ROME (CNS) -- While Satan tempts humanity with the lie of gaining unlimited power, God offers the gift of true freedom that leads to real love, relationships and fulfillment, Pope Leo XIV said.

Beginning with the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, humankind has had to face "the age-old dilemma: can I live my life to the fullest by saying 'yes' to God? Or, to be free and happy, must I free myself from Him?" the pope said in his homily during a morning Mass celebrated in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Rome Feb. 22.

Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, shows the world "the new man, the free man, the epiphany of freedom that is realized by saying 'yes' to God" and "opposing the snares" of the devil, he said.

The pope also urged the faithful to turn off all devices during certain moments of the day in order to create "space for silence," prayer, listening and the sacraments. 

"Let us dedicate time to those who are alone, especially the elderly, the poor and the sick. By giving up what is superfluous, we can share what we save with those in need," he said before praying the Angelus at noon with those gathered in St. Peter's Square.

"Let us create space for silence by turning off televisions, radios and cell phones for a while," he added.

Early in the morning, Pope Leo visited a Salesian-run 19th-century basilica in the city's center, near the main train station, where more than 450,000 people travel each day, Father Javier Ortiz Rodríguez, the parish priest, told the pope.

This heavy stream of people during the day is "like a full river in a storm," the priest said, which then turns into devastating "landslides" in the dead of night with increased violence, exploitation, drug use and prostitution. 

"Your visit is like a healing ointment" for the community, which includes numerous students, immigrants, people lacking housing and employment, as well as the elderly, the priest told the pope. 

It was Pope Leo's second of five pastoral visits in the Diocese of Rome in the run-up to Easter April 5. The visits include private meetings with members of each parish's pastoral council, local priests, volunteers and the people they serve.

The Lenten season is a time to rediscover the beauty of Baptism as a grace that does not negate, but that "encounters our freedom," the pope said in his homily on the first Sunday of Lent.

"The story in Genesis brings us back to our condition as creatures, tested not so much by a prohibition, as is often believed, but by a possibility: the possibility of a relationship" with God the Creator and all his creatures, he said. "Human beings are free to recognize and welcome the otherness of the Creator."

But the devil, in the form of the serpent, tempted Adam and Eve with the illusion of becoming like God, deceiving them that God was actually seeking to deny them of something "to keep them in a state of inferiority," the pope said.

Jesus, however, shows how freedom comes from finding fulfillment in loving God and one's neighbor, he said.

"This new humanity is born from the baptismal font," which is "the source of life that dwells within us and that, in a dynamic way, accompanies us with the utmost respect for our freedom," Pope Leo said.

Baptism is "dynamic," he said, "because it sets us on a journey again and again, since grace is an inner voice that urges us to conform ourselves to Jesus."

Baptism is about building a relationship, he said, as it "calls us to live in friendship with Jesus and, in this way, to enter into his communion with the Father."

"This grace-filled relationship enables us to live in authentic closeness with others, a freedom that -- unlike what the devil proposes to Jesus -- is not a search for power, but love that one gives and makes us all brothers and sisters," he said. 

Pope Leo noted the many challenges facing the neighborhood and praised the work of the Salesians and other church-run organizations ministering to young people and those in need.

It was his namesake, Pope Leo XIII, who asked St. John Bosco to build the basilica dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus that Pope Pius IX wanted built near the then-new railway station.

He encouraged the parish to continue to be "the leaven of the Gospel," a sign of "closeness and charity," and "a small flame of light and hope."

"May Mary, Help of Christians, always support our journey, make us strong in times of temptation and trial, so that we may fully live the freedom and fraternity of the children of God," he said.

Before praying the noonday Angelus, the pope again reflected on the day's Gospel reading of Jesus in the desert, where he fasted and resisted the temptations of the devil, showing "how we, too, can overcome the devil's deception and snares." 

"By means of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we can renew our cooperation with the Lord in the crafting of our lives as a unique masterpiece," he said. "This involves allowing him to cleanse the stains and heal the wounds of sin, as we commit to letting our lives blossom in beauty until they attain the fullness of love -- the only source of true happiness."

"This is a demanding journey," he said, especially when there are promises of "easier paths to satisfaction, such as wealth, fame and power."

