By choosing to make his first trip as pope to Turkey and Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV will shine a huge spotlight on the faith Christians share and on the yearnings for peace and prosperity common to all people.
Vatican
If people do not see themselves as “caretakers of the garden of creation, we end up becoming its destroyers,” Pope Leo XIV said.
The priests who staff nunciatures and other Vatican diplomatic missions around the world must be priests first and diplomats second, Pope Leo XIV told them.
Meeting an international cast of film directors and actors, Pope Leo XIV spoke about the power of cinema to help people “contemplate and understand life, to recount its greatness and fragility, and to portray the longing for infinity.”
Pope Leo XIV kicked off the celebration of the Jubilee of the Poor by blessing the St. Martin Clinic, an addition to the free clinic the Vatican operates to provide medical care to people without homes or resources or the legal documents needed to access Italian health care.
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence online and in schools demands stronger government-enforced safeguards, education in the critical use of media, and more consistent monitoring by parents and teachers, Pope Leo XIV said.
Being a Christian means recognizing every person as a brother or sister and always being ready to lend a helping hand, Pope Leo XIV said.
Being a missionary means bringing the Gospel and its values into the world and transforming the lives of individuals, which can and must transform societies, Pope Leo XIV said.
The changing landscape of Christianity in Europe, with growth in some countries and continued decline in others, poses challenges that all churches should face together, Pope Leo XIV told Christian leaders.
While praising devotion to Mary, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith firmly rejected moves to formally proclaim Mary as “co-redemptrix” or “co-mediatrix.”