Pope Leo XIV greets Catholic pilgrims from Russia during an audience in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace on Oct. 17, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media.

ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 17, 2025 / 12:42 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Friday asked a group of Catholic pilgrims from Russia, in Rome on a Jubilee pilgrimage, to be an example of love and brotherhood upon their return home.

In his Oct. 17 address at the Vatican, the Holy Father emphasized that the presence of the Russian pilgrims “is part of the journey of so many generations” who have traveled to Rome. 

For the Holy Father, “this city can be a symbol of human existence, in which the ’ruins’ of past experiences, anguish, uncertainty, and anxiety are intertwined with the faith that grows every day and becomes active in charity.”

“And with the hope that does not disappoint and encourages us, because even on the ruins, despite sin and enmity, the Lord can build a new world and renewed life,” he added.

Bishop Joseph Werth of the Diocese of the Transfiguration in Novosibirsk, Russia, told EWTN News after the meeting that Pope Leo took the time to greet the entire group of around 100 pilgrims, despite being scheduled to only greet the people in the front rows. 

“It’s a sign that the pope wanted to dedicate time to us,” Werth said.

Leo encouraged the Catholics from Russia to continue the path of Christian life upon returning home, appealing to their responsibility in their local Church.

“From your families, from your parish and diocesan communities, may an example of love, fraternity, solidarity, and mutual respect emerge for all the people among whom you live, work, and study,” he urged them. 

In this way, he affirmed that “the fire of Christian love can be kindled, capable of warming the coldness of hearts, even the most hardened.”

In Rome, the pontiff specified, “the heart of the Christian soul beats” and it is where “the events of the faith — received and transmitted since apostolic times, from which so many peoples and nations have drunk abundantly and from which they still live today — are intertwined with the concerns and commitments of daily life.”

Leo XIV also pointed out the monuments scattered throughout the Eternal City, “tangible signs of living faith, rooted in the hearts of people, capable of transforming consciences and motivating them to do good.” 

He emphasized that every Catholic “is a living stone in the building of the Church” who, even if small, placed by the Lord in the right place, “plays an important role in the stability of the entire structure.”

Alexey Gotovskiy of EWTN News contributed to this report.

Britain’s King Charles III stands with Britain’s Princess Michael of Kent (left); Britain’s Prince Michael of Kent (second left); Britain’s Lord Frederick Windsor; Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales; Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales; Britain’s Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh; and Britain’s Princess Anne, Princess Royal, following a Requiem Mass for the late Katharine, Duchess of Kent, at Westminster Cathedral in London on Sept. 16, 2025. / Credit: JORDAN PETTITT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Vatican City, Oct 17, 2025 / 09:58 am (CNA).

For the first time since the Protestant Reformation, a reigning British monarch and a pope will pray together publicly during a royal state visit to the Vatican.

King Charles III will join in ecumenical prayer presided over by Pope Leo XIV for the care of creation inside the Sistine Chapel on Oct. 23, beneath Michelangelo’s frescoed ceiling, during the king’s first state visit to the Vatican with Queen Camila. 

The Sistine Chapel Choir will sing together with England’s Choir of St. George's Chapel and the Choir of His Majesty's Chapel Royal for the historic ecumenical prayer which will focus on praising God the Creator, Vatican officials said. 

Stephen Cottrell, the Anglican Archbishop of York, will also participate.

The visit will mark the first meeting between King Charles and Pope Leo XIV. The two will first meet privately in the Apostolic Palace in the morning and will later be joined by business leaders in the palace’s Sala Regia for a discussion on care for creation and environmental sustainability. 

During the state visit, Cardinal James Michael Harvey, the archpriest of the basilica, will confer upon King Charles the title of “Royal Confrater” of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls during an ecumenical service at the tomb of St. Paul in the basilica on the same day. The pope is not expected to attend. 

The title, granted with the approval of Pope Leo XIV, is a gesture of “hospitality and ecumenical welcome,” Archbishop Flavio Pace, the secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, said at a Vatican press briefing on Oct. 17. 

The Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls has a historic connection to England’s monarchy. After the arrival in England of Roman monk-missionaries such as St. Augustine of Canterbury and St. Paulinus of York in the 6th and 7th centuries, Saxon rulers including Kings Offa and Æthelwulf contributed to the upkeep of the apostles’ tombs in Rome. 

By the late Middle Ages, the kings of England were recognized as “protectors” of the Basilica of St. Paul and abbey, and its heraldic shield came to include the insignia of the Order of the Garter. That tradition was interrupted by the Reformation and the ensuing centuries of estrangement. 