However, these temptations, which Jesus himself faced, "are merely poor substitutes for the joy for which we were created. Ultimately, they leave us dissatisfied, restless and empty," he said.

That is why penance, "far from impoverishing our humanity -- enriches, purifies and strengthens it," he said. "Indeed, while penance makes us aware of our limitations, it also grants us the strength to overcome them and to live, with God's help, in deeper communion with him and with one another."

WASHINGTON - Newly released details show how the Administration plans to double federal immigration detention capacity, spending an estimated $38.3 billion from last year’s reconciliation bill to implement a new detention model by the end of Fiscal Year 2026. This amounts to nearly fifty times the annual budget for the entire immigration court system and almost five times the funding provided this year to operate the federal prison system. The plan partly entails opening eight “mega‑centers,” each of which would be capable of detaining 7,000 to 10,000 people. Aside from the internment camps used to incarcerate Japanese Americans in the 1940s, such facilities have no precedent in American history.

In response, Bishop Brendan J. Cahill, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration, urged the Administration and Congress to pursue a more just approach:

“These plans are deeply troubling. The federal government does not have a positive track record when it comes to detaining large numbers of people, especially families, and the proposed scale of these facilities is difficult to comprehend. The private prison industry is who stands to gain the most from this supercharging of immigration detention. 

“Last November, my brother bishops and I unequivocally opposed the indiscriminate mass deportation of people and raised concerns about existing conditions in detention centers. We specifically highlighted a lack of access to pastoral care for detainees. On many occasions, we have also opposed the expansion of family detention, recognizing its harmful impacts on children in particular. 

“The thought of holding thousands of families in massive warehouses should challenge the conscience of every American. Whatever their immigration status, these are human beings created in the image and likeness of God, and this is a moral inflection point for our country. We implore the Administration and Congress to lead with right reason, abandon this misuse of taxpayer funds, and to instead pursue a more just approach to immigration enforcement that truly respects human dignity, the sanctity of families, and religious liberty.”

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TAMPA, Fla. - Concluding a biennial gathering, the officers and members of the Episcopal Conferences of the Americas met from February 15-17 at a retreat center to pray and discuss their shared ministry as pastors. The eleven bishops attending included bishops from the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM), the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The bishops issued the following joint statement:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Gathered in a spirit of profound communion, aware that we do not represent isolated Churches or fragmented realities, but rather one Church on pilgrimage throughout the Americas, we wish to address you with a message of closeness, hope, and shared responsibility.

We have experienced days of fraternal joy, united in prayer, sincere dialogue, and pastoral discernment. We give thanks to the Lord for the grace of this encounter, which has allowed us to renew our commitment to walk together as the Church in the Americas, strengthening the bonds that unite us beyond our borders and cultural differences.

Our prayer and our conversations have focused on how to better guide the People of God with wisdom and courage in a time marked by profound changes and challenges. Although our national contexts are diverse, we recognize that our peoples experience similar anxieties and that our episcopal ministries face common challenges that invite coordinated, compassionate, and profoundly evangelical responses.

Aware of the historical moment we are living through and the complexity of the challenges affecting our societies, we have renewed our commitment to walk together in a synodal way as a Church that embraces the north and south of the continent, bearing clear and consistent witness to Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen, the living hope for all peoples.

Among the issues we have considered are our concern for the poor and vulnerable, the dignity and rights of indigenous peoples, the painful scourge of human trafficking and narco-culture, the growing polarization that wounds public discourse and weakens social cohesion, and, in particular, the extreme vulnerability of migrants who live, travel through, and seek a future in our countries. 

Regarding the phenomenon of migration, we affirm clearly: no migrant is a stranger to the Church. In every person who leaves their homeland seeking safety, opportunities, or dignity, we recognize a brother, a sister; we recognize the very face of Christ on the move. Human mobility cannot be reduced to a merely political or economic issue; it is a profoundly human reality that challenges our Christian conscience and the ethical responsibility of nations.

The migrant's journey crosses countries, systems, and borders. Therefore, our pastoral action cannot be fragmented. We want to strengthen our continental coordination so that, from the place of origin to transit and final destination, the Church may be a concrete sign of hope, a place welcome, and protection.

