Workers erect the Vatican's 2025 Christmas tree in St. Peter's Square on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025 / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Nov 27, 2025 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

A towering Christmas tree now stands in the center of St. Peter’s Square, after the spruce arrived at the Vatican on Thursday morning. 

The 88-foot-tall spruce tree from Italy’s Bolzano province was erected next to the ancient Egyptian obelisk which stands in the middle of the 17th century Baroque square designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

This year, the northern Italian municipalities of Lagundo and Ultimo gifted the Christmas tree to the Vatican. The tree was harvested in the alpine valley of Ultimo.

In an Oct. 20 interview published on the Vatican State website, Bishop Ivo Muser of the Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone said the tree reaffirms the local church’s “spiritual and emotional bond” with the pope. 

“It is a way of saying: ‘We are with you, Pope Leo; we wish to pray with you and share the joy of Christmas with you,” he said.

“The tree thus becomes an ‘ambassador’ of our territory, our culture, and our faith — a way of bringing a small piece of our local Church into the heart of the universal Church,” he added.

The Vatican’s large-scale nativity display — donated by the Italian Diocese of Nocera Inferiore-Sarno — is currently under construction behind covered fencing in St. Peter’s Square.

The highly-awaited 2025 nativity scene will honor St. Alphonus Maria de Liguori, whose remains lay in the southern Italian diocese. In Italy, St. Alponsus is famous for composing the famous Italian Christmas carol “Tu scendi dalle stelle” (“From starry skies descending”).

Bishop Giuseppe Giudice of the Diocese of Nocera Inferiore-Sarno said the nativity project for the Vatican, which involved a “long period of preparation,” will also showcase local Neapolitan Christmas traditions.  

“I am happy to say that everyone working on the project is from our wonderful region, and the Nativity scene will be rich in elements typical of our local Agro nocerino-sarnese area,” he said in an Oct. 24 interview published by Vatican City State.  

The Vatican will hold a special ceremony on Dec. 7 at 6:30 pm local time to present  the Christmas tree and nativity scene to the public. The display will be open to the public until mid-January 2026.

Pope Leo XIV receives a Thanksgiving pie on board the papal flight to Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025 / Credit: Courtesy of Claudio Lavanga

Rome Newsroom, Nov 27, 2025 / 09:25 am (CNA).

Aboard the papal plane on Thanksgiving Day, Pope Leo XIV kicked off his first international trip — a visit to Turkey — with distinctly American gifts: a baseball bat and pumpkin pie. 

“To the Americans here, Happy Thanksgiving!” Leo said as he greeted about 80 journalists aboard the chartered ITA Airways flight to Ankara on Thursday morning. “It’s a wonderful day to celebrate.” 

Two American journalists traveling with the pope gave him pumpkin pies. “It’s not Thanksgiving if there’s not enough to share,” Crux correspondent Elise Ann Allen told the pope as she handed him the second pie. 

“I’ll definitely share some,” Leo responded. The pope had plenty to share as NBC News correspondent Claudio Lavanga also gave him a pecan pie.  

Leo, a longtime Chicago White Sox fan, also received a baseball bat once owned by Nellie Fox, the White Sox legend who played for the team from 1950 to 1963, when Leo, then Robert Prevost, was a small child. 

Smiling, the pope joked, “How did it get through security?” 

As a collective gift from the Vatican press corps, the pope received a Byzantine-style icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe made by Spanish iconographer Débora Martínez, a missionary in Cyprus. 

The icon, presented by Mexican journalist Valentina Alazraki, who has logged more than 170 papal trips, was crafted using classical techniques of Eastern iconography. It depicts the Virgin of Guadalupe in Byzantine style, symbolically linking Latin America’s Marian tradition with the iconography of the Christian East. 

At the start of the nearly three-hour flight, the pope continued a practice of his predecessor Pope Francis of walking down the aisle to greet each journalist. 

Among them was Elias Turk, a journalist from Lebanon who is the Vatican editor for ACI MENA and EWTN News. Turk briefly shared a personal story with the pope, recounting how he lived through part of the 2024 escalation between Hezbollah and Israel and was trapped in Lebanon during the fighting. 

“I told him that I lived … a traumatizing experience with my nephews during the war. We had to run and hide inside a house after being in a garden. We heard fighter jets passing in the skies and then powerful explosions,” he explained. The pope listened closely. 

