Lent and the Power of Confession
The forty days of Lent invite Christians to look inward. It is a season that calls for examination of conscience, for change, and for a renewed encounter with the Lord before the joy of the Resurrection. In Rome, that invitation is made visible in a striking way. More than 900 churches across the Eternal City […]
Pope Leo XIV Visits Ostia Parish, Urges ‘Disarming’ Meekness
The pontiff urged “coherence between faith and life” and persistent prayer for peace. Pope Leo XIV on Sunday made his first visit to a parish in the Diocese of Rome, celebrating Mass at Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Lido and urging Catholics to cultivate “coherence between faith and life” while opposing violence and injustice […]
Pope Leo XIV Prays for Madagascar After Twin Cyclones
In his catechesis before the Angelus, Leo said Jesus fulfills the Law by calling Christians beyond minimal righteousness to great love. Pope Leo XIV on Sunday expressed his closeness to the people of Madagascar after two cyclones caused flooding and landslides. “I pray for the victims, their families, and for all who have suffered serious […]
Pope Leo XIV Brings Hope to Ostia Parish
A popular summer destination for tourists, Ostia will be the first of five parishes where the pope, as bishop of Rome, will celebrate Mass on Sundays in February and March. Pope Leo XIV on Sunday will travel outside the Vatican to visit a Roman parish — the Basilica of Santa Maria Regina Pacis — in […]
Pope Leo XIV Proposes Lenten Fast From Hurtful Words
Pope Leo XIV urges Catholics to listen more closely to God and others — and to “disarm” their language by fasting from words that wound — in his message for Lent 2026. In his message for Lent 2026, Pope Leo XIV urges Catholics to listen more closely to God and others — and to “disarm” […]
Where Psychology Meets the Sacraments: Confession
He was trained to heal with a scalpel — and later called to heal in the confessional. Father Wenceslao Vial is a priest and professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, and his work sits at the crossroads of medicine, psychology, and spiritual life. Through books such as Psychology and Christian Life and […]
Pope Leo XIV: Lent in 5 of Rome’s Parishes
This Lent, beginning February 15, Pope Leo XIV will step beyond the Vatican walls and into the neighborhoods of Rome. On each of the five Sundays of Lent, the Bishop of Rome will visit parish communities across the city’s five pastoral regions—bringing the papacy to places where daily life is lived with quiet faith, struggle, […]
FULL TEXT of Pope Leo’s Message for Lent 2026
The PDF version of the Pope Leo’s Message for Lent 2026. This is the text of the document: MESSAGE OF POPE LEO XIVFOR LENT 2026Listening and Fasting:Lent as a Time of Conversion Dear brothers and sisters, Lent is a time in which the Church, guided by a sense of maternal care, invites us to place the […]
Cuban Bishops Postpone Vatican Visit Amid National Crisis
The country’s growing economic and social instability prompts request to delay meeting with Pope Leo XIV. The Catholic Bishops of Cuba announced Thursday that they have asked Pope Leo XIV to postpone their upcoming visit to Rome due to the country’s grave situation, which is generating “so much instability and uncertainty.” The bishops had been […]
The Rome church where you can venerate St. Valentine’s skull
When most people think of romantic love, a third-century skull crowned with flowers probably does not spring to mind — nor the story behind it. But a visit to an unassuming Byzantine basilica in Rome might change that. Saint Valentine’s Relics in Rome “One of the most important relics that you will find in this […]