It was King Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who was the first British monarch since the Reformation to make an official visit to the Holy See, meeting with John XXIII in 1961. A few years later, Pope Paul VI met with Archbishop Michael Ramsey of Canterbury in 1966 in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, launching formal dialogue between Catholics and Anglicans for the first time since the 16th century.

“Without establishing a formal role for King Charles and his successors, the title of ‘Royal Confrater’ is to be understood as a gesture of hospitality and ecumenical welcome that bears witness to these historical ties and the progress that has been made since 1966,” Pace said. 

The basilica will also install a specially commissioned chair for the monarch, decorated with his coat of arms and a verse from the Gospel of John in Latin,  “Ut unum sint” (“That they may be one”). The chair will remain in the basilica for Charles and his heirs to use during future visits.

The ecumenical service in the Basilica of St. Paul on Oct. 23 will be presided over by Father Donato Ogliari, the abbot of the basilica, with the participation of Anglican Archbishop Stephen Cottrell of York and the Rev. Rosie Frew, moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. 

​​The service will conclude with a hymn composed to a text by St. John Henry Newman — the English cardinal and convert from Anglicanism whom Pope Leo XIV will declare a Doctor of the Church on Nov. 1. King Charles attended Newman’s canonization in 2019 and recently became the first monarch to visit the Birmingham Oratory, the priestly community founded by Newman in 1848.

The president of the Pontifical International Marian Academy (PAMI), Franciscan friar Stefano Cecchin, OFM. / Credit: Victoria Cardiel/EWTN News

Vatican City, Oct 17, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Father Stefano Cecchin, OFM, president of the Pontifical International Marian Academy, (PAMI by its Italian acronym), which reports directly to the Roman Curia, said in a recent interview that the Church faces persistent challenges regarding truths about the Virgin Mary. 

Cecchin told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that PAMI encounters challenges every day from Protestants as well as certain groups within the Catholic Church, both openly and indirectly, who deny the dogma of the virginity of Mary established at the Council of Ephesus in A.D. 431 and the Lateran Council of 649.

“There are theologians and biblical scholars who are saying that the virginity of Mary is a myth, and this is very dangerous because the … Fathers of the Church, and even the Quran, defend the virginity of Mary,” the priest stated.

Devil is behind attacks on Immaculate Conception

Cecchin is an expert in Mariology and the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which refers to Mary’s preservation from original sin from the moment of her conception in her mother’s womb and was officially defined by Pope Pius IX on Dec. 8, 1854.

Mary has always been the target of attacks from the devil, Cecchin explained, especially because of her role in the economy of salvation.

“The devil works hard; I’ve seen it a great deal, especially against the Immaculate Conception,” he said. “I see how he continues to attack the figure of Mary, and right now he’s attacking her within the Church with those who, for example, say that Mary is not a virgin.” 

“The first attack against Christ was an attack on the virginity of Mary, who [supposedly] had slept with a Roman soldier, so Jesus was not the true son of God. If we question Mary’s virginity, we put into doubt all of Christianity,” he pointed out.

Cecchin recalled that, from a biblical and theological perspective, Mary occupies a unique place in the history of salvation as the mother of God and a figure of the Church. He explained that her role is not limited to the Incarnation in the past, but she continues to be active in the spiritual life of believers.

“The point is that it is not we who seek God, but he who seeks us. And that is why, after Jesus ascended to heaven, the angels said [the apostles] would not see him again until he returned on the glorious day. But Jesus entrusts the Church to Mary: ‘Behold, your mother.’ That is why Mary continues to care for us and tries to bring us back to him,” he explained.

‘God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell’

The director of PAMI, which is charged with coordinating all Mariological scholars and societies around the world, emphasized that Marian apparitions and calls to conversion must be understood as expressions of divine mercy, not as manifestations of fear or punishment.

“All the apparitions, the calls she makes regarding hell, are not to frighten us, but to convert us, because God doesn’t want to punish us; he wants to convert us. This is a fundamental point taught by the Catechism of the Catholic Church. God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell, but if you don’t behave well, you will go to hell, because hell exists and is not empty,” he explained.

Cecchin also emphasized that the defense of Marian dogmas is not a secondary or devotional issue but a pillar of the Christian message. He recalled that, according to St. Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of St. Peter and one of the earliest Fathers of the Church, denying the virginity of Mary means jeopardizing the truth about the incarnation of the Son of God.