Turk, who is godfather to his nephews, asked the pope to bless two rosaries for the children, a three-year-old and a one-and-a-half-year-old, so they could pray for peace. He also carried a third rosary for a two-year-old Polish girl who has been repeatedly hospitalized. 

In a light moment with another journalist, Pope Leo said he had already completed his daily Wordle game before takeoff, adding that he solved Thursday’s puzzle in three tries. 

According to the pope’s brother, Leo plays Wordle every day and his favorite Thanksgiving dish is stuffing. 

During his first apostolic trip, taking place Nov. 27–Dec. 2, Leo will visit Turkey and Lebanon. 

Pope Leo XIV with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, Turkey, on November 27, 2025. / Vatican Media

Vatican City, Nov 27, 2025 / 08:25 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV opened his first international trip on Thursday with a sweeping call for unity, renewed dialogue, and a rejection of the global drift toward division and violence.

Speaking in Turkey’s capital of Ankara on Nov. 27 during his formal welcome by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the pope said he hoped Turkey could be “a source of stability and rapprochement between peoples” and serve the cause of a “just and lasting peace.” He described the country as “inextricably linked to the origins of Christianity” and a land that invites a fraternity “that recognizes and appreciates differences.”

Launching a six-day trip that will also take him to Lebanon, the pope said the region’s peoples can help remind the world that peace, human dignity, and fraternity “are the only sure foundations for our common future.”

The massive Presidential Palace where he spoke has become a symbol of Turkey’s contemporary political authority since Erdoğan inaugurated it in 2014. Bombed during the failed 2016 coup attempt, it remains the seat from which Erdoğan has shaped the country’s domestic and international posture. Before his meeting with Erdoğan, the pope paid his respects at the tomb of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and first president of the Turkish Republic.

In his remarks welcoming Leo, Erdoğan praised the cultural openness and interreligious harmony of Turkish society and his country's commitment to peace and humanitarian assistance, citing its welcome to refugees from Syria's long civil war.

In his speech, the pope rejected the mentality of “might is right,” urging a renewed “culture of encounter” to counter what he described as a growing “globalization of indifference.” Justice and mercy, he said, must guide political and social life. He also warned that artificial intelligence risks entrenching existing inequalities because it “simply reproduces our own preferences,” and appealed for cooperation to “repair the damage already done to the unity of our human family.”

Recalling his predecessor’s description of today’s conflicts as “a third world war fought piecemeal,” Pope Leo cautioned: “We must not give in to this! The future of humanity is at stake.” He said the Vatican seeks to work with all nations committed to the integral development of each person.

Calling Turkey a “crossroads of sensibilities,” the pope emphasized that the country’s social vitality depends on plurality. “Uniformity would be an impoverishment,” he said, warning that communities today risk becoming “polarized and torn by extreme positions.” Reflecting on the journey’s emblem — a bridge spanning the Dardanelles — he said it symbolizes not only a link between Asia and Europe but also a deeper call to unity: “It connects Turkey to itself.”

Pope Leo recalled Saint John XXIII, remembered locally as the “Turkish Pope” because he spent nearly a decade as a Vatican diplomat in Turkey before becoming pontiff and worked to ensure Catholics were not marginalized in the early decades of the republic. Echoing the saint’s teaching, Leo dismissed isolationism as “a false logic.” He also highlighted the contributions of women to society and international life and underscored the importance of the family, where “without the ‘other’ there is no ‘I’.”

Turning to the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the primary impetus for his visit, which will include ecumenical meetings and worship with Eastern Orthodox leaders, the pope said the historic 4th-century gathering still speaks of encounter and sustained dialogue.

Turkey has played roles in several regional conflicts in recent years, including involvement in the Syrian war and support for Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia. At the same time, Ankara has taken part in diplomatic efforts, including mediating between Russia and Ukraine and influencing ceasefire discussions involving Hamas.

Pope Leo was scheduled to continue on by air to Istanbul following the speech, and had no further public events planned for Thursday.

Pope Leo XIV speaks from the Vatican, Nov. 21, 2025 / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 27, 2025 / 06:28 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for December is for Christians living amidst war or conflict, especially in the Middle East:

“Let us pray that Christians living in areas of war or conflict, especially in the Middle East, might be seeds of peace, reconciliation, and hope,” the Holy Father said in a video released Nov. 25 by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

Father Cristóbal Fones, international director of the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network, emphasized that Leo XIV's request "is a gesture of closeness and hope: a way of saying to the Christians of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and so many other countries that they are not forgotten, that the universal Church walks with them; but also to remind us all that faith grows even in the midst of trials, and that seeds of reconciliation and peace can be born from wounded communities."

