Category: Diocese of Scranton News

(OSV News) – As he prepares to celebrate a year on the throne of Peter, Pope Leo XIV has become one of the most quoted global leaders on the planet.

Papal diplomacy all the sudden became trendy. Be it the media spin obsessed with President Donald Trump or the Western angles of world newsrooms, for those that know him well, speaking God to power is nothing new in Pope Leo XIV’s pastoral strategy.

When he was a young Father Robert Prevost in Peru and then bishop in Chiclayo, he did the same – even if the scale was smaller than the global stage.

“The pope is a man of deep prayer and contemplation of reality, a lover of the Gospel,” said Armando Jesús Lovera Vásquez, who lived with Father Prevost at an Augustinian formation house in Peru for seven years. “From this perspective, I was not surprised that he called on us to seek peace and to denounce everything that threatens it.”

According to the Peruvian, who wrote the book “From Robert to Pope Leo,” the pontiff is a person “whom God has been shaping through his ministry, and I believe he is the pope for these times, by the grace of God. He is a son of St. Augustine, who allows himself to be moved by the Spirit.”

Lovera knew then-Father Prevost, who was first in Peru as a missionary during the convoluted 1990s. The young priest, his friend recalls, was not afraid in the face of the country’s severe challenges of the times.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Peru was facing internal war against insurgent groups. The military became extremely influential as civilian governments struggled to control the violence. Human rights abuses followed declaring emergency zones and as armed forces were given expanded powers, especially in rural areas.

The biggest driver of instability was the Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path that launched a violent insurgency starting in 1980, aiming to overthrow the state. Their tactics included bombings, assassinations and attacks on infrastructure.

No part of the country was untouched by the conflict, but the worst violence was concentrated in the Andean highlands, particularly in the Ayacucho region, where guerilla and government forces vied to control the native populace through terror.

In 1990, Alberto Fujimori was elected president as a political outsider, promising to resolve Peru’s deep economic crisis and escalating violence. On April 5, 1992, he carried out a self-coup, dissolving Congress, suspending the constitution and taking control of the judiciary with the backing of the military. Fujimori justified these extraordinary measures as necessary to defeat terrorism and stabilize the economy, ultimately leveraging this climate of crisis to legitimize a shift toward authoritarian rule.

After more brief periods of missionary work in Peru, then-Father Prevost began serving the Archdiocese of Trujillo for nine years as its judicial vicar in 1989; at the time he was also a professor of canon, patristic and moral law in the San Carlos e San Marcelo Major Seminary.

“(Father Prevost) advocated for democracy and the defense of human rights, and later, as a bishop, when he returned to Chiclayo, he had to mediate between the peasants and the mining companies,” Lovera said. “He has a well-established track record of defending human rights and justice, and hence it’s not surprising to hear his invocation, which is nothing other than an emphasis on the Gospel’s proclamation: “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

Speaking aboard the papal plane en route from Rome to Algiers, the pope said that he had seen Trump’s recent social media post lashing out at him the night before the papal trip. As tensions escalated in the Middle East and after more than a month of appeals for peace from Pope Leo, Trump lashed out at the pope April 12, calling him “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy.”

“I have no fear neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the Church is here to do,” the pope said during the flight in a video recorded by OSV News.

Speaking before the late night presidential post on Truth Social, Janina Sesa, who worked closely with then-Bishop Prevost as the head of Caritas in the Diocese of Chiclayo, echoed Lovera: “He always defends justice and peace. He does not stay silent.”

In Chiclayo, a coastal diocese shaped by poverty, migration and periodic natural disasters, Bishop Prevost’s leadership was tested not in theory but in crisis.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, as oxygen shortages turned deadly, he stepped beyond the traditional boundaries of ecclesial leadership to mobilize the wider community.

“He could have stayed in what belonged to the Church — spiritual support,” Sesa said. “But he acted.”

For those who witnessed it, the episode revealed a pattern that has carried into his pontificate: a leader who listens first, but who does not hesitate to act — or to speak — when human dignity is at stake.

That same instinct was visible beyond the pandemic.

Father Jorge Millán Cotrina, rector of Chiclayo’s cathedral, recalled how Bishop Prevost addressed local authorities during emergencies such as the flooding caused by El Niño, always with a focus not on politics but on people.

“In his mind are Christ and the human person,” the priest said. “That is what he defends.”

For Father Millán, that framework explains the pope’s current interventions on global conflicts.

“He is not speaking as a politician,” he said. “He is speaking from the Gospel.”

Lovera, who spoke with OSV News twice — before and after the latest exchange between the successor of Peter and the president, defined Leo as someone who is respectful, “but courageous,” insisting that in Peru the pontiff “lived many situations where he had to take a stand.”

At the same time, those close to him emphasize that his willingness to speak does not come from impulsiveness.

“He is not someone who reacts quickly,” Lovera added. “He listens, reflects, and then acts.”

That process, echoed by priests who worked with him in Chiclayo, helps explain the tone that has marked his early pontificate: measured, but firm.