“St. Ignatius of Antioch speaks of Mary and of Mary’s virginity. That is why it is important to educate oneself,” Cecchin said, “and to see that our Franciscan vision, according to which God desires the salvation of all, compels us to evangelize. The evangelization we propose today is a Marian evangelization.”

The friar noted that throughout the history of the Church, controversies and heresies have also been opportunities to delve deeper into the truth.

“In the struggle for the Immaculate Conception, for example, there were those who thought one thing and those who thought another. The Church is always alive, and we normally see that, in history, heretics help us delve deeper into the truth. They are an incentive to delve deeper, but we must defend the truth,” he maintained.

Shrines as a place of healing

In 2023, the Vatican established, within PAMI, the International Observatory on Apparitions and Mystical Phenomena, whose mission is to study and discern without issuing judgments.

“Its only task is to study, not to give opinions,” emphasized the Italian Franciscan, who noted that apparitions have always existed throughout history. “All shrines have a story behind them, an experience of encounter with the divine.”

“We want shrines to be not only a place of prayer but also of healing,” he added.

Currently, the International Observatory on Apparitions and Mystical Phenomena is conducting a theological and historical analysis of Marian shrines.

“We are conducting a study of the sanctuaries from Nazareth, which is the shrine that housed the relics of the Virgin, which were then taken to Constantinople, to Blacherne ... We have seen that in the Middle Ages there are always minor apparitions that are at the origin of the shrines we have around the world,” he explained.

With Guadalupe, the great apparitions begin

Over time, these manifestations of faith took on an increasingly universal dimension. The great apparition of the Virgin Mary to the Indian St. Juan Diego in 1531 begins a long series of great apparitions, according to Cecchin.

“The first ones were a little more local, but with Guadalupe, the apparitions that interest nations, that interest continents, begin. Then come Lourdes, Fátima, Medjugorje, Kibeho… all these great apparitions that attract people because the shrine is always a special place where the Mother asks to see, as in all apparitions, the construction of a shrine,” he explained.

Cecchin pointed out that shrines, from a biblical perspective, are always a place of encounter.

“In the Old Testament, in the apparitions of God, there was always a place, a shrine. Therefore, the shrine becomes a moment of encounter with God through Mary, what Paul VI called the clinics of the spirit. That’s why we truly want shrines to be not only places of prayer but also of healing, of well-being, because Jesus told us: ‘Preach and heal,’” he emphasized.

PAMI’s work extends to the creation of study centers and the promotion of interreligious and ecumenical dialogue.

“Our task is to create centers and societies to study the figure of Mary in diverse cultures and also in dialogue with other Christian churches and other religions, because Mary plays this fundamental role in the history of the Church,” he explained.

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

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn (left) shakes hands with now Archbishop-elect of Vienna Josef Grünwidl at the time of his appointment as apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Vienna on Jan. 22, 2025, and on Oct. 17, 2025. / Credit: Archdiocese of Vienna / Stephan Schönlaub

Rome Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 06:02 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Friday appointed Father Josef Grünwidl to succeed Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, OP, as head of the Archdiocese of Vienna, Austria’s most populous archdiocese.

Grünwidl has overseen the Vienna archdiocese on an interim basis since January, when the 80-year-old Schönborn concluded three decades at its helm following the acceptance of his resignation by Pope Francis.

The 62-year-old Grünwidl, born in lower Austria, was chairman of the Vienna Priests’ Council and episcopal vicar of the Vienna archdiocese’s southern vicariate before being named apostolic administrator.

A former concert organist, the archbishop-elect has served in numerous roles in the archdiocese since his ordination in 1988, including as a pastor and parish moderator. The priest was also secretary to Cardinal Schönborn from 1995 to 1998, at the beginning of Schönborn’s term as archbishop of Vienna.

According to Austria’s public broadcasting service, ORF, Grünwidl is a former member of the controversial “Pastor’s Initiative,” a dissident Catholic group founded in Austria in 2006 on a call to “disobedience” on certain Church issues. The group advocates for the ordination of women, optional priestly celibacy, and Communion for the divorced-and-remarried and members of other Christian faiths.

ORF reports that Grünwidl, who is not listed among current members of the “Pastor’s Initiative,” has “recently emphasized that celibacy is a consciously chosen way of life for him personally, but ‘not a matter of faith’ and should therefore not be a mandatory requirement for priests.”

