VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday said Christ remains the Church’s hope amid war, slavery, sin, and the wounds of history, urging Christians to learn from Jesus a “school of freedom” rooted in the cross.

Speaking at the July 5 Angelus in a sunny and hot St. Peter’s Square, the pope reflected on the day’s Gospel, Matthew 11:25–30, in which Jesus praises the Father, “Lord of heaven and earth.”

“The Son of God made man reveals his love by including all creatures in this act of thanksgiving,” Pope Leo XIV said.

The pope said the Gospel reveals God’s preference for the humble and the small.

“The simplicity of such a spontaneous and joyful gesture reflects God’s way of acting: he delights in revealing himself ‘to infants,’ while remaining hidden ‘from the wise and the intelligent,’” he said.

Those who are “filled” with their own ideas, the pope said, fail to recognize Christ.

“Human wisdom thus becomes arrogance, and doctrine degenerates into pride,” he said. “By contrast, God’s true wisdom is revealed in the humility of the Incarnation, and his teaching is addressed above all to those who struggle: ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens,’ says the Lord.”

Pope Leo XIV said going to Jesus “means responding to his love and sharing in his life, even to the cross.”

“How can the weight of the cross be ‘easy’ and ‘light’?” the pope asked. “For one reason alone: because the Lord himself carries it with us, never leaving us alone in what burdens us.”

The pope said Christ takes upon himself “humanity wounded by evil in order to heal and care for it.”

“For this reason, our journey of following Christ is not an asceticism that mortifies,” he continued. “Rather, it is a school of freedom that takes seriously the drama of history and continually sheds light on its meaning, especially in its darkest moments.”

“Indeed, only in the cross of Jesus is evil overcome; only in his passion does our mortal weariness find consolation and redemption,” he said.

The pope then pointed to Christ as the answer to the world’s deepest suffering.

“In slavery, Christ is liberation. Amid the scourge of war, Christ is hope. In the hour of sin, Christ is forgiveness,” Pope Leo XIV said. “This is true wisdom and the path that we wish to walk together, united as disciples in his name.”

After the Angelus, the pope recalled the July 2 beatification of Father Francis Xavier Tru’o’ng Bǚu Diêp at the Shrine of Tac Say in Vietnam. The Vietnamese diocesan priest was killed in 1946 in hatred of the faith.

“Amid oppression and violence, he defended the rights of the people and did not abandon his parishioners,” the pope said. “May his intercession and prayers strengthen all those who proclaim the Gospel in situations of persecution today.”

Pope Leo XIV also greeted pilgrims from Brazil and the Choir of the University of Mérida in Venezuela, and renewed his prayers for the Venezuelan people.

“I continue to remember in my prayers the victims of the earthquake and all the Venezuelan people,” he said. “May the Lord sustain them in this time of great hardship.”

The Angelus came shortly before the Prefecture of the Papal Household announced that Pope Leo XIV would transfer Sunday afternoon to the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo for a period of rest until Monday, July 27.

During that period, all general, private, and special audiences will be suspended. General audiences will resume Wednesday, Aug. 5.

The Prefecture of the Papal Household also said the Sunday Angelus prayers during July will be prayed in Piazza della Libertà in Castel Gandolfo.

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 celebrated Mass Saturday on the island of Lampedusa, warning that migrants who have died crossing the Mediterranean are “victims both of decisions that were made and of decisions that were not made.”

In his homily at the Arena sports field July 4, the pope cited the Gospel parable of the Good Samaritan, saying residents of Lampedusa had seen “thousands of human beings fallen into the hands of robbers who have taken everything from them, beat them brutally and walked away, leaving them half-dead.”

“The sea has claimed the lives of others — those who did not manage to reach their hoped-for destination,” he said. “Yet we feel their presence, which challenges us no less than that of those who have landed in need of attention and aid.”

The pope arrived at the sports field in a Fiat Nuova Campagnola convertible, the same vehicle Pope Francis used during his July 8, 2013, visit to Lampedusa. The crowd greeted him with songs, waving arms, and yellow-and-white caps against the backdrop of the island’s sea and sky.

Before the liturgy, Lampedusa’s mayor presented the pope with a model of the island’s lighthouse. Pope Leo recalled Pope Francis’ closeness to the people of Lampedusa and said he had come not primarily to give speeches but to celebrate the Eucharist, the supreme sign of Christ’s presence.

The pope’s homily repeatedly returned to the theme of love — a love made concrete in compassion, hospitality, and the willingness to draw near to those in need.

“The Gospel resounds where peoples meet, people welcome one another, their lives intertwine and different cultures engage in dialogue,” he said. “It falls silent, however, when each person makes him or herself an island, avoiding contact and cutting off exchange.”

Citing the parable of the Good Samaritan, the pope said the encounter with those stripped of everything calls Christians “to be close to them.”

“This is the heart of the Gospel parable: we become neighbors by acting as neighbors,” he said.

Pope Leo thanked the people of Lampedusa for what he called the “miracle of compassion,” including the volunteers, organizations in Forum Lampedusa Solidale, civil authorities, the Coast Guard, local administrations, deacons, priests, religious sisters, doctors, psychologists, educators, security forces, and all those who serve migrants on the island.

“I greet the migrants who are here,” he added. “They themselves have not only received solidarity but have often shown it on their journey, as the poor helping the poorest.”

But the pope also warned against indifference, corruption, fear, prejudice, and policies that fail to respond to the scale of the crisis.

“Indifference to the common good and corruption in their countries of origin; a global economic system that generates poverty and exclusion; fear that fuels prejudice and contempt; the belief that such problems do not concern us; the criminal calculations of those who profit from the suffering of others; the slow and difficult transition from mere emergency management to the development of comprehensive and shared policies — all are present-day echoes of the haste to ‘pass by’ in the Gospel narrative,” he said.

Pope Leo also said religious belonging must never be used to exclude or discriminate.

“It is time to recognize and affirm that religious affiliation must never become a reason for discrimination, as if faith had boundaries rather than being a universal call to salvation,” he said. “There is no love of God without love of neighbor, and there is no neighbor if I do not draw near.”

From Lampedusa, which lies between Sicily and North Africa and has become a symbol of the migration crisis in the Mediterranean, the pope turned his attention to Europe.

“From this far-flung corner of Europe on the Mediterranean Sea, one can more clearly perceive the momentous challenge that the phenomenon of migration poses to European societies,” he said.

Europe, he continued, has “a unique potential” and therefore “a corresponding responsibility” to address migration in a comprehensive way — integrating immediate relief into “a long-term strategic plan capable of receiving, protecting, supporting and integrating migrants,” while also assisting developing countries so that “no one is forced to emigrate.”

The pope said the task belongs not only to public institutions but also to civil society and the Church.

Speaking directly to the people of Lampedusa, he also noted that tourism on the island can risk creating an “invisible wall” between vacationers and migrants who have survived shipwrecks.

“Have the courage to think differently,” he said, urging residents to help visitors become “more humane” through contact with the island’s charity and history.

“There is authentic rest when the meaning of life is rediscovered, and true well-being when the economy is just and fraternal,” the pope said. “In such an economy, care for creation and social friendship come together in a synthesis that humanity is seeking today.”

At the close of his homily, Pope Leo referred to the image of Our Lady of Safe Harbor, patroness of Lampedusa, placed near the altar.

“In God we all have a safe haven, and every Christian community is called to be a reflection of it on earth,” he said. He ended with the traditional local greeting: “O’scià!”

Before the Mass, the pope visited the cemetery of Lampedusa, where he placed flowers on the graves of migrants, pausing especially at the graves of children. The moment was marked by silence and strong wind.

He then went to the Porta d’Europa, the “Gateway to Europe” monument, where he briefly met a migrant family. A child gave him a soccer ball and read him a note.