That distinction — between reaction and conviction — is key to understanding the pope’s recent exchange with Trump, those who know him say.

“He does not speak to confront,” Sesa said. “He speaks when something touches the dignity of people.”

The pope himself has insisted as much, telling reporters that his calls for peace “are not meant as attacks on anyone,” but rather as part of the Church’s mission in a world marked by suffering and conflict.

For Father Millán, that clarity is not new — only more visible.

“Now the whole world sees it,” he said days before the U.S. president openly attacked Pope Leo, but the pontiff had already warned against “the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!” during the April 11 prayer vigil at the Vatican.

Father Millán pointed to a consistent pattern: When Bishop Prevost assumed responsibility, he did so fully, without dividing his attention.

“When he was bishop of Chiclayo, he was completely for Chiclayo,” the priest said. “Now he is completely for the Church.”

That total commitment, he suggested, requires a certain freedom — including the freedom to speak when necessary, regardless of the audience.

For those who knew him before Rome, the current moment is less a departure than an unveiling.

The man who once drove dusty roads to reach remote communities, who quietly enrolled in language classes to better serve Indigenous faithful and who rallied a city to confront a pandemic is now addressing a global audience — with the same priorities.

“He is guided by the Gospel,” Sesa said. “That has not changed.”

And if that means entering uncomfortable territory, those who know him best say, he will not hesitate.

“He is not afraid,” Lovera said. “But he is not looking for conflict either.”

Instead, they say, Pope Leo XIV is doing what he has always done — only now on a larger stage: listening, discerning and, when necessary, speaking with clarity.

“He believes someone has to say there is a better way,” Sesa said.

CHICAGO (OSV News) – One of the first things Pope Leo XIV said from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica upon his election May 8, 2025, was “I am a son of St. Augustine, an Augustinian.”

The statement signaled to the world and its 1.4 billion Catholics that they were going to experience a papacy heavily influenced by a Church Father and doctor of the Church — one whose extensive writings have endured the past 16 centuries and continue to shape the Church today.

Pope Leo’s brothers in the Order of St. Augustine have said their patron’s way has marked, and so far defined, the pope’s leadership over his first year.

“While it is true that Augustine is an intellectual giant, particularly when we think of his theological and doctrinal contributions, I also see his pastoral contributions — which are grounded in the human experience and his understanding of the human experience,” said Augustinian Father Kevin DePrinzio, who serves in Rome an assistant general for English-speaking provinces of the Order of St. Augustine.

In an email to OSV, Father DePrinzio pointed to St. Augustine’s Confessions, as one of the theologian’s best-known works that remains popular to this day. The long, introspective prayer to God about his life from sin — which included cohabiting with a woman as a teenager, fathering a child out of wedlock and other lust-driven pursuits, all while doing his utmost to impress his school peers with his intellect and disobeying his parents — to discovering the heart’s restlessness in its search for God and receiving God’s grace, to his conversion to Catholicism.

Father DePrinzio said the book highlights the saint as “one of the first (theologians) to begin to articulate a Christian understanding of friendship” and “that somehow in and through relationship, God is found.”

“This, I believe, contributes to Leo’s pastoral approach. We hear Leo often speaking about being ‘together,’ and the importance of not going at it alone,” said the former vice president of mission and ministry at the Augustinian-founded Villanova University, Pope Leo’s own alma mater in suburban Philadelphia.

“That the human person is meant to be in relationship, to live in the potential of encountering the other as a friend, to search for home and belonging,” he continued. “This drives Leo’s call to engage in dialogue, to reach out, and to walk together.”

An example of that call was evident in Pope Leo’s first video message to young people, which aired in Chicago’s Rate Field at the Archdiocese of Chicago’s celebration and Mass of thanksgiving for the first American pope’s election, held June 14, 2025. He described the Trinity as a community of love, and told young people to “continue to build up community, friendship as brothers and sisters, in your daily lives, in your parishes, in the archdiocese and throughout our world.”

Augustinian Father Allan Fitzgerald, an Augustine scholar and former director of Villanova’s Augustinian Institution, said Pope Leo is teaching that “faith doesn’t just touch the head. It also touches the heart.”

“Augustine learned to be a person of heart,” he explained. He said the saint’s mother, St. Monica, was “a person of heart” and his father was an “irascible” businessman, yet St. Augustine saw his parents eventually come to be “on the same page.”

“So the pulling together of head and heart was a crucial piece of his own growing and his own development,” Father Fitzgerald said. “And I think that’s what is, in fact, happening in the life of Pope Leo at this point.”

Father Fitzgerald, 85, has edited the St. Augustine Bible, teaches at Villanova and regularly holds international retreats on St. Augustine for fellow Augustinians. He told OSV News this relationship between the head and heart is apparent in St. Augustine’s definition of friendship, especially that he had “all sorts of dimensions to what it means to be a good friend.”

“I think in some ways, friendship is the thing that underlies that whole head and heart combination. It’s hard to be a really good friend if you’re not in some way pulling your own self together,” he said.

