditional address, the pope emphasized that everyone can contribute to peace by acting with humility and responsibility.
“If he would truly enter into the suffering of others and stand in solidarity with the weak and the oppressed, then the world would change,” the pope said.
Leo called for “justice, peace and stability” in Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria, prayers for “the tormented people of Ukraine,” and “peace and consolation” for victims of wars, injustice, political stability, religious persecution and terrorism, citing Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and Congo.
The pope also urged dialogue to address “numerous challenges” in Latin America, reconciliation in Myanmar, the restoration of “the ancient friendship between Thailand and Cambodia,” and assistance for the suffering of those hit by natural disasters in South Asia and Oceania.
“In becoming man, Jesus took upon himself our fragility, identifying with each one of us: with those who have nothing left and have lost everything, like the inhabitants of Gaza; with those who are prey to hunger and poverty, like the Yemeni people; with those who are fleeing their homeland to seek a future elsewhere, like the many refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean or traverse the American continent,” the pontiff said.
He also remembered those who have lost their jobs or are seeking work, especially young people, underpaid workers and those in prison.
Peace through dialogue
Earlier, Leo led the Christmas Day Mass from the central altar beneath the balustrade of St. Peter’s Basilica, adorned with floral garlands and clusters of red poinsettias. White flowers were set at the feet of a statue of Mary, mother of Jesus, whose birth is celebrated on Christmas Day.
In his homily, Leo underlined that peace can emerge only through dialogue.
“There will be peace when our monologues are interrupted and, enriched by listening, we fall to our knees before the humanity of the other,” he said.
He remembered the people of Gaza, “exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold” and the fragility of “defenseless populations, tried by so many wars,’’ and of “young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them, and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths.’’
Thousands of people packed the basilica for the pope’s first Christmas Day Mass, holding their smartphones aloft to capture images of the opening procession.
This Christmas season marks the winding down of the Holy Year celebrations, which will close on Jan. 6, the Catholic Epiphany holiday marking the visit of the three wise men to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.
Pope Leo XIV issued an appeal for peace in Ukraine in his first Christmas address as pope to thousands of the faithful on St Peter’s Square in Rome on Thursday.
Leo asked that “the clamour of weapons cease” and urged all involved in the war in Ukraine to find the courage to engage in “sincere, direct, and respectful dialogue” with the support of the international community.
Noting other global conflicts, the pope mentioned victims of war and violence in Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Turning to the Middle East, he prayed for “justice, peace and stability for Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria.”
Leo recalled that on a recent trip to the region he had heard the fears of the people and knew their feelings of powerlessness in the face of the power relations they suffered under. He made special mention of the people of Gaza who had lost everything.
In conclusion, he spoke the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing.
Pope Leo XIV on Thursday condemned the “rubble and open wounds” left behind by wars, singling out the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza as he conducted his first Christmas homily.
“Fragile is the flesh of defenseless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds,” the pope said at the mass in St Peter’s Basilica.
“How … can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold,” he said.
Pope Leo XIV addresses the faithful as he performs the Christmas mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Dec. 25, 2025.
Heavy rains have battered Gaza in recent days, compounding the harsh conditions of the Palestinian territory’s residents, nearly all of whom were displaced during the war. The U.N. has said an estimated 1.3 million people currently need shelter assistance in Gaza and has warned of the increasing risk of hypothermia as temperatures dip.
Leo met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Vatican last month. According to a Vatican statement, both leaders agreed on “the urgent need to provide assistance to the civilian population in Gaza” and to “end the conflict by pursuing a two-state solution,” which would see an independent Palestinian state created alongside Israel.
In a Christmas blessing Thursday, Leo also urged Russia and Ukraine to find the “courage” for direct talks following weeks of intense international diplomacy to end their nearly four-year war.
“May the parties involved, with the support and commitment of the international community, find the courage to engage in sincere, direct and respectful dialogue,” Leo said.
In recent weeks, Russian and Ukrainian officials have spoken separately to U.S. negotiators about proposals to end the conflict started by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Speaking to a crowd of some 26,000 in St Peter’s Square, the pope also called for “solidarity with and acceptance of those in need” in Europe, a possible reference to growing anti-immigration sentiment on the continent.
Pope Leo set to preside over his first Christmas midnight mass – CBS News
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Pope Leo XIV is set to preside over his first Christmas midnight mass as pontiff. Chris Livesay reports on some of the major shifts in the Catholic Church this year.