“Dear pope, I am super excited to meet you. Ten years ago my story began here in Lampedusa. I was alone and had lost everything, especially my mother,” the child wrote.

The child said he had stopped crying only after someone gave him a ball made of paper.

“From that day, the ball has remained in my heart, and I have never stopped playing,” he wrote. “Now I hope that this ball I am giving you can reach another child and make him happy, just like me.”

The pope then moved toward the sea to pray alone. The wind swept away his white zucchetto, which fell into the water as he prayed near the sea.

Before heading to the Arena sports field, Pope Leo visited Molo Favaloro, where he blessed a plaque dedicating the dock to Pope Francis. There he greeted migrants accompanied by the Red Cross, as well as religious sisters who are among the first to welcome migrants arriving on the island.

The visit came a day after the U.S.-born Pope Leo, accepting the Liberty Medal awarded by the National Constitutional Center in Philadelphia, recalled how his native land had opened its doors to waves of immigrants, allowing them and their children to help build the nation’s future.

The pope has been critical of Trump administration policies on immigration, and the coincidence of his visit to Lampedusa with America’s 250th anniversary has been widely noted in the U.S.

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

Sources used: ACI Stampa Mass report and official English homily text .

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), whose members are known as “Lefebvrians,” rejected the recent excommunications decreed by the Vatican after consecrating four bishops without papal authorization on July 1 and asserted that the sanctions imposed are “objectively unjust and invalid.”

In a letter addressed to Pope Leo XIV, released on July 3, Father Davide Pagliarani, superior general of the SSPX, justified the episcopal consecrations that prompted the Vatican’s decree declaring the group to be in schism as “an extreme measure to save souls, amid the doctrinal and moral confusion in which the Church finds itself.”

“We in no way intend to replace the Church, and our sole purpose is to remain faithful to her,” wrote Pagliarani, who leads the group founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who died in 1991.

The group founded by Lefebvre aims to preserve the traditional liturgy as it existed prior to the reforms implemented after the Second Vatican Council while maintaining its opposition to aspects of the council’s teachings on ecumenism, religious freedom, and collegiality.

Lefebvre was excommunicated in 1988 after ordaining, without the permission of Pope John Paul II, four bishops: Alfonso de Galarreta of Spain, Bernard Fellay of Switzerland, Richard Williamson of England, and Bernard Tissier de Mallerais of France.

Amid attempts to build bridges of dialogue with the SSPX, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications in 2009 against the four bishops consecrated by Lefebvre.

Tissier de Mallerais and Williamson died in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Galarreta and Fellay, on the other hand, participated in the recent consecration of four new bishops on July 1, for which they were excommunicated once again.

‘We had asked for bread’

Using as the central theme of his argument the passage from the Gospel according to St. Luke (11:11–13), in which Jesus reminds his disciples that “if you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him,” Pagliarani asserted that “we had asked for bread — that is, a little understanding in the face of a sincere case of conscience, a gesture of fatherly compassion.”

“Unfortunately, we have received a stone,” he continued, noting that, instead of “fish” — that is, “the possibility of temporarily obtaining the necessary means to continue forming good priests ... unfortunately, we have received a snake.”

“We had asked for an egg, promising to return it as soon as possible,” he added. He affirmed that “the holy tradition we preserve in our souls belongs to the Church, our Mother” but “unfortunately, we have received a scorpion.”

The superior of the SSPX assured Leo XIV that the society does not accept the Vatican’s sanctions “in a spirit of bitterness or rebellion” but rather feel encouraged “to love the holy Church even more and to attend to her needs more than ever with all our strength.”

“We are certain that one day you yourself or one of your successors will wish to embrace the program of St. Pius X: ‘To restore all things in Christ,’” he said, noting that “on that day, the Holy Father will discover, with great joy and deep consolation, authentically Catholic souls — souls whose bond with the Church was never founded on the shifting sands of ambiguous dialogue but on the rock of Peter’s faith.”

‘Turn back!’: Leo XIV’s plea the SSPX ignored

In his letter, Pagliarani makes no mention of the Catholic Church’s repeated calls for dialogue, which date back to the pontificate of St. John Paul II with the creation of the Ecclesia Dei Commission and which reached one of their highest points in Benedict XVI’s decision to lift the excommunications of the four bishops consecrated by Lefebvre.

Pope Francis also reached out to the SSPX with decisions such as allowing sacramental confessions with its priests to be valid and lawful during the Jubilee of Mercy in 2016 — a decision he later extended beyond that year.

Pagliarani also did not address Pope Leo XIV’s direct plea to the Society of St. Pius X, asking the group not to commit “a schismatic act.”

“In this spirit, and filled with Christian affection, I implore and ask you with all my heart: Turn back!” the Holy Father wrote to them on June 30.

“I urge you to carefully consider the spiritual good of the faithful, because the schismatic act you would carry out would deprive them of the lawful — and in some cases, even valid — reception of the sacraments that they love and seek for their own sanctification,” the pope stated.

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 celebrated the contributions of Catholics and immigrants to the United States in an open letter to Americans for the country’s 250th anniversary.

The letter, dated June 25 and released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Friday, also highlighted the principles of religious freedom and the right to life.

Unknown block type "cdn77.asset", specify a component for it in the `components.types` option

Leo, the first U.S.-born pope, wrote that the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, “gave enduring voice to the ideals of liberty, equality, the pursuit of happiness, justice, and democratic self-government.”

The pope called religious freedom “among the most cherished of these principles,” writing that it is “central to the American promise, protecting both individual dignity and the peaceful coexistence of a diverse people.”

That freedom has allowed the Catholic Church to flourish in the U.S., serving the nation in many fields including “education, the preferential care for the poor, healthcare, and basic social services,” Leo wrote

The pope also underscored the importance for the country’s history of the “God-given dignity of every human life.” Recognizing that dignity means “safeguarding human life from its beginning at conception until natural death” and caring for the “vulnerable, the suffering, and the forgotten,” he wrote.

It also means “welcoming, protecting, and assisting immigrants,” who “have helped to shape the nation’s character,” Leo wrote.

The pope’s letter to Americans closed with an invocation of the “Immaculate Conception, patroness of this country, that she will continue to watch over America and protect all who dwell therein.”

The Vatican this week issued a decree declaring that the bishops involved in the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X’s illicit consecrations have incurred automatic excommunication and that the group is in schism with the Church.

The illicit ordinations occurred in Écône, Switzerland, on July 2 after Pope Leo XIV had urged the group to “turn back” and refrain from carrying out the unauthorized rite.

The SSPX is a controversial fraternity of priests known for their strict traditional celebration of the Latin Mass and opposition to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

The group for years has enjoyed a canonically irregular status within the Church, and the faithful have generally been permitted to attend Masses held by SSPX priests. Yet the declaration of schism has raised questions about whether or not Catholics can still attend those liturgies without incurring canonical penalties.

The Vatican recognizes that the faithful may be able to attend an SSPX Mass without suffering excommunication, so long as there is no “formal adherence” to the SSPX.

Formal adherence was described in an important 1996 explanatory note from the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, on the “Excommunication for Schism Incurred by Members of Bishop Marcel Lefebvre’s Movement,” which was cited in the new decree’s own explanatory note.

It described two key components: an internal one of freely and consciously sharing the substance of the schism and an external one of making outward expression of that choice, such as the exclusive participation in SSPX Masses.

Notably, in the 1996 note, Vatican officials recognized “that occasional participation in liturgical acts or activities of the Lefebvrian movement — without adopting the movement’s attitude of doctrinal and disciplinary disunity — is not sufficient to constitute formal adherence to the movement.”

It added that in pastoral practice, it is necessary “to take into account the person’s intention and how that inner disposition is translated into action,” and such situations should “be judged on a case-by-case basis by the competent authorities.”

