Pope Leo XIV voiced concern on Sunday about developments in the Middle East and Iran, urging the parties involved to stop what he called a “spiral of violence” before it becomes an “unbridgeable chasm.” “Stability and peace are not achieved through mutual threats, nor through the use of weapons, which sow destruction, suffering, and death,…

Erlin Pérez Vásquez was born on Dec. 8, 1999, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, a coincidence that his family has come to see as a special sign of his vocation. He lived much of his life in Alfombrilla, a small town in the Santa Cruz province in the Andean district of Cajamarca, Peru, where,…

Bishop Niall Coll of Raphoe, Ireland, said that new generations of Catholics are seeking “doctrinal solidity” during a presentation in Dublin this week. Before a gathering at Holy Spirit Parish in Kimmage Manor, Dublin, the bishop reflected on the search for truth and the yearning for meaning among young people born after 1995. According to…

Pope Leo XIV spent Sunday afternoon with parishioners in Rome’s Quarticciolo neighborhood, meeting young people and families touched by addiction before celebrating Mass and urging Catholics to embrace what he called “the logic of unconditional love.” The pope arrived shortly before 4 p.m. at the Parish of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ and…

A newly established nonprofit launched a crowdfunding effort to construct a papal tiara that will contain Catholic and American symbolism, with the plan to offer it to Pope Leo XIV as a gift from American Catholics for the first pontiff from the United States. “Historically, the majority of papal tiaras are gifts, usually from the…

In Mexico’s cities bordering the U.S., migration numbers have changed. Where there was once a constant flow of people traveling in caravans, today the numbers have slowed to “a trickle.” However, Catholic shelters point out that, far from disappearing, migration has a new face. In the southern Mexican city of Tapachula bordering Guatemala, known as…

The standing committee of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference (CEE, by its Spanish acronym) has approved the creation of a department for relations with Islam, intended to address the growth of the country’s Muslim population. This new body is part of the Bishops’ Subcommittee for Interconfessional Relations and Interreligious Dialogue, chaired by the auxiliary bishop of…

OLOMOUC, Czech Republic — More than 6,100 donors in the Archdiocese of Olomouc in the Czech Republic have contributed to priests’ salaries through an online crowdfunding platform as the Catholic Church prepares for the end of decades of financial support from the Czech state. The platform, called Donátor, originally launched in the Diocese of Brno…

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Catholic youth across Bangladesh, India, and Nepal are preparing for World Youth Day 2027, scheduled for Aug. 3–8 in Seoul, South Korea, with Church leaders describing the gathering as an opportunity for spiritual renewal, cultural exchange, and witness. Bangladesh, home to roughly 400,000 Catholics, expects to send at least 1,000 young people…