His fellow Augustinians have observed the way Pope Leo has maintained the strong sense of Augustinian community throughout his pastoral journey, which included years as a missionary in Peru, leadership roles with the order, and now as the vicar of Christ leading his flock throughout the world.

Father Tom McCarthy, the incoming Midwest Augustinians’ provincial superior, told OSV News that Pope Leo continues to sustain relationships in person with Augustinians in Rome and via text and email with others worldwide.

“We have to support him and say, ‘Keep it going. Good job,'” said Father McCarthy, who is stepping into a role in the Chicago-based province that Pope Leo — then Father Robert Prevost — once held himself.

Father McCarthy, 60, currently is the province’s vocations director. He said each week, the friars read and reflect on one chapter of Augustine’s eight-chapter rule.

“Throughout the year, you’re reading the rule completely six times,” he said of the Augustinians, whose order was established in 1244 and based on a rule of life St. Augustine wrote around 400. “And we’re doing it because Augustine said, ‘This should be read to you once a week.’ Just as you look in a mirror to see how you look, you look through this rule in a mirror of your spiritual life. How are you doing?”

Father McCarthy said the rule gives guidance on how to live together in community, how to carry out fraternal correction and dealing with the difficulties of religious life, among other rubrics.

He noted that Pope Leo entered the order’s minor seminary at 13 years old, giving him “56 years of being formed and trained in the way of Augustine.”

“So this is nothing new for (the former Father Prevost) as pope,” said Father McCarthy. “This is him just being who he is.”

He also noted the pope often quotes St. Augustine in his messages and homilies or refers to his writings, just as his brothers do regularly in conversation.

On the world stage, Pope Leo also has not shied away from directly addressing the U.S.-Israel war with Iran and other conflicts around the world, by vehemently calling for peace. And he said he would continue to “speak loudly of the message of (peace of) the Gospel” even in the face of President Donald Trump’s lengthy, scathing post April 12 on his Truth Social account. Trump called Pope Leo “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy” saying his being in the White House made it possible for Pope Leo, the first American pope, to “be in the Vatican.”

The pope has also spoken out about the U.S. government’s immigration crackdown that has led to thousands of arrests of those without proper authorization to remain in the country.

Father Fitzgerald said the times call for the pope speaking out on what is morally wrong, just as St. Augustine did when he refuted the heresy of Manichaeism, a dualistic faith using cosmology to explain the forces of good versus evil while incorporating elements of Christianity and other religions. Talking about morality amid “so-called political decisions is really just a way of being human,” Father Fitzgerald said.

Father DePrinzio sees Pope Leo through the lens of the Augustinians’ father. “St. Augustine was concerned about fostering unity and communion” and he “was masterful at dialogue and in bringing people to the table,” he said.

With Pope Leo on the world stage, “we will see (and have already seen) Leo call for encounter and dialogue, engage difference, gather, bring together and cut through polarization,” he said in his email. “It’s in his bones to be this way, and it’s up to us and the world to listen attentively to this invitation to go deeper together, to walk together, as St. Augustine urged his followers 1,600 years ago.”

That, Father DePrinzio said, is also reflected in Pope Leo’s motto, drawn from one of St. Augustine’s sermons: “In Illo uno unum,” or “In the One, we are one.”

ROME (OSV News) – When Robert Francis Prevost stepped onto the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica one year ago May 8, he carried with him a piece of paper on which he had carefully written the first words he would utter as Pope Leo XIV. His first speech was, in ways that would only become clear over the year that followed, a preview of what was to come.

“Peace be with you all,” the newly elected Pope Leo said.

Peace would become perhaps the most visible theme of his first year, as war flared in the Middle East and Pope Leo became a persistent and sometimes lone voice of moral authority for restraint and dialogue. But the eight-minute speech that followed also contained many of the other major themes of his early pontificate: a vision of “a united Church,” theological rootness in St. Augustine, the pope’s missionary heart and a prioritization of God above all else.

One year on, the first words with which Pope Leo chose to introduce himself to the world merit a close reading.

‘God loves you all and evil will not prevail’

Not only was “peace” the very first word of Pope Leo’s pontificate, but it was one of the most used words in his first speech. He highlighted “the peace of the Risen Christ” that “comes from God, God who loves us all unconditionally.”

“Peace,” however, was not Pope Leo’s only most frequently used key word that day. That distinction belongs to “God” and other references to the Trinity. “The world needs his light,” he said of Jesus.

Pointing the world to God is a priority that Pope Leo has since felt compelled to clarify to journalists who sought to frame his papacy in political terms. His primary focus, he said, is not politics, but God, the source of peace. “The message of the Church, my message, the message of the Gospel: Blessed are the peacemakers,” he emphasized to journalists traveling with him in April.

From the loggia May 8, 2025, he told the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square that “God loves us, God loves you all, and evil will not prevail.”

“Christ goes before us. The world needs his light. Humanity needs him as the bridge that can lead us to God and his love,” Pope Leo added.

