“I am close to all the Lebanese people at this time of grave trial,” the pope said on March 11. Pope Leo XIV prays during the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on March 11, 2026. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN News By Victoria Cardiel March 11, 2026 at 7:49 AM ET …

The removal of the doors to the Holy Sepulchre for restoration work provides an opportunity to look into the fascinating history of the church that encloses the site of Jesus’ death and resurrection.   The entrance with one of the doors already removed from the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. …

A cycle of paintings by Swiss artist Manuel Dürr has been installed for Lent, marking the basilica’s quadricentennial. By Victoria Cardiel February 24, 2026 at 2:15 PM ET St. Peter’s Basilica has inaugurated new Stations of the Cross — 14 large oil paintings by Swiss painter Manuel Dürr — for Lent …

The friar who ministers to 800 Catholics on the world’s largest island watches international negotiations with unease. By Victoria Cardiel January 22, 2026 at 11:00 AM ET In Greenland, the world’s largest island, glaciers spill toward the sea from a vast ice cap — and in the middle of that extreme …

By Victoria Cardiel Vatican City, Jan 6, 2026 / 07:00 am Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday closed the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, bringing the ordinary holy year to an end — a time of grace that invited Catholics to conversion, reconciliation, and hope. The pontiff processed toward the Holy …

By Victoria Cardiel Vatican City, Dec 24, 2025 / 06:00 am Pope Leo XIV will celebrate his first Christmas at the Vatican by reviving the tradition of offering Christmas Mass on Dec. 25 in St. Peter’s Basilica, something no pope has done since 1994. The Christmas celebrations — which will be …

By Victoria Cardiel Vatican City, Nov 10, 2025 / 07:00 am His voice reveals, above all, the gratitude he feels toward his friend, Pope Leo XIV. From this friendship, forged over more than three decades, comes the Spanish-language book “From Robert to Leo,” published by Mensajero, in which Armando Lovera, originally from …

By Victoria Cardiel Vatican City, Oct 5, 2025 / 07:00 am Sister Norma Pimentel is known as “the immigrants’ nun.” For over a decade, she has directed the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley (CCRGV) Humanitarian Respite Center, a humanitarian aid center located in McAllen, Texas, on the border with …

By Victoria Cardiel Vatican City, Sep 24, 2025 / 07:24 am Pope Leo XIV renewed the Holy See’s support for a two-state solution in the Holy Land and voiced concern over rising tensions in Ukraine, speaking with reporters Tuesday before returning from Castel Gandolfo to the Vatican. “The Holy See has …

By Victoria Cardiel Vatican City, Sep 14, 2025 / 09:55 am On Sunday, his 70th birthday, Pope Leo XIV presided at the recitation of the Angelus with pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square. From the early morning hours, the square had filled up with the faithful carrying banners, flags, and congratulatory signs …