Below is the prayer that Pope Leo XIV encourages us to pray this December:

God of peace,
who through the blood of Your Son
has reconciled the world to Yourself,
today we pray for Christians
living amidst wars and violence. 

Even surrounded by pain, may they
never cease to feel the gentle kindness of your presence
and the prayers of their brothers and sisters in faith.

For only through You, and strengthened by fraternal bonds,
can they become the seeds of reconciliation,
builders of hope in ways both small and great,
capable of forgiving and moving forward,
of bridging divides,
and of seeking justice with mercy.

Lord Jesus, who called blessed
those who work for peace,
make us Your instruments of peace
even where harmony seems impossible.

Holy Spirit,
source of hope in the darkest times,
sustain the faith of those who suffer and strengthen their hope.
Do not let us fall into indifference,
and make us builders of unity, like Jesus.

Amen.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Leo XIV blesses rosaries for EWTN News' Elias Turk aboard the papal plane to Ankara, Turkey, on Nov. 27, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy Elias Turk of EWTN News.

Vatican City, Nov 27, 2025 / 04:57 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Turkey Thursday on his first international apostolic journey. The wide-ranging trip — spanning historic ecumenical encounters, deeply symbolic gestures of prayer, and pastoral visits to Christian communities under pressure — is expected to highlight the pope’s priorities of unity, peace, and encouragement across a region marked by both ancient faith and present suffering.

During his flight from Rome, the pope told reporters that he hoped his trip would be an occasion to "proclaim how important peace is throughout the world, and to invite all people to come together, to search for greater unity, greater harmony, and to look for the ways that all men and women can truly be brothers and sisters."

He also wished American reporters in particular a Happy Thanksgiving.

The papal plane arrived in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, around 12:30 pm local time. Upon arrival, the pope was scheduled to visit the Atatürk Mausoleum, built in honor of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and first president of the Turkish Republic. He will then travel to the Presidential Palace for a meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and an address to authorities, civil society representatives, and the diplomatic corps. The pope will not remain overnight in Ankara but will continue by air to Istanbul the same day.

Ecumenically focused visit

The visit to Turkey centers on the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea. The pope will participate in an ecumenical prayer service in Iznik, the site of the historic council that articulated Christian teaching on the nature of Christ and affirmed the Nicene Creed. The council also issued disciplinary norms and established a common date for Easter.

During his stay, the pope will take part in several ceremonies and is expected to sign a joint declaration with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. He will also visit Istanbul’s Sultan Ahmed Mosque.

A notable omission from the pope’s itinerary is Hagia Sophia, the Byzantine church-turned-mosque that the Turkish government designated a museum open to all faiths in the 20th century. Pope Francis visited the monument in 2014, on the last papal visit to Turkey, but said he was “deeply pained” when the government turned it back into a mosque six years later. Patriarch Bartholomew also protested the change.

Pope Leo’s visit carries particular significance for Turkey’s small Christian community, which looks to the pope for support and encouragement. The motto for the visit is “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” The Catholic community has witnessed several attacks in past decades, such as the killing of Father Andrea Santoro in Trabzon in 2006 and the assassination of the Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia, Bishop Luigi Padovese, in 2010. In 2024, two people attacked Santa Maria Church in Istanbul’s Sariyer district during Holy Mass, leading to the death of one person attending the service. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the last attack.

Christians have also been facing, like the rest of the population, the economic consequences of severe inflation in the Turkish lira, the national currency, in recent years. They have likewise endured the devastating effects of the earthquake that shook southern Turkey in February 2023.

A message of peace for Lebanon

After Turkey, the pope will travel to Lebanon. Speaking to journalists last month, he said he would have there “the opportunity to proclaim once again the message of peace in the Middle East, in a country that has suffered so much.”

Leo’s itinerary in Lebanon highlights both the nation’s deep Christian roots and its recent trauma. The pope will visit the tomb of St. Charbel, a revered Maronite saint, in Annaya, meet with young people outside the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke, and spend time in silent prayer at the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, which killed more than 236 people and injured over 7,000, according to Human Rights Watch.