Over the year that followed, Pope Leo put significant effort into elevating the signs of faith — he offered more than 65 public Masses, carried the Eucharist in procession through the streets of Rome on the feast of Corpus Christi, and then carried the cross for two key events: first through a crowd of 1 million young people during the Jubilee of Hope, and then through the darkness of night for all 14 Stations of the Cross on Good Friday in the Colosseum.

He also leaned into personal acts of devotion. The pope noted in his first speech that he had been elected on the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii, and he invited everyone to pray a Hail Mary with him. His first year included several papal pilgrimages, from Genazzano, Italy, where he prayed before Our Lady of Good Counsel, to the ancient site of Hippo Regius in Algeria, where St. Augustine once served as bishop.

Pope Leo has now chosen to mark the anniversary of his election with a pilgrimage to the Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii, where he will offer yet another public papal Mass.

‘A united Church’

From the loggia, Pope Leo outlined his vision for the Church in a cascade of descriptive phrases: “a missionary Church,” “a Church that builds bridges,” “a synodal Church,” “a Church that always seeks peace,” “a faithful Church of Jesus Christ.” But the very first descriptor he used to articulate his vision for the Church was “a united Church.”

At Pope Leo’s inauguration Mass, he went on to say, “Brothers and sisters, I would like that our first great desire be for a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world.”

Twelve months on, it is clear Church unity has continued to be a key goal for the first American pope. Pope Leo has gone conspicuously out of his way to avoid isolating many theological or political factions within Catholicism. He has moved slowly in his handling of the Roman Curia, choosing not to rapidly overturn his predecessor’s key prefect appointments or signature decisions. And he has cited not only his immediate predecessor, Pope Francis, but he has also frequently quoted Popes Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II.

The results of Pope Leo’s prudence, at least by one measure, appear to have landed. According to recent polling, Pope Leo has emerged as one of the most popular Americans in the world. His focus on Church unity has also extended to ecumenical outreach from praying with the King of England in the Sistine Chapel to standing side by side with Orthodox leaders marking the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

‘A disarmed peace and a disarming peace’

Pope Leo defined the “peace of the Risen Christ” that first spring evening as “a disarmed peace and a disarming peace, humble and persevering.” The phrase captures both the content of what would go on to be some of Pope Leo’s strongest statements, such as “lay down your weapons” as the pope’s home country launched a war in Iran, as well as the pope’s style of communicating his peace message, “humble and persevering.”

But even before the Iran war began, Pope Leo prayed publicly for peace at nearly every Sunday Angelus or Regina Caeli address throughout the year: for “an authentic, just and lasting peace” in Ukraine, for relief from “a dire humanitarian situation in Gaza,” and for an end to violence in Myanmar, Nigeria, Haiti and many other parts of the world, frequently invoking Mary under her title Queen of Peace.

The theme reached its most concrete expression during his apostolic journey to Africa, where Pope Leo presided over a peace meeting in Bamenda, Cameroon, a region scarred by ongoing conflict, and where, on the papal plane, he pointedly responded to harsh words from U.S. President Donald Trump by saying “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

A ‘son of St. Augustine,’ a missionary at heart

Two aspects of Pope Leo’s personal identity emerged unmistakably in that first speech. When he finally spoke of himself, about halfway through his address, he did not begin with his nationality or other biographical information. He identified himself with his religious order and spirituality as “a son of St. Augustine,” an Augustinian friar who had given decades of his life to missionary work in Latin America.

“‘For you I am a bishop, with you I am a Christian,'” he said, quoting St. Augustine directly in the first of many such citations of the fifth-century doctor of the Church frequently woven into his speeches and writings throughout the year, from invoking the “City of God” in a meeting with an African dictator to addressing young Catholics in Chicago via video message.

His missionary identity has shone in his first year through his linguistic range, delivering speeches, homilies and Masses in Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese, in addition to his native English, and offering greetings in Arabic and even Kimbundu, a language spoken in Angola. His very first speech gave a preview of this as well when the pope broke into Spanish to offer a warm greeting to the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, where he had served both as a missionary and as a bishop.

What the first speech did not reveal

Not everything was foretold on the loggia.

Pope Leo spoke in Italian, then Spanish, but notably offered no word of English, and no acknowledgment of his American roots. That reticence was reflected, in part, throughout his first year, in which he did not visit the United States, did not meet the American president, and appeared, at first, to be deliberately careful about wading into American domestic politics until the U.S. president criticized him by name.

American Catholics, for their part, were not so restrained in their enthusiasm — sending him Chicago pizza, custom White Sox jerseys and pumpkin pie. And as the year went on, Pope Leo appeared to begin to recognize the singular reach that comes with being the first native-born English speaking pope in the 21st century: a statement in English outside Castel Gandolfo or aboard the papal plane can land on every major news outlet around the world within the hour.