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on July 2 sent a letter to bishops worldwide outlining the means by which clergy and faithful who have taken part in the schism with the Church can return to full communion with the faith.

The letter stipulated that penalties for lay faithful who belong to SSPX “cannot be presumed automatically, but must be assessed case by case.”

The dicastery said that “imputably” in the matter “requires full awareness and deliberate consent.”

Some cases in which laypeople are not considered “imputable,” the dicastery said, include those who have attended SSPX Masses “only for liturgical or spiritual reasons,” along with those who “do not reject the magisterium or the authority of the Roman pontiff.”

‘Strongly discouraged’ for risk of schism, scandal

Nevertheless, the new decree’s explanatory note strongly admonishes the faithful “to remain firmly united with the Roman pontiff, with the bishops in communion with him, and with the entire Church … and to refrain from participating in the celebrations and activities organized by the aforementioned Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X.”

Ronald Bolster, an associate professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and dean of the theology school there, said it would be “inappropriate and strongly discouraged to participate in the liturgies and activities” of the SSPX.

To do so, he argued, “would imply support for their schismatic act.”

“Participation could also be a cause of scandal, causing others to consider that such participation is appropriate, and more broadly, suggest that the laws of the Church and the authority of the vicar of Christ can be dismissed or disregarded without consequence,” he said.

William Newton, a theology professor and the chair of Franciscan University’s theology department, also argued that Catholics who attend SSPX Masses “collaborate” in the schism, though he noted that there are degrees of responsibility associated with it.

“Certainly, the culpability for this collaboration can vary as with any sin, because of ignorance or lack of freedom of will,” he said.

“However, the schismatic character of the SSPX has been confirmed by the Church, so ignorance, while still possible, cannot be assumed,” he added.

He noted that there are “alternative valid Masses available to the faithful,” which he said “makes the choice to attend an SSPX Mass that much more likely to be willful collaboration with schism.”

The faithful “should not attend a Mass of the SSPX,” he argued.

Bolster described the schism event as a “most unfortunate situation.”

He urged Catholics to “join Pope Leo in praying that the concerns which have motivated this division can be addressed without further loss of unity. “

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was last month even firmer in saying Catholics should not attend SSPX Masses.

In his exclusive interview with EWTN News just days before the illicit consecrations, the cardinal was asked what faithful drawn to SSPX Masses should do if a schism follows. Müller said forcefully that they “shouldn’t go, and cannot participate in the Masses of schismatic priests and bishops.”

Peter’s Pence, the Holy See’s fund that gathers donations for the pope’s charitable works and the needs of the universal Church, closed 2025 with an income of 57.6 million euros ($65.8 million) and expenses of 59.8 million euros ($68.3 million).

The Vatican attributes the 2.2-million-euro ($2.5 million) deficit to currency exchange rate fluctuations, according to a report published June 30. In 2024, 58 million euros ($66.3 million) were raised.

The donations received total 54.5 million euros ($62.3 million) and came primarily from dioceses around the world (63.6%), followed by foundations, private donors, and religious institutes. The remaining 3.1 million euros came from other income, according to the Vatican.

Contributions from the United States (14.2 million euros, or $16.2 million) were particularly notable, followed by those from other countries such as Italy, Brazil, South Korea, Germany, France, and Spain.

Most donations are channeled through parish collections, direct donations including transfers and online methods, and inheritance legacies.

Of the total donations, 41.2 million euros ($47.1 million) were used to support the activities of the Holy See in the service of the Holy Fatherʼs apostolic mission, and 13.3 million euros ($15.2 million) went to projects providing direct assistance to people in need in 74 countries.

A total of 252 projects were funded, with a special focus on evangelization, humanitarian aid, and the strengthening of local churches in need.

The projects supported by the Holy See include educational and social initiatives as well as support for ecclesial communities, particularly in Africa and Asia.

Aid in Europe also includes scholarships for priests, seminarians, and religious from Africa, Latin America, and Asia, as well as humanitarian aid for the people of Ukraine.

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.

Two bishops of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) — Spaniard Alfonso de Galarreta and Swiss Bernard Fellay — incurred automatic excommunication by committing the canonical offense of schism following the ordination of four bishops without the permission of Pope Leo XIV.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on July 2 declared that the SSPX is in a state of schism following the ordinations.

With this Vatican decision, Galarreta and Fellay represent a unique case: They have each been excommunicated twice.

Against the will of St. John Paul II, both were consecrated bishops in 1988 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the SSPX, thereby incurring the penalty of schism and excommunication. Pope Benedict XVI pardoned them in 2009.

Fellay entered the Écône, Switzerland, seminary in 1977 and was ordained a priest in 1982. After serving as the societyʼs bursar general, he was elected superior of the SSPX in 1994, a position he held until 2012.

During his tenure, a certain rapprochement took place between the SSPX and the Vatican, leading to Pope Benedict XVIʼs decision to lift the excommunication in January 2009.

However, this decision did not eliminate the illegitimacy of his ministry, as the Bavarian pontiff explained in a letter published in March of the same year.

De Galarreta was born in Torrelavega, Spain, and his family emigrated to Argentina, where he entered the La Plata seminary in 1975. Rejecting the reforms driven by the Second Vatican Council, he decided to transfer to the Écône seminary in 1978.

Lefebvre ordained him a priest in Buenos Aires in 1980. Five years later, de Galarreta assumed the role of superior of the fraternityʼs South American district.

He was subsequently assigned as superior of the Autonomous House in Spain and served as the director of the Our Lady Co-Redemptrix Seminary in La Reja, Argentina.

Following the 2018 election of Father Davide Pagliarani as superior of the SSPX, Galarreta was promoted to first assistant general of the society.

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.

Editor’s Note: The following is the keynote address delivered by Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization, to young Catholic media professionals and guests during the closing dinner of the 2026 EWTN Summer Academy on July 1 in Rome.

Gratitude and hope

Allow me to begin by expressing my heartfelt gratitude for the invitation to address you at the Summer Academy 2026. This gathering fills me with much hope and joy. It gladdens my heart to see young Catholic photographers, writers, filmmakers, reporters, editors, broadcasters, content creators, storytellers, and media influencers coming together, not merely to improve their technical and professional skills in media and journalism but to discern how they can use their talents and gifts to serve Christ and his Church. The concept note you shared with me clearly reflects your desire to uphold the truth, promote human dignity, and proclaim the Gospel.

The digital highway and the importance of Catholic journalists

We live in an age where communication shapes public opinion, forms worldviews, influences values, and even determines how many people understand themselves. The internet has collapsed geographical boundaries and made the world a global village. A young journalist in Nairobi can influence someone in São Paulo and shape the imagination of another young person thousands of miles away. A podcast recorded in Manila can inspire a student in Rome. A short video uploaded in Lagos can be watched in Sydney within minutes.

Your generation has been entrusted with something unprecedented. Never before has a generation possessed such extraordinary power to shape minds, influence culture, and connect people across the world. A smartphone today is more than a device; it is a newsroom, a publishing house, a television studio, a camera, a library, and a doorway into the lives of millions. That is a remarkable gift. It is also a profound responsibility. That is why the Church needs grounded and properly formed Catholic journalists. The Church needs communicators who are competent, credible, courageous, creative, and rooted in Christ.

Disciples first: Communicating truth in a digital age of trends

For this keynote, I would like to invite us to reflect on the theme, “Disciples Before Influencers: Communicating Truth in a Digital Age of Trends.” I can think of no more fitting place to begin than with the final commission of the risen Lord: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). These words were never intended only for priests, bishops, religious, or catechists. They express the missionary vocation of the whole Church. Every baptized Christian is sent to bear witness to Christ. More than 2,000 years have passed since Jesus entrusted the Church with this mission, yet those words have lost none of their urgency, none of their relevance, and none of their power.