Lebanon’s Christian community has endured years of hardship — from the 2019 economic collapse to the 2020 blast, as well as ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah since October 2023. Though weakened by emigration and crisis, Christians remain central to the nation’s political and social life: the president, army commander, and central bank governor must all be Maronite Catholics, and Parliament is evenly divided between Christians and Muslims.

Many Lebanese Christians have left the country in search of stability and economic opportunity. For those who remain, the pope’s presence is widely seen as a sign of hope, particularly during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope.

ANKARA, Turkey (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV began his first papal trip speaking of dialogue, peace and thanksgiving -- referring to both the holiday and his own gratitude.

On the plane to Turkey Nov. 27, he wished a Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans among the 80 journalists traveling with him and told them, "It's a wonderful day to celebrate."

He also received from reporters two pumpkin pies and a pecan pie; he said he would share "part of it."

Pope Leo also was given a baseball bat that had belonged to 1950s White Sox player Nellie Fox.

After expressing his appreciation, the pope asked, "How did you get that through security?" 

During the flight, speaking to the reporters from the front of the economy section of the ITA Airways plane, Pope Leo said, "I want to begin by saying thank you to each and every one of you for the service that you offer to the Vatican, to the Holy See, to my person, but to the whole world. It's so important today that the message be transmitted in a way that really reveals the truth and the harmony that the world needs."

Landing in Ankara after the flight of almost three hours, Pope Leo fulfilled the dictates of protocol as a visiting head of state, meeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Safi Arpagus, the head of the national religious affairs office, known as the Diyanet.

Later, addressing the president, other government officials, members of the diplomatic corps and civic leaders, Pope Leo told them, "Today, more than ever, we need people who will promote dialogue and practice it with firm will and patient resolve." 

After World War II, he said, the world came together and formed the United Nations and other international and regional organizations committed to dialogue, cooperation and conflict resolution.

"We are now experiencing a phase marked by a heightened level of conflict on the global level, fueled by prevailing strategies of economic and military power," Pope Leo said. "This is enabling what Pope Francis called 'a third world war fought piecemeal.'"

"We must in no way give in to this," the pope insisted. "The future of humanity is at stake. The energies and resources absorbed by this destructive dynamic are being diverted from the real challenges that the human family should instead be facing together today, namely peace, the fight against hunger and poverty, health and education, and the protection of creation."

In a land where most people are Muslim, but the constitution officially proclaims the nation secular, Pope Leo praised both the tolerance of religious diversity and the encouragement given to people of all religions to practice their faith.

"In a society like the one here in Turkey, where religion plays a visible role, it is essential to honor the dignity and freedom of all God's children, both men and women, fellow nationals and foreigners, poor and rich," he said.

"We are all children of God, and this has personal, social and political implications," he said, including working for the common good and respecting all people.

Pope Francis, who visited Turkey in 2014, urged all believers in God "to feel the pain of others and to listen to the cry of the poor and of the earth," the pope said. "He thus encouraged us to compassionate action, which is a reflection of the one God who is merciful and compassionate" -- as Muslims frequently repeat -- and "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love," as the Psalms say.

Pope Leo encouraged all people in Turkey and all people of good will to defend social bonds, beginning with the family. 

"People do not obtain greater opportunities or happiness from an individualistic culture, nor by showing contempt for marriage or shunning openness to life," he said.

"Those who scorn fundamental human ties and fail to learn how to bear even their limitations and fragility," he said, "more easily become intolerant and incapable of interacting with our complex world."

Pope Leo asked the people of Turkey to value their diversity, both cultural and religious. And he assured them that the nation's Catholic community -- about 35,000 people or less than 1% of the population -- wants to contribute.

"Uniformity would be an impoverishment," the pope said. "Indeed, a society is alive if it has a plurality, for what makes it a civil society are the bridges that link its people together."

Unfortunately, he said, today "communities are increasingly polarized and torn apart by extreme positions that fragment them."
 

Image of St. John XXIII above the entrance of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Istanbul. / Credit: Souhail Lawand / ACI MENA

Vatican City, Nov 26, 2025 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon holds both spiritual and historical significance for the Catholic Church and its relations with the Orthodox Church as well as with Islam.