Pope Leo’s first speech notably omitted any reference to technology, artificial intelligence or Catholic social teaching, an interest that he revealed later in his first week when he explained why he had chosen the papal name Leo as a reference to Pope Leo XIII, the pope who addressed the upheavals of industrial capitalism in the landmark social encyclical “Rerum Novarum.”

The first encyclical from Pope Leo XIV, addressing artificial intelligence ethics, is now widely anticipated as the defining document of the start of the second year of his pontificate.

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV met the leadership of Catholic Charities USA in an audience at the Vatican on May 4, offering words of encouragement to one of the country’s largest disaster relief networks as it navigates growing demand for food and basic services to aid the poor in the United States.

Kerry Alys Robinson, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, spoke after the papal audience about Catholic Charities’ Gospel-driven mission, its emergency food response amid disruptions to federal food stamp programs, and the new “People of Hope” initiative currently traveling the country.

She said the encounter with Pope Leo XIV left the delegation “deeply moved and confirmed in our commitment to serve poor and vulnerable people of all backgrounds … to bring merciful love and aid to people who need it the most, wherever they are suffering.”

In Pope Leo’s speech to the organization’s board of directors and senior staff, the pope encouraged their work to “seek to find solutions to inhumane situations, to alleviate the suffering of individuals and families, and to relieve the burden of those who are weighed down by hardship and strife.”

The pope also acknowledged the difficulties inherent in charitable work, from securing sufficient resources to combating discouragement, and urged them not to lose heart.

“I am fully aware that the Catholic Charities agencies in the United States of America are by no means immune from these challenges,” the pope said. “Yet it is precisely when we are confronted with such obstacles that we must learn to hear Jesus’ voice saying to us once again, ‘I am with you always!'”

The papal audience comes at a moment when “many Americans are struggling to make ends meet,” Robinson said, describing how donors to Catholic Charities stepped up to fill in the gap following disruptions to federal nutrition programs.

When funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP and commonly referred to as food stamps, was disrupted during the 43-day shutdown of the federal government in 2025, Catholic Charities USA launched an emergency fundraising appeal.

SNAP, which serves approximately 42 million Americans, provides food-purchasing assistance to low- and no-income individuals and families.

Catholic Charities was ultimately able to provide 2.5 million pounds of food to families facing hunger, distributing 100% of donated funds directly to local Catholic agencies and food distribution partners serving those in need.

“When Americans are made aware of the names and the faces of hungry people, they want to help,” Robinson said.

She noted that the organization has seen a rise in private giving as donors become more aware of hardship at the local level, “We’re seeing an increase in anxiety around just the basics.”

“Catholic Charities USA is the official disaster response agency of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and the third largest in the country, second only to the Red Cross and Salvation Army, but the only one without a congressional mandate to serve as such,” she said.

“When there is a flood or a wildfire or a hurricane, I just see people rushing in to help,” she added. “I see the goodness that is common to all of us, and the desire to be part of a solution, to kind of be bridge builders, to be people of mercy and hope — and that covers the full theological and political spectrum.”

Founded in 1910, Catholic Charities USA serves as the national membership organization for 169 independent Catholic Charities agencies operating across the United States and five territories. Collectively, those agencies serve more than 16 million people annually, regardless of their religious background.

Robinson, who has led the organization for two and a half years, spoke of the spiritual dimension of serving the poor and its challenges. “That work, while deeply meaningful, is hard because you are bearing witness to human suffering every day, and there never seems to be enough resources to meet the plight of poor families and communities,” she said.

“We know that in our 115 year history, whenever there is any kind of a dramatic change or upheaval, it is the poor who suffer disproportionately, and we see an increase in the demand for the services that we offer, basic things like food, shelter, job training,” she said.

Robinson recalled a moving story shared with her by a Catholic Charities worker in the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey, in which a man approached a staffer years after his mother had brought him to a safe shelter as a child. “‘It was the first time that I could sleep through the night and knew that I was safe,'” he told her, adding that because of the help he had received, he had broken a five-generation cycle of family violence.

“Now I am married and I am a father,” he told her. “And for the first time … in five generations, because of your help… the violence in our family has been broken.”

Robinson reflected, “It seems like you’re making a difference in one day for one family, but it can lead to ending this cycle of violence and poverty.”

During the audience, Robinson presented Pope Leo with a bound edition of “People of Hope: Faith-Filled Stories of Neighbors Helping Neighbors,” a book filled with stories of people Catholic Charities serves, drawn from the organization’s new traveling museum of the same name.

The museum, housed in a retrofitted semi-truck and made possible by a nearly $5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., features 42 first-person video testimonials from Catholic Charities staff and volunteers across the country. It began a three-year national tour in March and is expected to visit more than 150 communities across the U.S.

The book was offered as a gesture of gratitude to Pope Leo, who in a letter to the Catholic Charities network last fall called its members “agents of hope.”

“I have never seen such unity in the Catholic Church. And I’ve worked for the Catholic Church since I was 14,” Robinson said. “This is a moment in the United States where we feel enormously supported by Catholic bishops for all of the work we do. And I think that they are speaking increasingly with a unified voice, reminding all Catholics and people of goodwill about the Gospel mandate to be merciful, that you cannot separate authentic Christian life from care for and love of the poor.”