The mission has not changed. What has changed is not the mission but the roads that lead to the nations. In the first century, the apostles traveled by foot and by sea. Today, “all nations” are also found on the digital highway. They gather on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, X, podcasts, blogs, news platforms, and countless online communities. The digital world has become one of the great mission fields of our time, where ideas are exchanged, cultures are shaped, public opinion is formed, and millions of people search each day for truth, hope, meaning, and belonging. If this is where people gather, then this is where the disciples of Christ must also be present, not merely to attract attention but to bear witness to the Gospel with wisdom, integrity, and love.

Our greatest challenge today is not technology. It is truth. We live in a culture fascinated by what is trending. Every day we ask what is going viral, what is gaining attention, what everyone is talking about. These are not unimportant questions, but they are not the most important question. The Christian disciple must ask a deeper question: Is it true? Trends come and go. They change with every season, every algorithm, and every generation. Truth does not.

Jesus prayed to the Father: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (Jn 17:17). Truth is not simply what receives the most likes or the loudest applause. Truth is that which corresponds to God’s reality and reflects God’s character. Because God is faithful, truth remains faithful. Because God is just, truth remains just. Because God is merciful, truth is never separated from compassion. Christians therefore do not choose between truth and love. We speak the truth in love because both have their source in God.

This is why your vocation as young Catholic journalists and communicators matters so deeply. Your task is not merely to produce content but to cultivate trust; not merely to report events but to help people see reality clearly; not merely to increase traffic but to increase understanding. The world does not simply need faster news. It needs wiser voices. It needs communicators whose credibility is rooted not only in professional competence but also in moral integrity. Before the Church asks us to become communicators, she asks us to become disciples. Discipleship always comes before influence.

Moses and the digital age: When we sit, walk, lie down, and rise

Moses understood this long before the invention of the internet. In Deuteronomy, he tells Israel: “You shall teach them diligently … and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise” (Dt 6:7). He was describing a life in which God’s truth fills every ordinary moment. Today we still sit, walk, lie down, and rise, but often with a screen in our hands. We sit before our laptops, walk with our phones, lie down after scrolling, and wake up to notifications. The platforms have changed; the mission has not. We are still called to carry God’s truth into every space where people live, search, question, and communicate. The digital world is not outside the mission of the Church; it has become one of its principal frontiers.

4 frontiers for the digital disciple

As you prepare to enter this world, allow me to leave you with four fraternal invitations. First, build your mind before you build your platform. Read Scripture before you scroll. Study deeply. Learn continuously. A shallow mind cannot communicate a profound Gospel. Second, let every digital road become a road to Christ. Every article, photograph, interview, or documentary can defend human dignity, inspire hope, and serve the common good. Third, protect your interior life. Do not allow constant connectivity to rob you of silence, prayer, and reflection. A communicator who never listens to God will eventually have little of worth to say to the world. Finally, begin each day as a disciple before you become a journalist, a content creator, or an influencer. Your identity is not determined by followers, algorithms, or statistics. It is rooted in your baptism and your friendship with Jesus Christ.

Disciples first before influencers

Dear friends, the future of Catholic communication will not be decided by technology alone. It will be decided by the kind of people we become. The world does not need more noise. It needs more light. It does not need more influencers; it needs credible witnesses. Go, therefore, into the digital world with professional excellence, intellectual honesty, moral courage, and living faith. But above all, go as disciples. For when disciples communicate with truth, humility, and love, they do more than inform minds: They open hearts to an encounter with Jesus Christ, who is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6).

Finally, a word about artificial intelligence. It is one of the greatest technological developments of our time, and like every great tool, it should be welcomed with wisdom and used responsibly. Let it assist your work, but never replace your thinking. Let it expand your research, but never substitute your judgment. Above all, never outsource your memory, your conscience, your imagination or your capacity for wonder. Machines can process information, but they cannot love. They can generate text, but they cannot bear witness. They can imitate intelligence, but they cannot become disciples. Use artificial intelligence as a tool, but never surrender your agency, your gifts, your creativity, or your responsibility. Place every technology at the service of truth, humanity, and the Gospel.

Above all, remember that Catholic is not a label; it is an identity you embody. And a disciple is a living example and indeed a sample of Christ. May others encounter Christ through you, dear Catholic journalists and communicators.

Pope Leo XIV will follow in his predecessor Pope Francis’ footsteps with a visit to a major migrant landing point, the Italian island of Lampedusa, on July 4.

Continuing his summer of day trips in Italy, the first U.S.-born pope will spend the U.S. Independence Day greeting immigrants, celebrating Mass, and visiting the tombs of Africans who have died at sea while making the dangerous boat crossing to Europe.

Lampedusa, which is part of the Italian region of Sicily, is only about 80 miles from Tunisia and a main gateway for Africans escaping poverty and violence to enter the continent of Europe.

When Pope Francis traveled to Lampedusa on July 8, 2013, his first official trip outside of Rome, the small island was experiencing frequent landings of boats carrying hundreds of migrants and refugees from Africa — those who managed to survive the deadly crossing in search of a better life.

During his visit, Francis celebrated Mass at an altar made from a migrant boat and threw a wreath of white and yellow flowers into the sea to remember those who had lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea.

Commenting on the capsize of a dingy carrying migrants in the Strait of Sicily just weeks beforehand, the pope said he was saddened by a tragedy that “has been repeated so many times.”

“I felt I had to come here today to pray. To show my solidarity, but also to awaken our consciences, so that what happened will not happen again. Please, let it not happen again,” he urged.

Just months later, in October 2013, at least 300 people died when a boat carrying more than 500 migrants, mostly from Eritrea and Somalia, sank off the coast of Lampedusa.

The same year, one of the island’s southern beaches was voted the world’s best beach by travel site TripAdvisor, underlining Lampedusa’s contrasting identities as both a migrant landing point and popular summer beach destination.

Now, Pope Leo will fly to the same island, whose 6,000 permanent inhabitants are inundated every year by tens of thousands of immigrants who arrive on boats run by people smugglers — the same human traffickers Leo forcefully denounced last month during a visit to another major European port of entry, the island of Tenerife, in Spain.

“Repent while there is still time,” he said, “for God’s mercy can reach even the most hardened sinner, but it enters only through the narrow gate of truth, justice, and conversion.”

The day before, the Holy Father also addressed immigration at the port of Arguineguín, on the coast of Gran Canaria. Human dignity, he said, “requires legal and safe routes, rescue and assistance, real cooperation against traffickers, effective protection for victims, serious processes of welcome and integration, and policies that allow each person to live with dignity in his or her own land.”

While the numbers are lower than the height of the migrant crisis more than a decade ago, Lampedusa continues to be the main port of disembarkation for migrants in Italy, with more than 49,500 refugees and migrants landing on its coasts in 2025, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Leo will mark this reality on July 4 with a stop at the Gateway to Europe memorial, a 16-foot-tall terracotta and iron arch situated on the tip of Cavallo Bianco, a cliff facing south toward Tunisia, not far from the island’s commercial port.

He will also leave flowers at the tombs of shipwreck victims and address migrants at Favaloro Pier, which will be renamed in honor of Pope Francis.

The morning will conclude with the celebration of Mass, where an image of the island’s patroness, Our Lady of Portosalvo (“safe port” in English), will be present.

The Vatican has released a new documentary, “Leone a Roma,” about Pope Leo XIV’s early years in Rome before his election to the papacy.

Following its previous documentaries, “León de Perú” and “Leo from Chicago,” the documentary premiered July 1 on the Vatican News YouTube channels in English, Italian, and Spanish.

