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Pope Leo XIV: The world is poorer without saints
Confirmed
In Short: Pope Leo XIV also highlighted the need for serious and rigorous examination of all material collected in the process of canonizing saints, stressing the importance of historical accuracy.
In a heartfelt video message ahead of World Mission Sunday, Pope Leo XIV urged the global Church to pray for and support missionaries, especially those working in remote and difficult conditions.
The Pope emphasized the importance of religious freedom, warning that when religious freedom is denied, the human person is deprived of the capacity to respond freely to the call of truth.
The Pope celebrated a mass for 150,000 people at the sanctuary of Lourdes, calling for 'penitence' in the face of a world 'going wrong' and 'where increasingly widespread conflicts' are destroying innocent lives.
Pope Leo XIV invited people to take time out from their daily lives to listen to 'the melodious voice of creation,' through which God speaks, as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation is observed.
The Pope also acknowledged the town of Pescantina, Italy, after praying the midday Angelus, making a call to action to people across the globe.
Pope Leo XIV returned to the window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace Oct. 18, thanking Catholics worldwide for their prayers five days after undergoing lung cancer surgery.
Pope Leo XIV has called on all the faithful and Christian communities around the world to pray the Rosary throughout the month of October for an end to war and for peace.
The Pope emphasized that human work and scientific progress are not opposed to faith but can participate in God’s plan for creation.
Pope Leo XIV also addressed the value of human activity in the world, affirming that 'the human being is the agent of progress,' advancing society through freedom and intelligence.
What this adds
The Pope's call for prayer and support of missionaries comes as part of a broader initiative to promote peace and religious freedom globally.
Background
Pope Leo XIV has invited Catholics around the world to join him in praying a Rosary for peace on May 30, 2026, and will lead a World Mission Rosary live from the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens on Saturday, October 17, 2026, at 7 p.m.
Pope Leo XIV led a World Mission Rosary from the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens on Saturday, October 17, 2026, at 7 p.m.
What's confirmed
- The Council wishes to provide a clear answer: Christians, states Gaudium et Spes, “can justly consider that by their labor they are unfolding the Creator’s work, consulting the advantages of their brother men, and are contributing by their personal industry to the realization in history of the divine plan” (no. 34).
What's still developing
- “Our communication must be accompanied by prayer,” he said.
- The most important news from Pope Leo XIV and the Vatican of the week—from declarations on religious freedom to global humanitarian efforts, and culminating in the canonization of seven extraordinary new saints.
- Pope Leo XIV, in his first private audience since undergoing surgery on Oct. 13, said the history of the world is inseparable from the history of the saints.
- Pope Leo XIV delivers remarks during a private audience at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican with participants in the “Holiness in History” conference on Oct. 21, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media “The treatment of ‘recent causes’ likewise cannot dispense with a serious and rigorous examination of all the material collected,” Pope Leo said.
- The teaching of Gaudium et Spes on the conjugal and family community thus goes on to highlight the social function of the family, defined as “a school of deeper humanity” and “the foundation of society” ( GS, 52), calling upon all those with social responsibilities, especially in the political and cultural spheres, to fulfil their duty to “work efficiently for the welfare of marriage and the family” ( ibid. ).
- The mutual self-giving of man and woman, such that ‘they are no longer two but one flesh’ (Mt 19:6), underlies the requirement for “total fidelity” and the “unbreakable oneness” of the spouses, finding vivid expression in the procreation and upbringing of children (cf.
- Oleshky and its surrounding communities are estimated to have more than 6,000 civilians remaining there, including some 200 children, who are “effectively trapped in a ‘gray zone’ near the front line,” said UCCRO.
- “His witness reminds us that authentic sustainability is never solely about environmental stewardship. It is also about accompanying those who suffer, defending the dignity of the human person, and building a future that leaves no one behind,” Father Donohue said.
- Press conference on the Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal recipient at the Sala San Pio X in Rome on Sept. 14, 2026. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN News “[The Pope] has made responsibility even more explicit. We are responsible for the world, not just to take care of it, even though it would be part of sustainability, but in fact we are building it,” the cardinal said.
- (OSV News) — The following is the full text of Pope Leo XIV’s general audience address given September 23 in St.
- This first year of a special commemoration in Italy gave Pope Leo a chance to repeat one of life's most important lessons: learn from the mistakes of the past.
- “Today was the first Angelus right after his hospitalization, and I wanted and needed to see him, and to be reassured by hearing him and seeing that he was doing well.” Her friend, Ilaria Beatrice, 31, from Prato, Italy, described St.