From Nov. 27 — Dec. 2, Pope Leo will visit these historic sites in the first international apostolic journey of his pontificate:

1. Cathedral of the Holy Spirit (Istanbul, Turkey)

The Roman Catholic cathedral was built and officially opened in 1846 and is the seat of the apsotolic vicar of Istanbul. Also known as the St. Esprit Cathedral, this minor basilica contains several relics of saints, including those of the first two popes St. Peter and St. Linus. 

In 1884, Pope Leo XIV donated a relic of St. John Chrysostom, the patron saint of the Apostolic Vicariate of Constantinople, to the cathedral. Since 1967, four popes have visited the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, including St. Paul VI, St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis.

A statue of Pope Benedict XV was erected inside the cathedral’s courtyard in 1919 in recognition of his dedication to Turkish WWI victims and Armenian Christians killed in the former Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1916. 

2. Archaeological excavations of the ancient Basilica of St. Neophytus (İznik, Turkey)

This ancient basilica, located around 81 miles southeast of Istanbul, is believed to have been built in 380 atop the site of the first Christian ecumenical council, the Council of Nicaea, convened by Emperor Constantine I in 325. The council reaffirmed the Church’s belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and led to the formulation of the Nicene Creed.

The ancient church was built on the site where 16-year-old martyr St. Neophytus was killed for his faith and his refusal to offer sacrifices to pagan gods. Recent site excavations have uncovered graves of people believed to be early Christian martyrs.

3. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Istanbul, Turkey)

One of Istanbul's most important mosques which was built between 1609–1617 on part of the site of the Great Palace of Constantinople, the imperial residence of Christian Emperor Constantine I and the eastern Roman emperors until 1204.   

Two popes have visited the mosque, also known as the “Blue Mosque,” during official apostolic journeys to the country. Benedict XIV visited the mosque in 2006 and Pope Francis visited the religious site in 2012.  

4. Patriarchal Church of St. George (Istanbul, Turkey)

The Eastern Orthodox church was built in 1720 and houses the relics of some of the most venerated saints of ancient Constantinople, including St. Euphemia of Chalcedon.

Since 2004, the patriarchal church has housed the relics of St. Andrew the Apostle, who is venerated for bringing the Christian faith to Byzantium, modern-day Istanbul. The relics of St Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom can also be found at the church.  

5. St. Gregory Lusavorich Orthodox Armenian Church (Istanbul, Turkey)

This Orthodox church, also known as the Patriarchal Church of the Holy Mother of God, is the oldest cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Turkey. 

The Armenian church was originally built in 1391, shortly before the Ottoman Empire, led by Sultan Mehmed II, conquered Constantinople in 1453. It was named after Greek Christian St. Gregory the Illuminator, who is revered as the founder of the Armenian Apostolic Church. 

Pope Leo will be the first pope to visit the church which has served as a site of religious worship for generations of Armenian families who have lived in Istanbul for more than 600 years.

6. Patriarchal Church of St. George (Istanbul, Turkey)

Converted from a convent into a church at the beginning of the 17th century, the Greek Orthodox basilica has been rebuilt and reconstructed several times throughout its 425-year history. 

The church is the seat and principal cathedral of Patriarch Bartholomew I, the head of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and spiritual leader of the world’s approximately 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians.

7. Monastery of Saint Maroun (Annaya, Lebanon)

The Lebanese Maronite monastery built in 1828 and became a site of pilgrimage for Christian faithful seeking the spiritual counsel of St. Charbel Makhlouf, who lived in the Annaya monastery and the nearby Sts. Peter and Paul hermitage from 1853 until his death in 1898. 

After the 1965 beatification of Charbel Makhlouf, the Lebanese Maronite Order built a new church near the monastery and consecrated it in 1974 in honor of the holy monk and priest canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1977. It has since been visited by Christian and non-Christian pilgrims inspired by St. Charbel’s holy life.

8. Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon (Harissa, Lebanon)

Built in 1904 to mark the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX, the shrine was inaugurated on the first Sunday of May in 1908, which has since become the annual feast of Our Lady of Lebanon. 

Thousands of Christian and Muslim pilgrims come annually to pray at the shrine, which features an 8.5-meter tall bronze statue of Mary standing on a 21-meter high stone pedestal tower with a spiral staircase, entrusted to the care of the Congregation of Lebanese Missionaries. 

In 1993, a new basilica was built next to the shrine. John Paul II was the first pope to visit Our Lady of Lebanon in 1997, followed by Benedict XVI in 2012. 