“On the subject of women in the Church, he identified an ‘urgent need for clarification,’” ORF continued. “The diaconate for women should be discussed further, and Grünwidl also considers the admission of women to the College of Cardinals to be conceivable.”

Speaking on the broadcaster’s program “Orientation” early this year, Grünwidl said he left the “Pastor’s Initiative” because he felt that Pope Francis’ ideas had “overtaken” the group’s proposals, and he could no longer support a motto of “disobedience.” He emphasized “critical obedience,” and said he “can’t imagine an open opposition to the bishop in the Church.”

The Catholic news agency Kathpress describes the archbishop-elect as a “pastorally grounded leader, valued preacher, and insightful conversationalist.”

Archbishop emeritus Cardinal Schönborn

Schönborn, a theologian who led the Archdiocese of Vienna for 30 years, helped write the Catechism of the Catholic Church and chaired the Austrian bishops’ conference for 22 years.

The Church leader was born to a titled family in 1945 in Bohemia in what was then Nazi Germany and is now part of the Czech Republic.

He grew up in western Austria, close to the border with Switzerland, and joined the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans, in 1963. 

He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Vienna in 1970. He went on to study sacred theology in Paris and in Regensburg, Germany, under the then-Father Joseph Ratzinger — the future Pope Benedict XVI.

Schönborn was awarded a doctorate in sacred theology in the 1970s and was later made a member of the prestigious International Theological Commission of the Vatican.

He was editorial secretary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and in 1991, Pope John Paul II named the theologian an auxiliary bishop of Vienna.

After being appointed coadjutor archbishop of Vienna in April 1995, he succeeded Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër, OSB, as archbishop of Vienna on Sept. 14, 1995.

Schönborn was made a cardinal by St. Pope John Paul II in 1998.

WASHINGTON – “Though we are grateful that aspects of the Administration’s policies announced Thursday intend to include comprehensive and holistic restorative reproductive medicine, which can help ethically to address infertility and its underlying causes, we strongly reject the promotion of procedures like IVF that instead freeze or destroy precious human beings and treat them like property,” said Bishop Robert E. Barron, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth; Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty; and Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

Responding to the White House’s announcement of new actions to expand access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and fertility treatments, the bishops continued, “Every human life, born and preborn, is sacred and loved by God. Without diminishing the dignity of people born through IVF, we must recognize that children have a right to be born of a natural and exclusive act of married love, rather than a business’s technological intervention. And harmful government action to expand access to IVF must not also push people of faith to be complicit in its evils.

“We will continue to review these new policies, and look forward to engaging further with the Administration and Congress, always proclaiming the sanctity of life and of marriage.”

The policies announced Thursday were pursuant to an executive order issued in February. A statement of Bishops Barron and Thomas responding to that order may be read here.

For more on assisted reproductive technology, including in vitro fertilization, please see: https://www.usccb.org/prolife/reproductive-technology. For more information on infertility, ethical restorative reproductive medicine, and research to address its root causes, please see: https://www.usccb.org/topics/natural-family-planning/infertility.

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WASHINGTON – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has announced Carol Glatz as Editor in Chief of Catholic News Service in Rome. USCCB General Secretary, Father Michael J.K. Fuller, made the appointment, which takes effect on January 1, 2026. 

The news follows the announcement of the retirement of Cindy Wooden who has led the Rome office of Catholic News Service since 2015, first as Bureau Chief and, since 2023, as Editor in Chief. As a veteran journalist covering the Catholic Church, Ms. Wooden’s career has spanned the pontificates of Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, and Pope Leo XIV. 

Ms. Glatz has spent nearly three decades in Catholic journalism, covering the Vatican and the global Church since 1998 for Vatican Radio, and since 2004 for Catholic News Service.

“On behalf of the bishops, I would like to thank Cindy for her long-time service to the Church. Her distinguished career as a Catholic journalist has taken her from a state-side reporter for a diocesan newspaper, to the D.C. newsroom of Catholic News Service, and then to Rome to cover the Holy Father and the Vatican. She will be missed, and we wish her well in retirement,” said Father Fuller. “I’m equally thankful to have Carol continue the good work that Cindy has led in a continuation of Catholic News Service’s mission to invite Catholics in the United States closer to the ministry of the Pope,” he continued. 

“I’m grateful for this opportunity to build upon the long-time presence and trusted relationships that Cindy and my colleagues at Catholic News Service have built over the years,” said Ms. Glatz. “I look forward to leading the news team here in Rome as we tackle the challenges posed by changes in the way people get their news. Together, we will report through digital media and creative story packages to keep the Catholic faithful informed and engaged with news about Pope Leo and the Holy See.” 