The papal audience took place as Catholic Charities USA board began a series of meetings in Rome, including with Caritas Internationalis, the worldwide federation of Catholic social service organizations of which Catholic Charities USA is a member.

Pope Leo entrusted the organization to intercession of Mary Immaculate, patroness of the United States, and imparted his apostolic blessing to all of Catholic Charities 169 agencies across the country.

“Your work with the less fortunate continues to provide a privileged opportunity to share the joy of the Resurrection, and I thank you for this sincere witness of faith,” Pope Leo said.

CHICAGO (OSV News) – A year into his papacy, Pope Leo XIV is still enjoying popularity and rockstar-like fame, especially in Chicago, his hometown. Beyond the pop-culture interest, some of the faithful told OSV News his message of peace, dedication to the faith and outreach to young people have stood out.

After Easter morning Mass, Victoria Mendez and her family stopped to talk by the heavy bronze doors of St. Rita of Cascia Catholic Church on Chicago’s South Side. The parish is run by Augustinians, the religious order and its Midwest province that formed Pope Leo.

“I think we’ve seen a lot of people fall in love with Catholicism, seeing that their pope is from Chicago,” said 24-year-old Mendez.

While anecdotal, said she has the sense Pope Leo is drawing interest in the faith. She has observed more youth in the church since his election. She also mentioned an uptick in conversions to the faith — not just in the U.S. but also Europe, particularly this Easter. Though none of the reports about the bump in new Catholics have tied the pope’s popularity to the numbers, several people told OSV News it may play a role.

“He’s just very good with people. He’s very into creating peace within different forms of Catholicism. And he’s just so open-minded. And he cares about everybody,” said Mendez. “You see that in all his actions and everything he says and does, and the way he reflects himself. You can tell he’s really trying to bring peace on earth.”

On the day of his election, from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Pope Leo’s first words were, “Peace be with you all!”

His message for peace has been consistent throughout the past year. And these days, it is more vehement because of the war in Iran that the U.S. and Israel began Feb. 28.

Mendez pointed out Pope Leo also “connects with the younger generation” through his social media posts and stories of his youth told by his brothers about growing up in Dolton, a southern suburb of Chicago.

Pope Leo, born Robert F. Prevost, lived in Dolton until he entered the Augustinians’ minor seminary in Holland, Michigan, when he was 13. He completed an undergraduate degree in math at Villanova University near Philadelphia in 1977, earned a master’s degree from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1982, the year he was ordained to the priesthood, and earned a doctorate in canon law in 1984 at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.

He then served in Peru’s impoverished northwest for nearly 20 years, where in 2015 he became bishop. He also held leadership positions in Rome, including prior general for the Augustinians, head of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. He was elevated to cardinal in September 2023 and elected pope May 8, 2025.

Born and raised on Chicago’s South Side herself, Mendez said “it makes me happy” that Pope Leo is relatable to even non-Catholics, especially as a fellow fan of the South Side-based Chicago White Sox.

Mendez’s mother, Maria, said the family was drawn to St. Rita and recently began attending Mass there because of its ties to the pope. She said the papal connection and the Augustinian charism of fostering unity have made the parish very attractive.

The Augustinians “approach people in a different way, that makes people come back. (It’s) the welcoming (way), their hospitality,” said Maria.

The 70-year old Pope Leo is “a happy pope,” she said, adding, “He brings happiness to every individual. Doesn’t matter the nationality or age, he’s there for everyone. Yeah, we could feel it.”

Northeast of St. Rita, people walked April 7 under a bright spring sun and braced themselves against strong, cold wind as they left the downtown Holy Name Cathedral following daily Mass.

Tom Pyden was descending the cathedral’s steps when he told OSV News Pope Leo has “done a very good job” for the Church and the world because of “his repeated calls for peace and not backing down from that.”

Pyden was in Chicago from Plymouth, Michigan, to visit his son for Easter week. Though he is not from the Windy City, he said of Pope Leo that he was “so very proud that he’s from the U.S.”

“I read daily inspirational sayings from him. I think he’s very inclusive. And I don’t know him, but it seems like he has a wonderful personality that draws people together,” said Pyden, who also remarked on his possible impact on the number of new Catholics entering the Church at Easter vigil, even at his own parish.

Ellie Greg, a 26-year-old dog walker who lives near the cathedral, said she might have been baptized Catholic but was raised as a non-denomination Christian. She told OSV News she does not practice any faith now, but, she said, for pope “obviously, it’s good to have somebody hometown.”

“I haven’t had any complaints,” she said of the pope. “Honestly, I don’t pay too much attention to news of the Vatican, but I haven’t heard anything offensive (from Pope Leo).”

Even though she is not practicing the faith, Greg has a personal connection to the American pope. She grew up in Frankfurt, a south Chicago suburb. “It’s pretty close to where Pope Leo grew up,” she said, “and they said his favorite restaurant is Aurelio’s. I used to work at Aurelio’s.”