9. The Maronite Patriarchate of Antioch (Bkerké, Lebanon)

The head of the Maronite Patriarchate has resided in Bkerké since 1830. Between the 15th–19th centuries, the head of the Maronite Catholic Church resided in the Qannubin Monastery in Lebanon’s Qadisha Valley.

The Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerké was built on the site of a monastery constructed in 1703 by an influential member of the noble Khattar al-Khazen family. By 1779, the monastery was used by the Maronite Church and eventually used as the winter residence of the Maronite Patriarch in 1830. 

The Maronite Church — named after the ascetic St. Maroun who lived in Antioch and died in 410 — has always been in full communion with the Apostolic See. The current Maronite patriarch is Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï, O.M.M.

Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, Secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts. / Credit: "EWTN Noticias"/Screenshot

Vatican City, Nov 26, 2025 / 11:15 am (CNA).

The Vatican, the smallest state in the world, possesses a unique and complex legal, administrative, and spiritual structure designed to guarantee the independence of the pope and allow the Church to act freely throughout the world.

Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, in an interview with the Spanish-language edition of EWTN News, detailed how this tiny nation is governed, how its institutions operate, and what role the Holy See plays in the world.

A unique governance structure

Arrieta explained that the Dicastery for Legislative Texts — where he has served for 18 years — is one of the departments that collaborates directly with the pope in the governance of the Church.

“The dicasteries are the ministries of the Holy See; they are like the departments that serve the pope … and this one is dedicated to the preparation of laws, to the oversight of the laws of the entire Church,” he said.

Unlike traditional states, these norms govern worldwide. “They apply to all five continents. They are not like the laws of Spain, Argentina, or Mexico. These are laws that must be created for the entire Church, with its different cultures,” he noted.

This legislation covers everything from the administration of parishes to issues such as canon law offenses and declarations of a marriage annulment: “The Church functions like a society… and that society has its specific laws.”

The reason for the existence of the Vatican City State

Although many confuse the Holy See with Vatican City State, Arrieta clarified that they are distinct entities. The Holy See is the spiritual and governing authority of the universal Church; the Vatican City State, on the other hand, exists to protect its independence. “It is a tiny state — only half a square kilometer (.19 sq. mi.) — that was created to protect the pope's independence from all temporal power,” he explained.

That territory was created after the Lateran Treaties of 1929, by which the Kingdom of Italy recognized the independence, sovereignty, and borders of what would become Vatican City. Arrieta noted that Italy “also ceded to the Holy See certain places, buildings, and palaces in Rome that are the property of the Holy See and are extraterritorial,” such as the St. Mary Major Basilica and the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.

A surprising fact: “The only actual citizen is the pope,” he explained, while the rest have temporary residence or work permits.

What happens when someone commits a crime?

Even though it is small, the Vatican functions like any other state, with courts and prisons. Arrieta gave a common example: “What happens if someone goes to the supermarket inside the Vatican, takes a bottle of cognac, puts it in his pocket, and walks out?... It's a civil crime in the Vatican... the gendarmes catch the person and take him to court.”

Criminal proceedings can take place in Vatican territory or in the country of origin, according to international agreements. The secretary of the dicastery noted that even with the assassination attempt on St. John Paul II, which occurred in Vatican territory, “the Vatican asked Italy to prosecute [the accused].”

A state with a bank, radio station, train, and supermarket

Daily life within the Vatican has peculiarities that surprise visitors.

Regarding the network of services, Arrieta explained about the Vatican Bank: “It's not properly speaking a bank ... it helps the Holy See to be able to move money and assist the missions.”

On Vatican Radio, he said: “It broadcasts in very many languages ... even on shortwave to reach very distant places.”

The pope receives thousands of letters that are processed through the Vatican’s postal service. “If you send a letter to the pope, it’s possible that someone will read it … and respond kindly on the pope’s behalf.”

There is a supermarket and a shopping center in the Vatican that are mainly open for employees and residents.

There is also the famous Vatican train and train station that was initially built to receive foreign dignitaries. Today, part of its facilities function as a shop and in the summer, a tourist train runs from Vatican Station to Castel Gandolfo.

The Swiss Guard and the defense of the pope

The origin of the corps that protects the Holy Father dates back to the year 1506. They famously defended the papacy during the Sack of Rome in 1527, when "over a hundred [Swiss soldiers] died defending the pontiff. Since then, the Swiss Guard has maintained this tradition of loyalty.