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV traveled 23 miles by car to board the "Bel Espoir" sailboat and speak to the crew about peacemaking.

The boat, whose name means "beautiful hope," had spent the previous eight months sailing to 30 Mediterranean ports where rotating crews of 25 young adults met their peers and talked about their faith and the challenges to peace.

Meeting the last crew Oct. 17 at the marina in Ostia, outside of Rome, Pope Leo told them the world needs "signs, witness, impressions that give hope." 

The name of the boat and, even more, the efforts of the young people "are indeed a sign of hope for the Mediterranean and the world," he told them.

Living and working together on the boat, the pope said, has taught them the importance of dialogue.

"How important it is to learn to talk to one another, to sit down, to learn to listen, to express your own ideas and your own values with respect for one another" so that others also feel they were heard, he said.

Eight groups of 25 young adults from different Mediterranean countries and different religions each spent a month as part of the crew and held roundtable discussions on different themes with young adults in the 30 ports of call.

The experience, the pope said, should have reinforced for them the importance of "building bridges," not literally, "but a bridge among all of us, peoples from many different nations."

Pope Leo said he had asked each member of the crew where they were from, which made it obvious that despite big differences in language, faith and culture, the young adults still made life aboard work. 

Living on a relatively small boat with a large group of people, he said, "you have to learn how to live with one another and how to respect one another, and how to work out the difficulties, and that too is a great experience for all of you as young people, but (also) something that you can teach all of us."

Noting that the crew included several Palestinians, Pope Leo told the group that it is especially important to learn "to be promoters of peace in a world that more and more tends to go toward violence and hatred and separation and distance and polarization."

The young people can show the world that "we can come together, even though we are from different countries, we have different languages, different cultures, different religions, and yet we are all human beings." 

"We all sons and daughters of the one God," he said. "We are all living together on this world, and we all have a shared responsibility to together care for creation and care for one another and to promote peace throughout the world."

Pope Leo also told the crew that he had been to Ostia many times as an Augustinian friar because of the port town's close connection to the story of St. Augustine and, especially, his mother, St. Monica.

In fact, St. Monica died in Ostia in 387 while waiting for St. Augustine to join her for the return journey to North Africa. She was buried there, but her remains were moved to Rome in the 15th century.

Teresa Lai greets Pope Leo XIV after the general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 12:48 pm (CNA).

The wife and daughter of imprisoned democracy activist and Catholic Jimmy Lai met Pope Leo XIV in Rome on Oct. 15, greeting the Holy Father ahead of the expected verdict in Lai’s yearslong trial in Hong Kong.

Teresa and Claire Lai spoke to Leo after the general audience on Wednesday, appearing in the formal black attire traditionally worn by women greeting the pope.

The 77-year-old Lai has been imprisoned in Hong Kong for years on what advocates have argued are political charges including fraud and participation in unauthorized protests.

A longtime free speech activist and human rights advocate, Lai — who converted to Catholicism in 1997 and who has spoken publicly about his faith on numerous occasions — was first arrested just over five years ago, in August 2020, on charges related to Hong Kong’s then-new national security law.

The former media mogul’s national security trial commenced in December 2023. Closing arguments in the trial occurred in August, but Lai’s son Sebastian said earlier this year that Lai was “not going to get sentenced until either [the] end of this year or the start of next year.”

Lai’s imprisonment has drawn criticism and rebuke from advocates around the world, including U.S. President Donald Trump, who earlier this year vowed to do “everything [he] can” to “save” the activist.

“[Lai’s] name has already entered the circle of things that we’re talking about,” Trump said in August.

Lai has also been the recipient of numerous accolades and awards since his imprisonment. In April the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation announced that he would be an honorary recipient of a 2025 Bradley Prize for being an “inspiration to all who value freedom.”

On Oct. 14, meanwhile, the International Press Institute named Lai a recipient of its 2025 World Press Freedom Hero award.

Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera, the secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, addresses media during a press conference releasing the commission’s second annual report on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 16, 2025 / 11:18 am (CNA).

The Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on Thursday released its second annual report on the Church’s safeguarding policies and procedures, urging heightened awareness of abuse and the need to offer reparations to victims.

The second annual report launched by the commission, instituted by Pope Francis in 2014 for the protection of minors and vulnerable adults, promotes “conversional justice” — founded on the pillars of truth, justice, reparations, and institutional reforms — to be adopted by the Church across the globe and at all levels of governance.