FIRST ON FOX: The leader of an international pro-life organization lauded the Nativity scene set up by the Vatican that highlighted the more than 25,000 babies who were not aborted this year thanks to the group’s outreach initiatives.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, 40 Days for Life CEO and founder Shawn Carney said the Vatican reached out to his organization about creating a Nativity scene representing the babies he says were saved by the group’s pro-life activism, which includes prayer and vigils outside abortion clinics.
“It’s really beautiful,” Carney said.
“The artist made the straw in the manger where Baby Jesus is and Mary, and Joseph,” he continued. “The straw is made up of 25,000 ribbons. Each ribbon represents a baby boy or baby girl that was saved from abortion during a 40 Days for Life campaign.”
A nativity scene donated by Costa Rica, in which the Madonna is represented pregnant, in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican.(Getty Images)
Crafted by Costa Rican artist Paula Sáenz Soto and donated by the Central American country, it features a pregnant Virgin Mary, Joseph and thousands of colored ribbons dedicated to the babies who were not aborted.
Pope Leo XIVsaid at a recent audience with the donors of the Vatican’s Christmas decorations that a sign of life was reflected in the Nativity scene in the Vatican’s audience hall, which he described as a sign of “faith and hope.”
Each of the ribbons that decorate the scene “represent a life saved from abortion thanks to the prayer and support provided by Catholic organizations to many mothers in need,” said the pontiff, who personally blessed the display.
Leo also thanked the artist for the message affirming that “life is protected from conception.”
Carney said the Nativity was “inspiring” and “beautiful news,” particularly amid a series of recent bad news in the U.S. and around the world.
“It’s so inspiring, and frankly, we’ve had a lot of bad news lately in America and around the world, and this display represents good news,” he told Fox News Digital.
Pope Leo XIV prays in front of Nacimiento Gaudium, a nativity scene in which the Madonna is represented pregnant, at the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican.(40 Days for Life)
“It represents babies that have been saved from abortion, and the artist who is a participant in 40 Days for Life who is from Costa Rica, did a wonderful job. She did a fantastic job making this beautiful display that really shows the dedication of so many pro-life volunteers around the world who take time out in the hopes of saving a baby. And now those saved babies are represented in the most important place in the world, which is the Nativity, which is what we pin our hope to, that Jesus came through the womb, that he came through a family to save us from our sins,” he continued.
“So it’s beautiful news, it’s good news, and I think it’s news that’s being well received as we’ve had so much bad news the last few weeks,” Carney added.
Carney went on to explain that the Nativity is “at the heart of Catholicism and all Christians, and certainly at the heart of the pro-life movement.”
“This is why we do what we do,” he said. “Our Lord could have popped out of an acorn and saved us from our sins. He didn’t do that. God chose a family, a holy family, a 14-year-old virgin, to bring his son into the world through the womb, which is statistically now the most dangerous place in the world. He chose the womb, he chose a family, and the family is under attack. So this is a beautiful nativity display, but I think it speaks to the heart of every Christian that looks for hope in the world, that looks for hope for us to overcome our own sins, and certainly hope that we can end the tragedy and the barbaric nature of abortion in our world. America is leading the way through that.” “We just had a historic year for the pro-life movement in 2025, and I think 2026 is going to be even better,” he added. “This display certainly inspires so much hope and confidence that if we pray, if we fast, if we’re faithful and we get to work, we can end abortion anywhere.”
Carney also stressed that the Nativity of a pregnant Mary with an unborn Jesus “speaks to the scientific reality of the unborn child and the Biblical reality that Our Lord came through the womb.”
Ribbons representing lives saved from abortion according to Catholic organizations are seen on Nacimiento Gaudium, a Nativity scene set in the Paul VI Hall during an audience led by Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican.(AP)
“The Nativity is one of the most depicted scenes in the history of the world, and it represents that great meeting between Heaven and earth, Christ coming into the world through a child nine months after the Annunciation,” he said. “So it’s absolutely beautiful. It puts emphasis on how we treat our unborn children with 72 million abortions around the world every year. It is by far the greatest moral crisis of our time, and we have to respond to that. We have to respond with great hope, and you don’t find a greater hope than Jesus coming into the world and being with us on Christmas Day.”
The pro-life leader also stated that the pope “is going to be a stronger voice than most people think” on the issue of abortion.
“I think he’s righting the ship,” Carney said. “I think he’s speaking with a little bit more clarity than what we saw from Pope Francis. Pope Leo has been very supportive of the pro-life movement. He’s certainly been very supportive of 40 Days for Life with this beautiful Nativity at the Vatican, so I’m very encouraged.”