The local south suburban-based pizza chain created a “poperoni pizza” within days of his election.

A passerby who said she was on her way to her nearby mainline Protestant church shouted over her shoulder, “I think he’s doing a great job! Love him! Just love him!”

Pilar Villa of Guadalajara, Mexico, was visiting Chicago over Easter with her twin teenage daughters. She told OSV News she likes that Pope Leo has given clear messages and has dedicated time to youth and young people.

“He recently talked about the importance of young people not having ties to artificial intelligence, that they should follow God and believe in God,” she said.

Pope Leo has spoken via video twice with American youth, first in June and then in November.

In a video message to youth in June at the Chicago archdiocese Mass of thanksgiving for his election as pope, he emphasized the importance of recognizing God’s presence in their lives, especially “that longing for love in our lives, for … searching, a true searching, for finding the ways that we may be able to do something with our own lives to serve others.”

In November, Pope Leo had a live video encounter with young people at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis. “Look to Jesus. Trust his mercy and go to him with confidence. He will always welcome you home,” he said.

Retired Bishop Daniel T. Turley of Chulacanas, Peru, a native Chicago South Sider and Pope Leo’s past Augustinian superior during his missionary work, said Pope Leo’s solid upbringing in the faith and missionary life in impoverished Peru beset with domestic terrorism have influenced Pope Leo’s leadership.

“(He) is a pope at a very time of crisis, so he brings to his papacy, a great deal of balance, of joy, but also a message asking for peace, asking for non-violence, asking to respect the dignity of life throughout the world, and asking countries to search out ways of unity. And he is a pope that is trying to build bridges,” he told OSV News.

Bishop Turley said a “Leo effect” might be having some impact on the faithful coming into the Church or returning. He said he has celebrated numerous large-group confirmations throughout the Chicago archdiocese over the past year, and pastors at those parishes have observed increased numbers of those entering rites of initiation.

“There’s a ‘Leo effect’ for Chicago in particular,” he said. “It’s like a ripple of the ocean, the waves, you know. So it’s a wave of energy, happiness, joy, hope. That’s rippling through the Augustinian order. It’s rippling through the United States of America because he’s the first American pope in the history of the Church. But he’s also the first pope from Chicago. There’s a ‘Leo effect’ in Chicago, in the United States, and then in the whole world.”

ROME (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV has dedicated his prayer intention for the month of May to one of humanity’s most persistent challenges: hunger.

In a video message released on April 30 by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, the pope called on Catholics worldwide to confront the problem of food insecurity with both prayer and concrete action.

“Today we recognize with sorrow that millions of brothers and sisters continue to suffer from hunger, while so many goods are wasted at our tables,” the pope said in the video, recorded inside the Church of San Pellegrino in Vatican City.

At least 318 million people are expected to face food crisis conditions or worse this year, according to the World Food Program’s 2026 Global Outlook. The ongoing war in the Middle East could push an additional 45 million people into severe hunger before mid-year. In 2025, two famines were recorded in parts of Gaza and Sudan.

At the same time, the U.N. Environment Program reports that more than 1 billion tons of food are wasted globally every year, a contrast the pope addressed directly in his message.

Pope Leo called for a shift away from what he described as “the logic of selfish consumption” and toward “a culture of solidarity,” urging Catholic communities to take up practical measures including food banks, awareness campaigns and simpler, more responsible lifestyles.

“May our communities promote concrete gestures,” the pope said, adding that believers should approach every meal with gratitude, consume simply and “share with joy” in the knowledge that the fruits of the earth are “destined for all, not just a few.”

The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, also known as the Apostleship of Prayer, releases a prayer intention from the pope each month as part of its mission to unite Catholics in prayer for the Church’s global concerns.

Father Cristóbal Fones, director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, said the intention is a deeply personal concern for the pope.

“This intention comes from the pope’s heart. It pains him deeply that so many people in the world cannot access something as essential and human as food,” Father Fones said. “This is why he is asking everyone not to remain indifferent but to take decisive action, first with prayer, then with concrete gestures of solidarity.”

SCRANTON – Catholic women from across northeastern and north central Pennsylvania and beyond are invited to gather at Marywood University for the highly anticipated 2026 Catholic Women’s Conference on June 5 and 6, 2026.

With the powerful theme “Courageous Faith,” this year’s event promises to be an inspiring and transformative experience for every woman in attendance.

From moving talks to spiritual enrichment, the Catholic Women’s Conference is an exciting event designed to fortify your faith, and help you suit up in your armor of truth and grab your shield of strength.

Courageous faith is more than just belief – it’s action.

It is the kind of belief that pushes forward even when fear, doubt, or uncertainty threaten to stop you.

It is about trusting deeply in what you know to be true, even when there’s no guarantee of success.

This faith shows up in your life when you stand firm in your values, when you choose to act in accordance with your beliefs and not just hold them inwardly. It’s a faith that lives boldly, stepping forward despite opposition, and refusing to compromise on truth.