Archbishop Thibault Verny of Chambéry, who was appointed by Pope Leo XIV in July to head the commission, spoke of the report’s efforts to emphasize the significance of “walking alongside victims and survivors” and including their voices in promoting positive change and institutional reform within the Church. 

“We have acquired the profound conviction that the road leading to a culture of protection is not simply for victims and survivors but with them,” Chambéry said at an Oct. 16 press conference. 

“This path of conversion requires that we be reached by what we hear,” he said.

The 200-page report provides a snapshot of safeguarding challenges and recommendations in 18 episcopal conferences, mainly in Africa and Europe, and the positive trends and challenges on a regional level in Africa, the Americas, Asia/Oceania, and Europe.

It also offers a review of the safeguarding policies, challenges, and recommendations of two religious institutions, the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa and the Brothers of Christian Instruction of St. Gabriel.

Data for the report was collected from focus group consultations with 40 abuse survivors from Africa, the Americas, Asia/Oceania, and Europe, the commission’s Memorare Initiative centers in Global South countries, and questionnaires distributed to episcopal conferences and religious congregations.

Information was also gathered from consultations with apostolic nuncios and bishops during ad limina visits and data published by external organizations, including U.N. agencies.

In order to make reparations to abuse victims and their families, the report outlines six key recommendations for Church institutions to form the basis of their “operational vademecum,” including welcoming, listening, and caring for survivors; public and private communications and apologies; and spiritual and psychotherapeutic support.

The report also urges financial support, institutional and disciplinary reforms, and safeguarding initiatives across the ecclesial community.

The second annual report released by the pontifical commission also includes a brief section outlining the role and activities of the Roman Curia in supporting local Churches’ safeguarding activities, in line with Pope Francis’ “all-of-government” approach to promote an “ongoing conversion toward a culture of safeguarding.”   

According to Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, a jurist and member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors since 2022, the annual report is a handbook that can be used within the Church to address the “global data gap” on sexual violence and abuse against children.

Noting the “alarming” gap in numerical abuse report data worldwide and further improvements for the commission’s future work, Boer-Buquicchio said the report emphasizes the significance of “listening” in the Church’s safeguarding ministries.

“I want to highlight one of the most consistent points that emerged: Victims/survivors want to feel heard and validated in their experiences,” she said at the Thursday press conference.

“Amidst these positive developments in our methodology, we recommit ourselves to continuous improvement, knowing that we still fall short of a fully mature reporting instrument,” she added.

Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 10:48 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV invited Indigenous groups to forgive as he recognized both “the light and the wounds” in the history of the evangelization of their peoples.

“The long history of evangelization that our Indigenous peoples have known, as the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean have so often taught, is laden with light and shadows,” the pontiff said in an Oct. 16 message sent to the Networks of Indigenous Peoples and the Network of Indian Theology Theologians.

Leo invited members of the network to “forgive our brothers and sisters from the heart, to reconcile ourselves with our own history, and to thank God for his mercy toward us.”

He also encouraged them to recognize “both the light and the wounds of our past,” to understand “that we can only be a people if we truly abandon ourselves to the power of God, to his action in us.”

“It is from this truth,” he added, “that we must reread our history and our reality, to face the future with the hope to which the holy year calls us, despite the hardships and tribulations.”

Leo XIV explained that, through dialogue and encounter, “we learn from different ways of seeing the world, we value what is unique and original to each culture, and together we discover the abundant life that Christ offers to all peoples.” 

“This new life is given to us precisely because we share the fragility of the human condition marked by original sin, and because we have been reached by the grace of Christ,” he affirmed. 

He recalled that the Lord is the origin and goal of the universe as well as “the primary source of all that is good, including our peoples.” This, he emphasized, “is the goal of our hope; it is not only for some but for all, even those once considered enemies, the great occupying powers.”

Jubilee of Hope 

In his message, the pontiff also emphasized the universality of the Church, “which welcomes, engages in dialogue with, and is enriched by the diversity of peoples,” particularly Indigenous peoples, “whose history, spirituality, and hope constitute an irreplaceable voice within ecclesial communion.” 

The pope invited the network to experience the Jubilee of Hope as “a moment of living and personal encounter with the Lord” as well as an occasion for “reconciliation, grateful memory, and shared hope, more than a mere external celebration.”

Passing through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, he explained, means entering, through faith, “into the very source of divine love, the open side of the Crucified One,” which makes us a “people of brothers.”

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