Pope Leo pushes for peace and unity at Blue Mosque in Turkey – CBS News
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Pope Leo celebrated mass in Istanbul with Turkey’s Catholic community on Saturday. He also visited the famous Blue Mosque to address peace and unity across faiths. Chris Livesay has more.
Pope Leo XIV visited Istanbul’s iconic Blue Mosque on Saturday but didn’t stop to pray, as he opened an intense day of meetings and liturgies with Turkey’s Christian leaders, where he again emphasized the need for Christians to be united.
Leo took his shoes off and, in his white socks, toured the 17th-century mosque, looking up at its soaring tiled domes and the Arabic inscriptions on its columns as an imam pointed them out to him.
The Vatican had said Leo would observe a “brief moment of silent prayer” in the mosque, but he didn’t. An imam of the mosque, Asgin Tunca, said he had invited Leo to pray, since the mosque was “Allah’s house,” but the pope declined.
Later, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said: “The pope experienced his visit to the mosque in silence, in a spirit of contemplation and listening, with deep respect for the place and the faith of those who gather there in prayer.”
The Vatican then sent out a corrected version of its bulletin about the trip, removing reference to the planned “brief moment of silent prayer,” without further explanation.
Leo, history’s first American pope, was following in the footsteps of his recent predecessors, who all made high-profile visits to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, as it is officially known, in a gesture of respect to Turkey’s Muslim majority.
Pope Leo XIV, center, walking with Muezzin Musa Asgın Tunca, left, Dr. Emrullah Tuncel, second from left, and Imam of Mosque Sultanahmet Fatih Kaya, visits the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.
Domenico Stinellis / AP
Papal visits to Blue Mosque often raise questions
Other visits have always raised questions about whether the pope would pray in the Muslim house of worship, or at the very least pause to gather thoughts in a meditative silence.
When Pope Benedict XVI visited Turkey in 2006, tensions were high because Benedict had offended many in the Muslim world a few months earlier with a speech in Regensburg, Germany that was widely interpreted as linking Islam and violence.
The Vatican added a visit to the Blue Mosque at the last minute in a bid to reach out to Muslims, and Benedict was warmly welcomed. He observed a moment of silent prayer, head bowed, as the imam prayed next to him, facing east.
Pope Benedict XVI, second from left, is guided by Istanbul’s Mufti Mustafa Cagrici, fourth from left, inside the Blue Mosque in Istanbul Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006.
AP Photo/Salih Zeki Fazlioglu
Benedict later thanked him “for this moment of prayer” for what was only the second time a pope had visited a mosque, after St. John Paul II visited one briefly in Syria in 2001.
There were no doubts in 2014 when Pope Francis visited the Blue Mosque: He stood for two minutes of silent prayer facing east, his head bowed, eyes closed and hands clasped in front of him. The Grand Mufti of Istanbul, Rahmi Yaran, told the pope afterwards, “May God accept it.”
Pope Francis visits the Blue Mosque on November 29, 2014 in Istanbul.
FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images
Speaking to reporters after the visit, the imam Tunca said he had told the Leo: “It’s not my house, not your house, (it’s the) house of Allah,” he said. He said he told the pope: “‘If you want, you can worship here,’ I said. But he said, ‘That’s OK.’”
“He wanted to see the mosque, wanted to feel (the) atmosphere of the mosque, I think. And was very pleased,” he said.
There was also another change to the official program, after the Vatican said the head of Turkey’s Diyanet religious affairs directorate would accompany Leo at the mosque. He didn’t come and a spokesman from the Diyanet said he wasn’t supposed to, since he had welcomed Leo in Ankara.
Hagia Sophia left off itinerary
Past popes have also visited the nearby Hagia Sophia landmark, once one of the most important historic cathedrals in Christianity and a United Nations-designated world heritage site.
But Leo left that visit off his itinerary on his first trip as pope. In July 2020, Turkey converted Hagia Sophia from a museum back into a mosque, a move that drew widespread international criticism, including from the Vatican.
After the mosque visit, Leo held a private meeting with Turkey’s Christian leaders at the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mor Ephrem. In the afternoon, he was expected to pray with the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Patriarch Bartholomew, at the patriarchal church of Saint George.
There, they were to sign a joint statement. The Vatican said in his remarks to the patriarchs gathered, Leo reminded them “that division among Christians is an obstacle to their witness.”
Pope Leo XIV visits the Ottoman-era Sultan Ahmed or Blue Mosque, in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.