The documentary covers the then-Father Robert Prevost’s nearly two decades in the Eternal City. He first came to Rome to study canon law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas from 1981 to 1987, served as prior general of the Augustinians from 2001 to 2013, and led the Dicastery for Bishops from 2023 to 2025.

Prevost’s trips and fun moments with Augustinians

Many of his former Augustinian confreres reminisce about their time with Prevost, particularly their trips with him throughout Italy. Father Giovanni Lenzi, OSA, speaking to Vatican News, reflected on those trips with fondness.

“We went on trips to various parts of Italy, both in Sicily and to the north, up in Trentino, but also to various places where our houses were located, our Augustinian houses in Liguria,” Lenzi told Vatican News.

An early photo of Robert Prevost from the Midwest Augustinian Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel. | Credit: Photo courtesy of the Midwest Augustinian Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel

Prevost is also remembered for his lighthearted moments with his fellow Augustinians. Father Ciro Musiello, OSA, recalls a particular prank Prevost and others played on him.

“One time we were doing spiritual exercises with the Jesuit fathers. [Prevost and others] said to me, ‘Here, we’d like to offer you a candy.’ So I thought it was candy, but instead it was a laxative tablet.”

“As a result, while I was in the chapel, I had to run to the bathroom,” Musiello recounted to Vatican News.

Serving as Augustinian prior general for 12 years required Prevost to travel frequently to meet other Augustinians worldwide. Father Miguel Ángel Martín Juárez, OSA, expressed surprise that Prevost could do it all while based in Rome.

“He traveled. He had a provincial chapter in Australia, then on the way back, he would stop to visit a province, who knows which one.”

“Then he would arrive here [at the Augustinian General Curia in Rome] in the afternoon, maybe after the whole night on a plane. In the afternoon, he was already working in the office. It was tremendous physical and also mental endurance,” Juárez told Vatican News.

Service in helping the pope select the world’s bishops

Raised to the cardinalate by Pope Francis in 2023, Prevost returned to Rome that year after serving as a bishop in Peru to serve as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. This was his most recent post before he was elected Pope Leo XIV in 2025.

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost served as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops from 2023 to his election as Pope Leo XIV in 2025. | Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

María Lía Zervino, a member of the dicastery, remembers Prevost for his thoughtfulness and listening while serving as its leader.

“It was clear that he had this way of listening, of gathering what others had to say, of reasoning about it, to do with his own imprint,” Zervino told Vatican News. “So he is used to working with this kind of discernment and has no problem making a decision.”

One day after the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) consecrated four bishops without the permission of Pope Leo XIV, the Vatican issued a decree declaring the excommunication of all bishops involved in the ceremony.

Published on July 2 by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the decree specified that the consecrating bishops, Bishops Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard Fellay, as well as the four bishops consecrated, Bishops Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, and Marc Hanappier, have incurred excommunication latae sententiae for performing the consecrations. These excommunications, according to canon law, can only be removed by the pope.

The decree also warned Catholic clergy and lay faithful not to adhere to the SSPX’s “schism,” under penalty of automatic excommunication.

The decree, in an explanatory note, lamented that doctrinal discussions between the Holy See and the SSPX, since the time of St. Paul VI, have not resulted in the society’s full communion with the Holy See.

The Vatican stated on May 13 that the consecrations would be a schismatic act, resulting in automatic excommunication for the consecrating bishops and those consecrated. The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, later called the SSPX’s act “schismatic”.

Pope Leo XIV even issued a final appeal to the society not to proceed with these consecrations.

“In this spirit, and filled with Christian affection, I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: Please turn back,” Leo wrote in his letter.

In 1988, after Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the founder of the SSPX, consecrated bishops without a papal mandate, the Vatican responded two days later, notifying him and the consecrated bishops of their automatic excommunication.

The SSPX exclusively celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass and has rejected certain teachings and reforms of the Second Vatican Council, particularly regarding religious freedom and the Church’s approach to other faiths.

ROME — Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said Wednesday that the episcopal ordinations carried out earlier in the day without papal mandate by the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) constitute a schismatic act.

“I don’t think there is much to say about this episode,” Parolin said at an event July 1. “First of all, I want to express great sorrow. I want to express great sorrow because, speaking of the unity of the Church, an act like this deeply wounds the unity of the Church.”

The cardinal was commenting on the episcopal ordination of four new bishops at the SSPX headquarters in Switzerland.

“Evidently this is in itself a schismatic act, because we know that episcopal ordinations without pontifical mandate break the unity of the Church and are also subject to very precise sanctions, which are fundamentally excommunication,” Parolin said.

The cardinal said he did not know “the timing and the manner” in which the excommunication would be formally addressed.

“My hope is that, despite what happened today, dialogue can resume and that a solution can truly be found here as well,” he said. “The fundamental point is the council — that is, whether or not to accept the Second Vatican Council.”

“One certainly cannot think that the history of the Church stops at a certain point,” Parolin continued. “The history of the Church continues, and therefore the Second Vatican Council is a milestone in the history of the Church that must be accepted and implemented in the right way.”

Parolin added that “despite this serious wound that has been produced,” he hopes dialogue with the SSPX can resume and “paths can be found that make it possible to resolve this problem.”

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.

The Vatican Museums has launched an ambitious restoration to the frescoes of the Hall of Raphael in the Apostolic Palace, expected to take five years and to cost 5.5 million euros (around $6.3 million).

The Renaissance frescoes — which date to the early 16th century and have been virtually untouched since their creation — are in dire need of cleaning and repairing, according to the Vatican Museums.

A team of over 20 conservators began the delicate work, utilizing laser technology, on April 15. The process is expected to conclude in 2031.

A view of the west wing of the second loggia, or second floor, of the Apostolic Palace, also known as the Hall of Raphael, decorated in the 16th century from designs by the High Renaissance painter Raphael. | Credit: A. Bracchetti/Vatican City State Governorate/Vatican Museums Directorate

The corridor, which is 210 feet long and 13 feet wide, boasts nearly 14,000 square feet of frescoes and stucco work designed by Raphael and executed between 1517 and 1519 by Raphael’s assistants, Giulio Romano, Giovanni da Udine, and Perin del Vaga. The designs include scenes from the Old Testament, botanical designs, and grotesques.

Raphael, a prominent artist and architect of the High Renaissance, had been commissioned by Pope Julius II to decorate the papal apartment of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. Pope Leo X brought the artist back to decorate one of the loggias, a hall on the west wing of the second floor, overlooking the Courtyard of St. Damasus.

The decorated hall, also known as the Loggia of Raphael, was “immediately considered one of the highest expressions of Renaissance art applied to architecture,” per a June 24 press release from the Vatican Museums. “It is still today one of the most refined testimonies of the figurative language of the early 16th century.”

One of a team of over 20 restorers uses adhesive injections to stabilize the paint film of the frescoes in the Hall of Raphael in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace in June 2026. | Credit: Painting and Wood Materials Restoration Laboratory of the Vatican Museums/Governorate of Vatican City State/Vatican Museums Directorate

The hall is “a passageway long traversed by cardinals, high prelates, and ambassadors visiting the pope, admired and copied by the greatest Italian and foreign artists and an essential destination of the Grand Tour,” said Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, quoted in the statement.

The conservation work “will mark a pivotal moment both in the history of restoration and in the history of Italian Renaissance art,” she said.

The cost of the project, which is the first-ever major restoration of the frescoes, is sponsored by the World Monuments Fund and the Stephen A. Schwarzman Foundation.

Delicate restoration process A conservator assesses the result of the paint film lifting on the frescoes in the Hall of Raphael in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. | Credit: Painting and Wood Materials Restoration Laboratory of the Vatican Museums/Governorate of Vatican City State/Vatican Museums Directorate

Angela Cerreta, the director of the restoration, told the Spanish news outlet ABC in June that the paintings are not in a good condition: “It’s a very delicate surface and has been exposed to the elements for centuries. For many years, it was copied for fear of its loss.”