The universality of the Church

Arrieta said that the most striking thing about the Vatican is not its power or history, but its transcendent spiritual life: “The most impressive thing here is how one experiences the universality of the Church. How one appreciates that in people of very different origins, of very different cultural backgrounds, we live the same faith and believe in the same things.”

This constant contact with a diverse group of people in the Vatican “is experiencing the universality of the Church. We are all trying to love Jesus, the Lord, more, and to live the same things and to spread the same faith,” he added.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

The main altar of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. / Credit: Jorge Royan (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Vatican City, Nov 26, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has issued a new decree revising the financial and administrative norms governing the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Mary Major, bringing both institutions under the ordinary oversight of the Vatican’s Council for the Economy, in the latest act of fine-tuning of economic reforms undertaken by his predecessor Pope Francis.

The pope writes that the Holy See’s economic and financial reform requires “periodic reevaluation and redefinition” of the applicable regulatory framework. 

The letter motu proprio, dated Sept. 29, 2025, was promulgated this month when it was posted in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. It has not previously been reported by the media.

The decree abrogates two earlier such decrees concerning the Fabric of St. Peter’s and the Chapter of St. Mary Major. Under the updated provisions, both the Fabbrica — which oversees the care, maintenance, and artistic patrimony of St. Peter’s Basilica — and the Chapter of St. Mary Major are now subject to the same forms of oversight established for other entities listed under the statutes of the Council for the Economy and in Praedicate Evangelium, the 2022 apostolic constitution that reorganized the Roman Curia.

To ensure what Pope Leo calls an “immediate and structured transition,” the Secretariat for the Economy will coordinate implementation along with a consultative group to help resolve questions or issues that might arise. The law will eventually be published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the official gazette of the Holy See.

In October, Pope Leo XIV issued the decree Coniuncta Cura, a major financial reform that ended the Vatican Bank’s exclusive role in managing Holy See investments and allowed APSA and other accredited intermediaries to handle funds when advantageous. The change, which reverses a 2022 centralization under Pope Francis, aims to diversify management, improve returns, and strengthen the Holy See’s long-term financial sustainability amid rising operational costs.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Thanksgiving is a "beautiful feast" that reminds everyone to be grateful for the gifts they have been given, Pope Leo XIV said.

"Say thank you to someone," the pope suggested two days before the U.S. holiday when he met reporters outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo before returning to the Vatican after a day off.

Pope Leo, the first U.S.-born pope, was scheduled to spend his Thanksgiving Nov. 27 in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey, the first stops on his first foreign trip as pope.

A reporter asked the pope what he was thankful for this year.

"Many things I'm thankful for," he responded.

He described Thanksgiving as "this beautiful feast that we have in the United States, which unites all people, people of different faiths, people who perhaps do not have the gift of faith."

The holiday is an opportunity "to say thank you to someone, to recognize that we all have received so many gifts -- first and foremost, the gift of life, the gift of faith, the gift of unity, to encourage all people to try and promote peace and harmony and to give thanks to God for the many gifts we have been given." 

Pope Leo was asked about his upcoming trip, particularly about relations with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who will host the pope for several prayer services in addition to having a private meeting and lunch with him.

"This trip was born precisely to celebrate 1,700 years of the Creed of Nicaea, the Council of Nicaea" and what it affirmed about Jesus, the pope said.

In his apostolic letter, "In Unitate Fidei" ("In the Unity of Faith"), published Nov. 23, Pope Leo highlighted the importance of the anniversary and of the Creed that all mainline Christians still share.

"Unity in the faith," he told the reporters, "can also be a source of peace for the whole world." 

Pope Leo also was asked if he was concerned about going to Lebanon when Israel continues to strike what it says are Hezbollah and Hamas positions in Lebanon. Israel said it killed Hezbollah's top military leader Nov. 23 in a suburb of Beirut; Lebanon said the strike killed five other people as well and wounded 28 more.

"It's always a concern," the pope said. "Again, I would invite all people to look for ways to abandon the use of arms as a way of solving problems and to come together, to respect one another, to sit down together at the table, to dialogue and to work together for solutions for the problems that affect us."

"I am very happy to be able to visit Lebanon," the pope said. "The message will be a word of peace, a word of hope, especially this year of the Jubilee of hope."