Emrah Gurel / AP
He pointed to the next Holy Year to be celebrated by Christians, in 2033 on the anniversary of Christ’s crucifixion, and invited them to go to Jerusalem on “a journey that leads to full unity.”
Leo was ending the day with a Catholic Mass in Istanbul’s Volkswagen Arena for the country’s Catholic community, who number 33,000 in a country of more than 85 million people, most of whom are Sunni Muslim.
The Airbus software update doesn’t spare pope
While Leo was focusing on bolstering relations with Orthodox Christians and Muslims, trip organizers were dealing with more mundane issues.
Leo’s ITA Airways Airbus A320neo charter was among those caught up in the worldwide Airbus software update, ordered by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. The order came after an analysis found the computer code may have contributed to a sudden drop in the altitude of a JetBlue plane last month.
The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said Saturday that ITA was working on the issue. He said the necessary component to update the aircraft was on its way to Istanbul along with the technician who would install it.
Leo is scheduled to fly from Istanbul to Beirut, Lebanon, on Sunday afternoon for the second leg of his inaugural trip as pope.
Pope Leo XIV on Saturday accepted the resignation of an ailing Spanish bishop who is under church investigation for allegedly sexually abusing a young seminarian in the 1990s, the first known time the new pontiff removed a bishop accused of abuse.A one-line statement from the Vatican said Leo had accepted the resignation of Cádiz Bishop Rafael Zornoza, 76. It didn’t say why, but Zornoza submitted his resignation to the pope last year when he turned 75, the normal retirement age for bishops.It hadn’t been accepted though until the El País newspaper reported earlier this month that Zornoza had been recently placed under investigation by a church tribunal. The daily, which since 2018 has exposed decades of abuse and cover-up in the Spanish Catholic Church, said Zornoza was accused of abusing a young former seminarian while he was a young priest and directed the diocesan seminary in Getafe.The report, quoting a letter the former seminarian wrote the Vatican over the summer, said Zornoza fondled him and regularly slept with him from when he was 14-21 years old. The former seminarian’s letter said Zornoza heard his confession and persuaded him to see a psychiatrist to “cure” his homosexuality.The diocese of Cádiz denied the accusations against Zornoza but confirmed the investigation was being carried out by the church court in Madrid, known as the Rota. In a Nov. 10 statement, the diocese said Zornoza was cooperating with the investigation and had suspended his agenda temporarily “to clarify the facts and to undergo treatment for an aggressive form of cancer.”“The accusations made, referring to events that took place almost 30 years ago, are very serious and also false,” the statement said.It is believed to be the first publicly known case of a bishop being retired, and being placed under investigation for alleged abuse, since the Spanish church began reckoning in recent years with a decades-long legacy of abuse and cover-up that has rocked the once-staunchly Catholic Spain.Leo didn’t immediately name a temporary leader of the diocese.In 2023, Spain’s first official probe of abuse indicated that the number of victims could run into hundreds of thousands, based on a survey that was part of a report by the office of Spain’s ombudsman. The ombudsman conducted an 18-month independent investigation of 487 cases involving alleged victims who spoke with the ombudsman’s team.Spain’s Catholic bishops apologized but dismissed the interpretations of the ombudsman report as a “lie,” arguing that many more people had been abused outside of the church.The Spanish Catholic hierarchy then did its own report, saying in 2024 that it had found evidence of 728 sexual abusers within the church since 1945. It then launched a plan to compensate victims, after Spain’s government approved a plan to force the church to pay economic reparations.
Pope Leo XIV on Saturday accepted the resignation of an ailing Spanish bishop who is under church investigation for allegedly sexually abusing a young seminarian in the 1990s, the first known time the new pontiff removed a bishop accused of abuse.
A one-line statement from the Vatican said Leo had accepted the resignation of Cádiz Bishop Rafael Zornoza, 76. It didn’t say why, but Zornoza submitted his resignation to the pope last year when he turned 75, the normal retirement age for bishops.
It hadn’t been accepted though until the El País newspaper reported earlier this month that Zornoza had been recently placed under investigation by a church tribunal. The daily, which since 2018 has exposed decades of abuse and cover-up in the Spanish Catholic Church, said Zornoza was accused of abusing a young former seminarian while he was a young priest and directed the diocesan seminary in Getafe.
The report, quoting a letter the former seminarian wrote the Vatican over the summer, said Zornoza fondled him and regularly slept with him from when he was 14-21 years old. The former seminarian’s letter said Zornoza heard his confession and persuaded him to see a psychiatrist to “cure” his homosexuality.