“We are meticulously analyzing the engravings to observe all the phases prior to the losses,” he said, explaining that in the 1970s, the Vatican attempted to restore the hall using inorganic products, but the result did not turn out well.

“Since then, a kind of negative legend has arisen about this hall, suggesting it was best left untouched," Cerreta told the Spanish news outlet. But between 2019 and 2023, conservators carried out additional restoration tests to find the right technology.

A conservationist removes surface dust from the Hall of Raphael in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace in June 2026. | Credit: Painting and Wood Materials Restoration Laboratory of the Vatican Museums/Vatican City State Governorate/Vatican Museums Directorate

The Vatican Museums’ chief restorer of paintings and wood materials, Paolo Violini, said that “Examination of the surface revealed the need to adopt a ‘dry’ cleaning method in order to preserve the delicate original layers and their fragile surviving traces, which are highly sensitive to the action of chemical procedures. Laser technology proved exceptionally effective in meeting this requirement.”

“Following a series of tests employing different systems and operating modes, an ‘active fiber’ model was selected for its versatility in managing the degree of cleaning, allowing for highly accurate and detailed control,” he said, per the statement.

Part of the restoration process will be the installation of a new lighting system and new filtered windows to protect the frescoes from ultraviolet radiation and to reduce solar heat. The cost of the lighting and windows is supported by the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums.

After the restoration concludes, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Foundation will cover the cost of digitizing the artwork, and the Vatican Museums is also weighing the possibility of opening the hallway to the public on specific dates.

Pope Leo XIV is not even two years into his pontificate and he is already facing one of the most delicate episodes of his ministry: a new rupture within the Church.

In a defiant move and despite repeated warnings from Rome, the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) went ahead Wednesday with the consecration of four new bishops without a pontifical mandate — an act of open disobedience to the authority of the pope that, under canon law, carries automatic excommunication for the six bishops involved.

The Vatican’s official response is now awaited and could include a formal declaration of schism, as Rome had warned in the days leading up to the ceremony.

In 1988, after Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the founder of the SSPX, consecrated bishops without a papal mandate, Rome responded two days later. On July 2, St. John Paul II published the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei, in which he spoke openly of a “rupture” of ecclesial communion and created a commission to help reconcile faithful linked to the society.

A schism is a tragedy for any pope. In the case of Pope Leo XIV, it also carries a more personal resonance: The pope belongs to the Augustinian order, the same religious family to which Martin Luther belonged, whose break with Rome helped lead to the Protestant Reformation and the fracturing of Western Christianity.

A repeated act of defiance

The illicit ceremony took place in a meadow in Écône, Switzerland, home to the SSPX international seminary — the same place where Lefebvre caused a rupture with Rome exactly 38 years ago by consecrating four bishops without the required pontifical mandate.

That act of defiance was repeated Wednesday, July 1, apparently without regret, despite the paternal plea in which Pope Leo XIV warned Tuesday of the “sin of extreme gravity” they were about to commit.

The ceremony was carried out by the two surviving bishops from the illicit 1988 consecrations. Spanish Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta presided as principal consecrator, assisted by Swiss Bishop Bernard Fellay as co-consecrator.

The new bishops — Swiss Father Pascal Schreiber; American Father Michael Goldade; and French Fathers Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier — were designated as auxiliaries of the society with the stated aim of serving the Church, though in practice the act marks a decisive step toward rupture.

Provocative symbolism

The ceremony included several elements loaded with symbolism recalling — not without a certain provocation — the 1988 consecrations. The throne on which De Galarreta sat was the one once used by Lefebvre. The vestments worn by the bishops were those used by the four bishops ordained 38 years ago.

Thousands of faithful arrived hours early, many dressed in traditional attire and straw hats and carrying folding chairs, in an atmosphere that mixed celebration with solemnity. For the occasion, the SSPX even sold commemorative items, including an exclusive 75 Swiss franc box of wine — about $92.50 — called “Cuvée des Sacres,” featuring pinot noir, syrah, petit arvine, and fendant, with each bottle decorated with the image of one of the consecrated bishops.

De Galarreta whispered the liturgical formulas into the microphone, strictly in Latin, with his back to the 17,000 faithful present, according to organizers. Those gathered came from nearly 70 countries.

Without the pope’s mandate

Outwardly, the episcopal consecration followed a valid rite. But it lacked a key element to make it licit: the mandate of the pope.

The ceremony began with a solemn procession to an altar set up beneath a tent, with members of several religious orders linked to the SSPX taking part. Priests and religious sisters connected to the society sat in the front rows.

Many families were also present, following the rite on giant screens set up in the Swiss field.

In principle, those faithful did not automatically incur excommunication. Father Pierpaolo Dal Corso, an expert in penal and sacramental canon law, told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that such a penalty would apply only if they rejected the authority of the pope or the legitimacy of the Catholic Church.

In 1996, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts clarified that excommunication for schism does not automatically apply to those who attend SSPX celebrations. In the same line, canonist Monsignor William King told ACI Prensa that excommunication requires conscious adherence to the denial of the pope’s authority.

Before the rite of consecration, Father Davide Pagliarani, the SSPX superior general, spoke and even defended the need to canonize Lefebvre. The movement’s founder died in 1991 without public signs of repentance, a necessary condition for full reconciliation with Rome.

An invalid argument

Pagliarani read a text justifying the consecrations by appealing to an alleged “state of necessity,” an argument also used in 1988, though the Holy See has repeatedly said it does not apply — especially after an explicit warning from the pope.

In his remarks, Pagliarani made clear his doctrinal break, saying that “from the Second Vatican Council to our own day, the authorities of the Church have been imbued with a spirit contrary to the faith and have acted against holy tradition.”

“We consider it a sacred duty toward Holy Mother Church and souls to proceed with the consecration of bishops fully faithful to holy tradition and the constant magisterium of the Church,” he added.

The four candidates pronounced their oath in Latin, even pledging to “fight against schismatic heretics,” in a paradox that did not go unnoticed.

The SSPX superior general insisted on rejecting what he called a “false dilemma” between fidelity to the faith and ecclesial communion, attempting to argue that the society’s decision does not constitute a break with the Catholic Church.

But the canonical situation of the SSPX remains complex. The society continues to reject key elements of the Second Vatican Council, especially Dignitatis Humanae, the council’s declaration on religious freedom.

“We are accused of not respecting the pope, but it is precisely because we love him as the vicar of Christ that we do not want to see him humiliated alongside false shepherds, representatives of false religions,” Pagliarani said, effectively closing the door to ecumenical and interreligious dialogue.

“We live these consecrations in joy and hope. We do not live them in polemics, tension, bitterness, or resentment,” he said.

“Your worst enemies will not attack you head-on, but will try to make you slide gradually toward a more updated perception of the faith and of relations with the world. When you sense this danger, reflect, pray, seek counsel, evaluate, remain still before reacting like a serpent,” he urged the newly consecrated bishops.

He added: “Never, ever retreat. That is what it means to be like a serpent: to perceive the duplicity, the ambiguity, the cunning that exists in the world.”

“God now asks us to be treated as rebels,” Pagliarani declared at another point.

The SSPX is already clearly outside the canonical jurisdiction of the Church. But with this new step, it has directly defied the pope. If the Vatican now formally declares a schism, its members will become even more isolated, without the possibility of receiving any ministry or mission in dioceses. That would leave its members — some 600,000 people — headed toward an increasingly sectarian circle.

Although SSPX priests are suspended, Pope Francis granted them faculties to hear confessions and witness marriages. If a schism is confirmed, those concessions could be reviewed.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article implied that the 1988 consecrations took place on July 1. The correct date is June 30.

