By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Jul 5, 2025 / 08:30 am Two months into his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV will leave Rome to spend two weeks on a pontifical estate in the lakeside town of Castel Gandolfo, 18 miles south of the city, and sometimes known as the “second Vatican City.” …

By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Jun 27, 2025 / 06:00 am Pope Leo XIV on Sunday will bless and bestow the “pallium” — a white woolen vestment symbolizing pastoral authority and unity with the pope — on 48 new metropolitan archbishops, including eight from the United States, in a return to …

By Hannah Brockhaus Rome Newsroom, Jun 24, 2025 / 11:13 am St. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, is one of only three people in history — after Jesus and Mary — whose birthday is celebrated in the Church’s liturgy. In fact, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist on …

By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Jun 5, 2025 / 08:54 am Pope Leo XIV on Thursday named Uganda-born Father Simon Peter Engurait, a former business analyst who became a priest at age 41, to lead the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in southeastern Louisiana. The 53-year-old priest, ordained for the diocese in 2013, …

By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Jun 4, 2025 / 07:30 am Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday appointed Pittsburgh Auxiliary Bishop Mark Eckman to lead the northern U.S. diocese, with the bishop-elect succeeding Bishop David Zubik in that role. Leo accepted Zubik’s resignation June 4. The outgoing bishop turned 75 — the …

By Hannah Brockhaus , Kristina Millare Vatican City, May 21, 2025 / 08:05 am Pope Leo XIV in the first general audience of his pontificate on Wednesday appealed for an end to hostilities in Gaza and for the entrance of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Speaking before tens of thousands of attendees …

By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, May 20, 2025 / 10:43 am Pope Leo XIV, in one of his first personnel appointments, on Monday named Cardinal Baldassare Reina grand chancellor of the Pontifical Theological Institute John Paul II for Marriage and the Family, replacing Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who turned 80 on April …

By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, May 19, 2025 / 06:52 am Pope Leo XIV held a private meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the papal library on Monday morning. Details of the meeting were not released, but the Americans later spoke with …

By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Apr 26, 2025 / 09:30 am Pope Francis was buried Saturday in the Basilica of St. Mary Major after his coffin crossed the center of Rome, marking the pontiff’s final goodbye to the Eternal City. After the celebration of the funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square, …

By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Apr 22, 2025 / 06:55 am The Vatican on Tuesday released the first photos of Pope Francis after his death, showing him dressed in red vestments and lying in a simple, wooden coffin inside the chapel of the Santa Marta guesthouse. The photos, taken on the …