The diocese of Cádiz denied the accusations against Zornoza but confirmed the investigation was being carried out by the church court in Madrid, known as the Rota. In a Nov. 10 statement, the diocese said Zornoza was cooperating with the investigation and had suspended his agenda temporarily “to clarify the facts and to undergo treatment for an aggressive form of cancer.”
“The accusations made, referring to events that took place almost 30 years ago, are very serious and also false,” the statement said.
It is believed to be the first publicly known case of a bishop being retired, and being placed under investigation for alleged abuse, since the Spanish church began reckoning in recent years with a decades-long legacy of abuse and cover-up that has rocked the once-staunchly Catholic Spain.
Leo didn’t immediately name a temporary leader of the diocese.
In 2023, Spain’s first official probe of abuse indicated that the number of victims could run into hundreds of thousands, based on a survey that was part of a report by the office of Spain’s ombudsman. The ombudsman conducted an 18-month independent investigation of 487 cases involving alleged victims who spoke with the ombudsman’s team.
Spain’s Catholic bishops apologized but dismissed the interpretations of the ombudsman report as a “lie,” arguing that many more people had been abused outside of the church.
The Spanish Catholic hierarchy then did its own report, saying in 2024 that it had found evidence of 728 sexual abusers within the church since 1945. It then launched a plan to compensate victims, after Spain’s government approved a plan to force the church to pay economic reparations.
Pope Leo XIV met with some of the rescued Ukrainian children who were kidnapped by Russian forces throughout the war as the Vatican ramps up its efforts to get all of the nearly 20,000 abducted kids home to Ukraine.
Klobuchar, who met with the pope for about 20 minutes along with a Ukrainian delegation, said it was an honor to meet him, calling him “a true moral force for peace and justice.”
Klobuchar, Hennepin County’s former top prosecutor, has led on human trafficking issues in the Senate.
“Any path towards peace must start with returning the kidnapped children,” Klobuchar said. “A lot of this are children that are in bombed out areas, orphanages that were bombed out.”
The minute sports fans found out there was a new American pope and he’d been born in Chicago, every American sports fan had one thought: was he a Cubs or White Sox fan?
Soon, news emerged that he was a White Sox fan — not without a false report, however, that he was a Cubs fan — and shortly thereafter footage emerged that not only was the newly christened Pope Leo XIV a fan, he’d been in the stands for the 2005 World Series, which the White Sox won in a series sweep.
Justin Ishbia, Ambassador Brian Burch and Clay Travis with an autographed World Series 2005 jersey signed by all the players seen on the left, as Pope Leo XIV is seen on the right.(OutKick; Reuters)
Pope Leo, born Robert Prevost, was elected as pope in May of 2025 and then one month later it was announced that my Vanderbilt law school friend and classmate Justin Ishbia was buying the Chicago White Sox.
The two of us were chatting about fun ways Justin could introduce himself to Chicago sports fans and I tossed out an idea — we should travel to the Vatican and invite Pope Leo to throw out the first pitch at a planned new White Sox stadium.
After all, Pope Leo was a big enough White Sox fan that he’d attended the World Series 20 years ago as a fan in the crowd. Sure, he’s the pope now, but deep down he, like all of us, is a diehard sports fan.
We were both convinced the idea was a good one, but it presented a challenge: how do you get a meeting with the pope to invite him to throw out the first pitch?
Pope Leo XIV waves to the faithful ahead of his inauguration Mass in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, on May 18, 2025.(David Ramos/Getty Images)
It’s not like you can just call the Vatican and ask to speak to the pope’s people.
Ultimately we hit on our answer: Vatican ambassador Brian Burch, who lived in Chicago with his family prior to his confirmation as ambassador.
Luckily, Ambassador Burch loved the idea and, this morning in Vatican City, Justin and his wife Kristen met the pope, delivered a team autographed 2005 White Sox World Series replica jersey, and conveyed the first pitch invitation to Pope Leo, who said yes so long as his schedule permits. (It turns out the pope is kind of busy).
“I requested His Holiness Pope Leo XIV bless the anticipated new home of the White Sox and pray that he lifts the team and Chicago in peace and strength,” Ishbia told OutKick.
So, the result, as many of you have likely seen on social media already, is an awesome one — the first ever American-born pope will hopefully be throwing out the first pitch in a new Chicago White Sox stadium, which will potentially mark the first time the pope has visited Chicago since 1979.
