A crowd gathered in the community of Monsefú for the annual celebration of the enthronement of Jesus the Nazarene on Sept. 14, where they cut a 2-meter-long (13-foot-long) cake for Pope Leo, who turned 70 the same day. Pope Leo often visited St. Peter’s Parish — the site of the celebration — while serving as bishop, according to news organization Infobae.
Pope Leo XIV
Great spiritual traditions and mature critical thinking enable humanity to go beyond ethnicities, clans, and cliques, which recognize only those who are similar and reject those who are different, Pope Leo XIV said.
“Maybe some of you are still saying: Why was I chosen? At least I ask myself that,” Pope Leo XIV said Sept. 11 during a meeting with bishops in Rome for the Vatican’s annual formation courses for new bishops.
Eight centuries ago, St. Francis of Assisi composed a poem that remains familiar today, inspiring hymns, art, and the titles of two of the late Pope Francis’ teaching documents on integral ecology.
Crying out to God during moments of extreme trial does not mark a crisis of faith but can reflect an act of total surrender to and enduring trust in God, Pope Leo XIV said.
When people of different religions work together to serve people in need, they show the world that faith promotes peace and not hostility, Pope Leo XIV said.
The greatest risk in life is to waste it by not seeking to follow God’s plan, Pope Leo XIV said, proclaiming two new saints — two young laymen of the 20th and 21st centuries.
As Pope Leo XIV neared his 70th birthday Sept. 14, those closest to the American-born pontiff said they knew, very early on, that he was in for lifelong service to the Church.
The future that Christians hope for and must build “is not one of walls and barbed wire, but one of mutual acceptance,” Pope Leo XIV told young adult Catholics from more than a dozen Mediterranean countries.
Pope Leo XIV expressed condolences to victims and their families after the derailment of Lisbon’s historic funicular streetcar Elevador da Glória, which caused the death of over a dozen people.