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 — The Vatican’s financial intelligence and anti-money-laundering authority has been overhauled under a new 12-article statute that eliminates its president and board and places it under a new structure led by a director and deputy director appointed by the pope.

The Authority for Financial Information and Supervision, known by its Italian acronym ASIF, is now effectively structured as an office, with its leadership appointed directly by the pope for five-year terms and operating within the Vatican’s economic governance system.

The change marks a significant shift for an authority that, under its earlier identity as the Financial Information Authority and later as ASIF, had been designed with an international profile and a measure of autonomy in the Vatican’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

That autonomy had already come under strain in recent years, especially after the Vatican trial over the management of funds by the Secretariat of State. Searches of the authority’s offices by Vatican gendarmes created complications for international financial cooperation and raised questions about the authority’s independence.

The new statute confirms that ASIF has “exclusive competence” in three areas: supervision and regulation for the prevention and countering of money laundering, terrorist financing, and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; financial intelligence, including the receipt and analysis of suspicious activity reports and domestic and international cooperation; and prudential supervision and regulation of entities that professionally conduct financial activities.

The authority also “provides support to the other public authorities of the Holy See and Vatican City State” in preventing and countering money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing, and related predicate offenses.

The statute says ASIF may also “serve as an alternative dispute resolution system” for disputes between users and entities that professionally carry out financial activities in connection with financial operations and services.

Under the new rules, ASIF’s annual report must be submitted to the Council for the Economy, with a copy sent to the president of the Financial Security Committee. The authority will also submit its projected and final budgets directly to the Council for the Economy for approval, “in accordance with the accounting rules in force.”

The statute says the authority will receive its annual operating funds from the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the Governorate of Vatican City State, and entities that professionally conduct financial activities. The Council for the Economy will determine the contribution required from each.

The authority’s structure now includes three offices: an office for supervision and regulation in the area of preventing and countering money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing; an office for financial intelligence; and an office for prudential supervision and regulation.

The new statute also establishes a legal affairs officer, who, among other duties, is responsible for fundamental rights in the context of financial intelligence activity.

With the reform, ASIF is effectively treated as equivalent to a dicastery of the Roman Curia. The statute also provides for consultors, who were not part of the authority’s previous structure and will be appointed by the pope for five-year terms.

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 continues to make changes to the leadership of the Roman Curia with new appointments to the No. 2 position in two key dicasteries: the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, responsible for promoting and ensuring the proper application of canon law in the Latin and Eastern Churches, and the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, tasked with channeling resources for the charitable work of the Holy Father.

The Vatican announced June 30 that the pontiff appointed Bishop Marco Mellino secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts. He has been serving as adjunct secretary of the same office.

Leo also appointed Father Lucio Adrián Ruiz secretary of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity; he previously served as secretary of the Dicastery for Communication.

In addition, the Holy Father named layman Massimo Ralli, who was working as an official in the charity dicastery, to serve as its undersecretary. Both Ralli and Ruiz will undertake their new roles starting Sept. 1.

Mellino, 59, had previously served as secretary of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals. He was ordained a priest in 1991 and has also worked in the Secretariat of State. Since 2022, he had also served as secretary of the Interdicasterial Commission for the Revision of the General Regulations of the Roman Curia.

Ruiz was born in Argentina in 1965 and ordained a priest in 1990. He has extensive experience in ecclesial communications and new technologies. He holds a master’s degree in business administration and a doctorate from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Over the course of his career, he has held various positions, including IT adviser to the Argentine Bishops’ Conference and an official of the Congregation for the Clergy. He has also been head of the Vatican Internet Services office, a professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, and president of the Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Center.

The role of secretary in the Vatican structure

The role of secretary — the No. 2 position after prefect — is central in the Vatican dicasteries, involving directing the day-to-day operations and coordinating the technical and administrative work.

With Tuesday’s appointments, the pope continues to change the intermediate officials in dicasteries for which he appointed the top leaders earlier this year. In March, Leo named Archbishop Anthony Randazzo, then-bishop of Broken Bay, Australia, as prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts. He also appointed Spanish Archbishop Luis Marín de San Martín as papal almoner — that is, head — of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity.

2 women prefects appointed by Leo

Among other recent moves, the pope transferred Archbishop Filippo Iannone, then-prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, to head the Dicastery for Bishops, in September 2025. In March, Leo XIV appointed Canadian Archbishop Petar Rajič as the new prefect of the Pontifical Household, the office of the Roman Curia responsible for organizing the pope’s schedule, audiences, and ceremonies.

He also appointed two women to head different dicasteries: On June 2, he named María Montserrat Alvarado, president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, as prefect of the Dicastery for Communication. In addition, on June 30, Leo appointed Salesian Sister Alessandra Smerilli as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

New members and consultors of the Dicastery for Evangelization

The pope on June 30 also appointed new members and consultors to the Dicastery for Evangelization in its Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches in a move that strengthens the missionary and universal character of this key body of the Roman Curia.

Among the new members are prominent cardinals and bishops from different regions of the world, reflecting the global dimension of evangelization.

Appointed members were Cardinals Thomas Aquino Manyo Maeda, archbishop of Osaka-Takamatsu, Japan; Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Jean-Marc Aveline, archbishop of Marseille, France; and Frank Leo, archbishop of Toronto in Canada.

Along with them, the pontiff added several archbishops and bishops as members, including Alfred Adewale Martins of Lagos, Nigeria; Angelo Vincenzo Zani, archivist and librarian emeritus of the Holy Roman Church; Paolo Giulietti, archbishop of Lucca, Italy; Andrew Nkea Fuanya, archbishop of Bamenda, Cameroon; and Peter Chung Soon-taick, archbishop of Seoul, South Korea.

Also part of this group are Michel Jalakh, secretary of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches; Paulus Budi Kleden, archbishop of Ende, Indonesia; Oscar Roberto Domínguez Couttolenc, archbishop of Tulancingo, Mexico; Elias Frank, archbishop of Calcutta, India; Daniel Ernest Flores, bishop of Brownsville, Texas; and Lisandro Alirio Rivas Durán, bishop of San Cristóbal, Venezuela. They are joined by Monsignor Roger Joseph Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, and Father Francesco Rapacioli, superior general of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.

At the same time, Leo XIV appointed as consultors of the same dicastery Davide Carbonaro, archbishop of Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo, Italy, and François Sylla, archbishop of Conakry, Guinea. Completing the list are Father Remigio Bellizio, director of the Domus Missionalis in Rome, as well as Father Joseph Koonamparampil and Father Wenceslaus C. Madu, both members of the Claretian Missionaries.

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.

Amid a sexual abuse scandal affecting the Diocese of Northampton in the United Kingdom, Pope Leo XIV named an apostolic administrator to oversee the diocese until a new bishop is appointed.

The pontiff named Archbishop Richard Moth of Westminster to replace Bishop David Oakley, who was charged with abuse of an underage girl.

In a statement addressing the charges against Oakley, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales expressed its pain upon learning of them and offered a heartfelt apology to all those affected.

“We are profoundly aware that the report of this allegation may reawaken painful memories for many people and again offer an unreserved apology to those who have been hurt by abuse in the Catholic Church in England and Wales,” the bishops’ statement said.

The bishops’ conference also reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding and ensuring the safety of all who attend their parishes and schools.

“Anybody who comes to our parishes, schools, and communities must be safe, and we are resolute in our commitment to safeguarding.”

“We are committed to continual review and development, assisted by the independent auditing work of the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency, so that all our communities are places of safety and sanctuary for all,” the bishops wrote.

The Diocese of Northampton did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday named Italian economist Sr. Alessandra Smerilli, FMA, to succeed Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Cardinal Czerny will turn 80 on July 18, while the 51-year-old Salesian sister has been secretary, the No. 2 position at the dicastery, since August 2021. She was previously an undersecretary from March of the same year.