Pope Leo XIV prays over members of the international media in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on May 12, 2025. (Domenico Stinellis)
Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday strongly affirmed U.S. bishops’ message condemning the Trump administration’s immigration sweeps, calling on Americans to listen to the migrants and treat them humanely and with dignity.
The pope was asked about the “special message” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted during their general assembly last week in Baltimore.
The bishops blasted President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda and the “vilification” of migrants, expressing concern over the fear and anxiety immigration raids stoking in communities, as well as the denial of pastoral care to migrants in detention centers.
“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” the bishops’ statement reads. “We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care,” reads the bishops’ statement, which also opposed “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”
Pope Leo XIV waves to the faithful after a special mass for the Jubilee of the poor, in St. Peter’s Square at The Vatican, Sunday, Nov.16, 2025.(AP)
Leo, the first American pope, said he appreciated the U.S. bishops’ message and encouraged Catholics and all people of goodwill to listen to treat migrants with dignity, even if they are in the country illegally.
“I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have,” Leo told reporters. “If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts, there’s a system of justice.”
The pope has previously urged local bishops to speak out on social justice concerns. Catholic leaders have been criticizing Trump’s mass deportation plan, as fear of immigration raids has slashed Mass attendance at some parishes.
Catholic leaders have been criticizing Trump’s mass deportation plan, as fear of immigration raids has slashed Mass attendance at some parishes.(Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP/Getty Images)
The federal government earlier this year reversed a Biden administration directive prohibiting immigration agents from carrying out raids at sensitive areas such as churches, schools and hospitals.
Leo acknowledged problems with the U.S. migration system, but he emphasized that nobody has argued for the U.S. to have open borders and that every country may choose who can enter and the methods to do so.
“But when people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful to say the least — and there’s been some violence unfortunately — I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said,” he told reporters as he left the papal country house south of Rome.
The pope said he appreciated the U.S. bishops’ message and encouraged Catholics and all people of goodwill to listen to treat migrants with dignity.(Getty Images)
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV welcomed Spike Lee, Cate Blanchett, Greta Gerwig and dozens of other Hollywood luminaries to a special Vatican audience Saturday celebrating cinema and its ability to inspire and unite.
Leo encouraged the filmmakers and celebrities gathered in a frescoed Vatican audience hall to use their art to include marginal voices, calling film “a popular art in the noblest sense, intended for and accessible to all.”
“When cinema is authentic, it does not merely console, but challenges,” he told the stars. “It articulates the questions that dwell within us, and sometimes, even provokes tears that we didn’t know we needed to shed.”
The encounter, organized by the Vatican’s culture ministry, followed similar audiences Pope Francis had in recent years with famous artists and comedians. It’s part of the Vatican’s efforts to reach out beyond the Catholic Church to engage with the secular world.
But the gathering also seemed to have particular meaning for history’s first American pope, who grew up in the heyday of Hollywood. The 70-year-old, Chicago-born Leo just this week identified his four favorite films: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Sound of Music,” “Ordinary People,” and “Life Is Beautiful.”
Pope Leo XIV meets with Spike Lee during an audience with and stars directors from the cinema at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (Vatican Media Via AP)
Pope Leo XIV meets with Spike Lee during an audience with and stars directors from the cinema at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (Vatican Media Via AP)
In a sign of how seemingly star-struck he was, Leo spent nearly an hour after the audience greeting and chatting amiably with each of the participants, something he rarely does for large audiences.
Drawing applause from the celebrities, Leo acknowledged that the film industry and cinemas around the world were experiencing a decline, with theaters that had once been important social and cultural meeting points disappearing from neighborhoods.
“I urge institutions not to give up, but to cooperate in affirming the social and cultural value” of movie theaters, he said.
Celebrities just happy to be invited
Many celebrities said they found Leo’s words inspiring, and expressed awe as they walked through the halls of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, where a light luncheon reception awaited them after the audience.
“It was a surprise to me that I even got invited,” Spike Lee told reporters along the red carpet gauntlet in the palace.
During the audience, Lee had presented Leo with a jersey from his beloved Knicks basketball team, featuring the number 14 and Leo’s name on the back. Leo is a known Chicago Bulls fan, but Lee said he told the pope that the Knicks now boast three players from the pope’s alma mater, Villanova University.
Actress Cate Blanchett leaves at the end of an audience of Pope Leo XIV with actors and directors from the cinema, at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Actress Cate Blanchett leaves at the end of an audience of Pope Leo XIV with actors and directors from the cinema, at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Blanchett, for her part, said the pope’s comments were inspiring because he understood the crucial role cinema can play in transcending borders and exploring sometimes difficult subjects in ways that aren’t divisive.