At the Catholic Women’s Conference, courageous faith will come alive through inspirational talks, prayer, and community.

It will be a reminder that faith isn’t just something you have – it’s something you live.
The conference is a day of friendship, fun and faith!

The day will begin with the celebration of Mass with the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton.

In addition, there will be opportunities for Reconciliation and Eucharistic Adoration, offering moments of deep reflection and spiritual renewal.

The conference will also feature uplifting music, a marketplace for faith-centered products and lunch, creating a full day of connection and enrichment.

Throughout the day, a series of dynamic keynote speakers will each tackle aspects of courageous faith.

Father Dan Reehil, Pastor of Saint Catherine of Siena Church in the Nashville-area, will open the conference with a talk on Spiritual Battle.

He will address the ongoing, unseen battle between good and evil that shapes every part of our lives.

He will explore the struggle between truth and deception, faith and doubt, and call all believers to take a stand for God’s values in an often chaotic world. His insights will challenge participants to reflect on their daily choices and the importance of standing firm in faith.

Francesca LaRosa will follow his presentation, blending music, scripture and reflections to inspire attendees to embody courageous faith in their lives.

LaRosa began her musical journey at the age of nine, playing at Mass with her father. By the end of high school, she had composed and recorded two albums for the Holy Liturgy.

Francesca pursued music education at Ball State University, excelling in vocal competitions and deepening her call to serve God through music.

She launched the instrumental piano channel ‘Keys of Peace,’ featured on Hallow.

With her husband David, a music producer and videographer, she created a YouTube channel to share her word-for-word Psalm settings in English and Spanish which quickly gained international recognition.

Her work has been featured on Sirius XM’s ‘The Catholic Channel,’ including ‘The Busted Halo Show’ and Gus Lloyd’s ‘Seize the Day’ show and over 10 million Youtube views. Francesca was honored with the Best New Singer award at the first annual Catholic Music Awards in Rome.

In the afternoon, Sue Brinkmann will continue the conversation with her session on Spiritual Battles in Daily Life.

Using scripture and real-life applications, Sue will help women recognize the spiritual battles they face every day. She will teach participants how to engage with these challenges with faith, discernment, and prayer, offering practical tools to navigate the struggles of life.

Her session will empower women to put on the full armor of God and walk in victory.

The conference hostess will be Mary Clare Hallman, Diocesan Secretary for Parish Life. Co-Chairs of the event are Mary Carroll Donahoe and Deborah Kennedy.

A special evening option is available Friday, June 5, for those who wish to dive deeper into the spiritual battles we face. There will be a special evening session with Father Dan Reehil and Sue Brinkmann at the Marian Chapel in the Swartz Center of Spiritual Life on the Marywood University campus.

FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 2026

Dinner and Talk with Fr. Dan Reehil and Susan Brinkmann $50

SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2026

Saturday Full Day Conference $75

ACCOMMODATIONS Friday night dormitory rooms include sheets and towels
Double and Single Room $100 per person

For Tickets visit: www.cwcnepa.com
Or Make your check payable to: The Diocese of Scranton
Mail to: Refresh Your Faith Conference
P.O. Box 14
Chinchilla, PA 18410

(OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV issued decrees advancing the sainthood causes of five candidates, including a Dutch nun who served in St. Louis in the early 20th century.

During a meeting April 27, with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the pope signed a decree recognizing the heroic virtues of Carmelite Sister Teresia of the Most Holy Trinity, born Teresa Ysseldijk, who died from an illness just a little over six years after arriving in the United States.

Born in the Netherlands in 1897, she entered the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus at age 19 and professed her vows in 1919. Eager to join her missionary sisters, the young nun traveled that same year to the United States.

However, she fell ill and was diagnosed with severe kidney disease. Despite her illness, she continued to serve at her convent in St. Charles, Missouri. According to her congregation’s website, Sister Teresia “wanted to serve God in the order, working in silent union with Him.”

“When work was no longer possible, she bore her pain silently, hidden from the world,” the congregation said. She died March 10, 1926 at age 28.

The other decrees approved by Pope Leo recognized:

— The martyrdom of Spanish Father Emanuele Berenguer Clusella, Montfort Brother of St. Gabriel Estanislao Ortega García and 48 companions, killed “in hatred of the faith” in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War.

— The offering of life of Spanish missionary Pedro Manual Salado, a lay member of the “Hogar de Nazaret” association, who died in 2012 in Esmeraldas, Ecuador, when he collapsed after rescuing seven children drowning at sea.

— The heroic virtues of Mother Maria Eletta di Gesù, an Italian Discalced Carmelite, who was born in Terni, Italy, in 1605 and died in Prague in what is now known as the Czech Republic in 1663.

— The heroic virtues of Italian Sister Maria Raffaela De Giovanna, founder of the Congregation of the Tertiary Minim Sisters of Saint Francis of Paola. She was born in Genova in 1870 and died there in 1933.