The pope has also appointed a pro-prefect to serve alongside Smerilli: the Italian Cardinal Fabio Baggio, CS, who has been the dicastery’s undersecretary since 2022. The nomination of a bishop to serve as pro-prefect follows a precedent set with the nomination of the first woman prefect — Sr. Simona Brambilla, MC, of the religious life dicastery — in early 2025.

Cardinal Fabio Baggio, CS, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, was created a cardinal by Pope Francis during the consistory at St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 7, 2024. | Credit: Daniel Ibañez/EWTN News

Smerilli is a professor of political economy and statistics at the Auxilium Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences and on the board of directors of the Laudato Si’ Higher Education Center, which is led by Baggio.

In 2020, she was one of the principal organizers of the Economy of Francesco online event. She also served in the past as a councilor of the Vatican City State and a member of the short-lived Vatican fundraising commission.

With Smerilli’s nomination, Leo continues his predecessor Pope Francis’ innovation of appointing women to the highest roles at the Vatican, including the appointment of Montserrat Alvarado — currently the president and COO of EWTN News — as the first woman to lead the Dicastery for Communications earlier this month.

Baggio, 61, was both appointed an archbishop and made a cardinal by Pope Francis in late 2024, after working since early 2017 in the human development dicastery, first as undersecretary of the migrants and refugees section alongside Czerny, and then as undersecretary of the dicastery following the reform of the Roman Curia in 2022.

Prior to his roles at the Vatican, Baggio taught in Argentina, Brazil, the Philippines, and in Rome. He is also a composer of sacred and liturgical music.

Cardinal Michael Czerny steps down as prefect of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development after serving as its head since 2022. | Credit: Pablo Esparza/EWTN News

Czerny, who reaches the mandatory retirement age for prefects next month, concludes a term in the leadership of the integral human development office that began with its creation nearly a decade ago.

A Canadian Jesuit born in what was then Brno, Czechoslovakia, Czerny served for years in the Jesuit General Curia in Rome starting in the early 1990s. He was also the personal assistant to Cardinal Peter Turkson from 2010-2016.

In 2017, he started as under-secretary of the migrants and refugees section of the newly-formed Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, with the pope himself as the department’s official head. Czerny was made prefect in 2022.

Pope Francis made him a cardinal in October 2019.

Pope Leo also appointed on June 30 Father Jozef Barlaš as secretary of the human development dicastery.

The Slovakian priest has been undersecretary since November 2025. He has a doctorate in canon law and served as an official in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State from 2020-2022.

Smerilli, Baggio, and Barlaš will start their new roles on Sept. 1.

The Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical institutions in the world, hosted its prestigious Vatican Observatory Lectures at its headquarters in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, last week. This year’s series focused on quantum gravity.

The event brought together internationally renowned experts and a select group of doctoral students and young researchers who delved into one of the most complex and fascinating problems in modern physics: unifying quantum mechanics with general relativity.

The difficulty of this challenge lies in the very nature of the two theories. While quantum mechanics describes the behavior of elementary particles with enormous precision, Albert Einsteinʼs general relativity explains gravity as the curvature of space-time on a large scale. However, the two frameworks prove incompatible when one attempts to apply them simultaneously.

In relativity, space and time are not an immutable scenario but rather dynamic entities that warp and evolve. Attempting to subject these quantities to the rules of quantum physics gives rise to profound mathematical inconsistencies.

One of the best known is the so-called “perturbative non-renormalizability.” In simple terms, renormalizing involves controlling the infinite corrections that appear in quantum calculations in order to make physical predictions.

This method works in the other fundamental forces of nature but fails in the case of gravity, where these corrections multiply without limit, generating an infinite number of parameters that makes the theory unviable. Overcoming this obstacle constitutes one of the great objectives of current theoretical physics.

The conferences, held at the observatory’s headquarters in Castel Gandolfo and coordinated by Jesuit Father Gabriele Gionti and Father Matteo Galaverni, explored the issues from various perspectives.

Professor Claus Kiefer of the University of Cologne in Germany presented the canonical (in a nonreligious sense) quantization approach to gravity, focusing on the so-called “problem of time.”

If time itself is subject to quantum fluctuations, a fundamental question arises: How do we define the evolution of a physical system? Kiefer explored the implications of this issue for the study of black holes, including the nature of singularities where gravity reaches extreme levels.

Professor Roberto Percacci of the International Higher School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, presented a covariant approach in which gravitons — hypothetical particles that mediate gravity — are treated as spin-2 quantum fields.

A particular highlight was the asymptotic safety program — a proposal suggesting that gravity could be consistent within the quantum regime without recourse to additional exotic entities, thanks to the specific behavior of its constants at very high energies.

From a more conceptual perspective, Professor Sergio Cacciatori of the University of Insubria in Italy delved into the difficulties inherent in quantizing a universe where the very fabric of space-time is subject to uncertainty.

His remarks highlighted questions that border on the philosophical yet carry very concrete technical implications: What does it mean to measure time when it fluctuates? How is observation defined in a context where the observer is part of the system?

Finally, Professor Pierpaolo Mastrolia of the University of Padua in Italy contributed the scattering amplitude approach, a key tool for calculating particle interaction probabilities. His research reveals surprising parallels between the theories describing fundamental forces such as electromagnetism and nuclear interactions and certain formulations of quantum gravity, such as supergravity or string theory. These analogies open up promising avenues toward possibly unifying quantum mechanics with general relativity.

Beyond the technical aspects, these lessons have once again highlighted the uniqueness of the Vatican Observatory as a meeting place between traditions, disciplines, and generations. In an environment marked by centuries of history, young researchers not only receive high-level training but also participate in a setting of free and open dialogue where the great questions of human knowledge, such as the origin of the universe or the ultimate nature of space and time, can be addressed without prejudices.

Founded in the 16th century at the behest of Pope Gregory XIII, who ordered the construction of the Tower of the Winds at the Vatican and gathered astronomers and mathematicians to reform the calendar, the Vatican Observatory has maintained a constant quest to understand the universe throughout the centuries. It was Pope Leo XIII who, in the late 19th century, revitalized its research activities, establishing it as an international point of reference.

At a time when science is advancing in the study of the infinitely small and the immeasurably large, the Vatican has reaffirmed its commitment to research and critical thought. For, as quantum gravity demonstrates, the deepest questions remain open, and finding their answers is a task that can only be tackled as a community.

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

Pope Leo XIV has issued a letter to the traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) asking them not to proceed with their planned July 1 consecrations without papal approval.

In a letter published June 30, the eve of the episcopal consecrations in Écône, Switzerland, the pope issued a final appeal to the SSPX superior general, Fr. Davide Pagliarani, not to commit this “schismatic act.”

“In this spirit, and filled with Christian affection, I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!”

“I urge you to consider the spiritual good of the faithful carefully, because the schismatic act you are about to undertake would deprive them of the licit and, in some cases, even valid reception of the Sacraments, which they love and seek for their sanctification,” Leo wrote in his letter.

The pontiff also warned the SSPX of the serious consequences of their planned episcopal consecrations, calling it “a sin of extreme gravity.”

“I pray for you, because to tear the seamless garment of Christ is a sin of extreme gravity,” Leo wrote. “May the Lord enlighten your consciences and awaken your hearts.

The Vatican stated on May 13 that the consecrations would be a schismatic act, resulting in automatic excommunication for the consecrating bishops and those consecrated.

On June 16, Pope Leo warned the SSPX that their planned episcopal consecrations risked schism and said that he and the Holy See were preparing a final appeal to the society.

The SSPX exclusively celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass and has rejected certain teachings and reforms of the Second Vatican Council, particularly regarding religious freedom and the Church’s approach to other faiths.

SSPX did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.