“Filmmaking is about entertainment, but it’s about including voices that are often marginalized and not shy away from the pain and complexity that we’re all living through right now,” she said.
She said Leo, in his comments about the experience of watching a film in a dark theatre, clearly understood the culturally important role cinemas can play.
“Sitting in the dark with strangers is a way in which we can reconnect to what unites us rather than what divides us,” she said.
A ‘hit and miss’ guest list that grew
The gathering drew a diverse group of filmmakers and actors, including many from Italy, like Monica Bellucci and Alba Rohrwacher. American actors included Chris O’Donnell, Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, his wife.
Director Sally Potter said she was impressed that Leo took the time to speak with each one of them. And she said she loved his comments about the value of silence and slowness in film.
“It was a good model of how to be and how to think about cinema,” she said, noting especially Leo’s defense of “slow cinema” and to not see the moving image just in terms of algorithms.
Actress Greta Gerwig leaves at the end of an audience of Pope Leo XIV with actors and directors from the cinema, at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Actress Greta Gerwig leaves at the end of an audience of Pope Leo XIV with actors and directors from the cinema, at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Director Gus Van Sant said he liked Leo’s vibe.
“He was very laid back, you know, he had a fantastic message of beauty in cinema,” he said.
Archbishop Paul Tighe, the No. 2 in the Vatican culture ministry, said the guest list was pulled together just in the last three months, with the help of the handful of contacts Vatican officials had in Hollywood, including Martin Scorsese.
The biggest hurdle, Tighe said, was convincing Hollywood agents that the invitation to come meet Leo wasn’t a hoax. In the end, as word spread, some figures approached the Vatican and asked to be invited.
“It’s an industry where people have their commitments months in advance and years in advance, so obviously it was a little hit and miss, but we’re very pleased and very proud” by the turnout, he said.
The aim of the encounter, he said, was to encourage an ongoing conversation with the world of culture, of which film is a fundamental part.
“It’s a very democratic art form,” Tighe said. Saturday’s audience, he said, was “the celebration of an art form that I think is touching the lives of so many people and therefore recognizing it and giving it its true importance.”
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Visual journalists Trisha Thomas and Isaia Montelione contributed.
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The Vatican shared the spotlight with Hollywood on Saturday as Pope Leo XIV hosted dozens of stars, including Cate Blanchett, Spike Lee and Monica Bellucci for a special audience celebrating the power of cinema.
The event, organized by the Vatican’s culture ministry, took place in a frescoed Vatican audience hall. Leo called on the attending artists to use their art to include marginalized voices and praised film to console and challenge audiences.
“It articulates the questions that dwell within us, and sometimes, even provokes tears that we did not know we needed to express,” Leo said.
The first U.S.-born pope also acknowledged the financial difficulties facing movie theaters. He said institutions should not give up, but “cooperate in affirming the social and cultural value” of theaters, drawing applause from the audience.
Pope Leo XIV poses with actors, filmmakers, directors, and scriptwriters during an audience at the Clementine Hall on November 15, 2025 in Vatican City.
Simone Risoluti – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool / Getty Images
“His speech was beautiful and very inspiring, about hope and our work in cinema. We’re glad we came,” said Judd Apatow, who attended the audience with his wife and fellow Hollywood star Leslie Mann.
“It was so inspiring,” Mann added.
Leo spent nearly an hour greeting guests and making conversation with each attendee. Lee, a basketball lover, gifted the pontiff a New York Knicks jersey that featured the No. 14 and Leo’s name on the back. Leo may be a known Chicago Bulls fan, but Lee said he told the pope that the Knicks’ current roster includes three players from Villanova University, the Holy Father’s alma mater. Lee said Leo’s words about film were “very, very moving.”
Pope Francis held similar audiences with artists and comedians. The audiences are part of the Vatican’s efforts to reach out beyond the Catholic Church to engage with the secular world.
Pope Leo XIV greets Spike Lee during an audience at the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace on November 15, 2025 in Vatican City.
Simone Risoluti – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool / Getty Images / Mario Tomassetti
A pope who “grew up with cinema”
Leo is the first American-born Pope and grew up during Hollywood’s heyday. Earlier this week, he listed his four favorite movies: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Sound of Music,” “Ordinary People,” and “Life Is Beautiful,” all classics that celebrate love and hope in the face of darkness. Leo will also be the subject of his own movie, a documentary from the Vatican that traces his life from Chicago to St. Peter’s.
“He is a pope who grew up with television and grew up with cinema, and it’s a natural (medium) to tell his story,” said Monsignor Paul Tighe, the Vatican’s culture secretary, in a conversation with CBS Saturday Morning.
Tighe said the large group of filmmakers and actors was pulled together during the last three months. Vatican officials used contacts in Hollywood, including Martin Scorsese, to help craft the list of attendees. The hardest part, Tighe said, was convincing Hollywood agents that the invitation wasn’t a hoax. Tighe told CBS Saturday Morning that he hopes the event shows that the Church embraces the arts, instead of just tolerating them.
“We have to trust that the artist, even when he or she is being provocative, is trying to wake us up, grab our attention, and make us think about things that are important,” Tighe said.
Pope Leo XIV hosts Hollywood at the Vatican – CBS News
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Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV hosted stars like Cate Blanchett and Spike Lee at the Vatican as part of an effort to deepen the dialogue between creativity and faith.
The Vatican on Saturday returned 62 artifacts to Indigenous peoples from Canada as part of the Catholic Church’s reckoning with its role in helping suppress Indigenous culture in the Americas.
Pope Leo XIV gave the artifacts, including an iconic Inuit kayak, and supporting documentation to a delegation of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops during an audience. According to a joint statement from the Vatican and Canadian church, the pieces were a gift and a “concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity.”
The items were part of the Vatican Museum’s ethnographic collection, known as the Anima Mundi museum. The collection has been a source of controversy for the Vatican amid the broader museum debate over the restitution of cultural goods taken from Indigenous peoples during colonial periods.
Most of the items in the Vatican collection were sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries for a 1925 exhibition in the Vatican gardens that was a highlight of that year’s Holy Year.
The Vatican insists the items were “gifts” to Pope Pius XI, who wanted to celebrate the church’s global reach, its missionaries and the lives of the Indigenous peoples they evangelized.
But historians, Indigenous groups and experts have long questioned whether the items could really have been offered freely, given the power imbalances at play in Catholic missions at the time. In those years, Catholic religious orders were helping to enforce the Canadian government’s forced assimilation policy of eliminating Indigenous traditions, which Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has called “cultural genocide.”
Part of that policy included confiscating items used in Indigenous spiritual and traditional rituals, such as the 1885 potlatch ban that prohibited the integral First Nations ceremony. Those confiscated items ended up in museums in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, as well as private collections.
Negotiations accelerate on returning items
Negotiations on returning the Vatican items accelerated after Pope Francis in 2022 met with Indigenous leaders who had traveled to the Vatican to receive his apology for the church’s role in running Canada’s disastrous residential schools. During their visit, they were shown some objects in the collection, including an Inuit kayak, wampum belts, war clubs and masks, and asked for them to be returned.
Pope Francis dons a headdress during a visit with Indigenous peoples at Maskwaci, the former Ermineskin Residential School, Monday, July 25, 2022, in Maskwacis, Alberta.
Eric Gay / AP
Francis later said he was in favor of returning the items and others in the Vatican collection on a case-by-case basis, saying: “In the case where you can return things, where it’s necessary to make a gesture, better to do it.”
The Vatican said Saturday the items were given back during the Holy Year, exactly 100 years after the 1925 exhibition where they were first exhibited in Rome.
“This is an act of ecclesial sharing, with which the Successor of Peter entrusts to the Church in Canada these artifacts, which bear witness to the history of the encounter between faith and the cultures of the Indigenous peoples,” said the joint statement from the Vatican and Canadian church.
It added that the Canadian Catholic hierarchy committed to ensuring that the artifacts are “properly safeguarded, respected and preserved.” Officials had previously said the Canadian bishops would receive the artifacts with the explicit understanding that the ultimate keepers will be the Indigenous communities themselves.
The items are expected to be taken first to the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec. There, experts and Indigenous groups will try to identify where the items originated, down to the specific community, and what should be done with them, officials said previously.
A process of reckoning with abuses
As part of its broader reckoning with the Catholic Church’s colonial past, the Vatican in 2023 formally repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery,” the theories backed by 15th-century “papal bulls” that legitimized the colonial-era seizure of Native lands that form the basis of some property laws today.
The statement marked a historic recognition of the Vatican’s own complicity in colonial-era abuses committed by European powers, even though it didn’t address Indigenous demands that the Vatican formally rescind the papal bulls themselves.
The Vatican on Saturday cited the 2023 repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery in its statement, saying Leo’s return of the artifacts concludes the “journey” initiated by Francis.