We invite civil authorities to promote policies that safeguard the lives, rights, and dignity of migrants. We recognize the responsibility of States to regulate migration and ensure the common good; however, we reiterate that all legislation must place at its center the inalienable dignity of the human person and the respect that person deserves.

We urge all the People of God in the Americas to live our unity in a concrete and daily way: in the generous welcome of migrants, in the defense of the most vulnerable, in respectful dialogue even amidst differences, in the patient building of bridges. May our parishes, communities, and families be visible signs that fraternity is possible and that the Gospel continues to be a transformative force in our societies.

We are one Church in the Americas. From this unity, we wish to serve with greater dedication, to accompany with greater closeness, and to proclaim with renewed courage the hope that springs from the Heart of the Savior.

We entrust this commitment to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Mother, who accompanies all the peoples of our continent under many titles. May she sustain us in communion and inspire us to respond together, with charity and evangelical courage, to the challenges of our time.

With fraternal affection and renewed hope,

The Leadership of the Episcopal Conferences of Canada, the United States, and Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAM).

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- During Lent, people of faith come together to recognize their sins, which are not external evils to be solved by pointing fingers, but are evils residing inside one's heart requiring conversion, Pope Leo XIV said.

"We need to respond by courageously accepting responsibility" for one's own sins, he said in his homily during Mass on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18.

This approach is countercultural, he said, and yet "it constitutes an authentic, honest and attractive option, especially in our times, when it is so easy to feel powerless in the face of a world that is in flames."

He said sacred Scripture teaches that opposing idolatry with "worship of the living God means daring to be free, and rediscovering freedom through an exodus, a journey, where we are no longer paralyzed, rigid or complacent in our positions, but gathered together to move and change."

The pope marked the beginning of Lent with the traditional Lenten procession on Rome's Aventine Hill.

The liturgy began with a brief prayer at the Church of St. Anselm, which is part of a Benedictine monastery. Chanting the litany of saints, cardinals, joined by Benedictine and Dominican religious, then processed to the Basilica of Santa Sabina -- considered the mother church of the Dominican order -- for Mass.

In his homily, Pope Leo said many young people are open to what Ash Wednesday offers: the possibility of repentance.

The pope asked Catholics to "embrace the missionary significance of Lent" by introducing this season "to the many restless people of goodwill who are seeking authentic ways to renew their lives, within the context of the Kingdom of God and his justice."

Lent is about conversion -- a change of direction -- that makes "our proclamation more credible," he said.

It marked the first time since 2020 that a pope has walked the procession, which had been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but then Pope Francis' bad knee and ill health prevented him from walking the short journey in subsequent years. Pope Francis marked his last Ash Wednesday March 5, 2025, from Rome's Gemelli hospital.

Pope Leo's complete homily can be found in English and in Spanish.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church is not merely an institution, but a visible sign of God’s plan to unite all humanity in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, Pope Leo XIV said in his weekly general audience.

The pope continued his series on the Second Vatican Council, emphasizing one of its principal documents, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, "Lumen Gentium," which states that the Church is "in Christ like a sacrament," and therefore both are a "closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race."

"It is through the Church that God achieves the aim of bringing people to him and uniting them with one another," he said Feb. 18 in Italian. "Union with God finds its reflection in the union of human beings."

Pope Leo said that this document refers to the Church as a "mystery," not because it is incomprehensible, but rather because what was previously hidden "is now revealed."

"Church is an expression of what God wants to accomplish in the history of humanity; therefore, by looking at the Church, we can to some extent grasp God’s plan, the mystery," he said. 

The pope said humanity is naturally fragmented, but Jesus broke down the wall that separates people, and the Church was established through his sacrifice. 

"Sitting at the right hand of the Father, he is continually active in the world that he might lead men to the Church and through it join them to himself and that he might make them partakers of his glorious life by nourishing them with his own body and blood," Pope Leo said.

With Rome's temperatures slowly rising, Pope Leo returned to holding the general audience in St. Peter's Square, waving at visitors, kissing and blessing babies as he rode in the popemobile on Ash Wednesday. At the end of his general audience, the pope addressed the beginning of the 40-day Lenten season in his greetings to English-speakers.

"As we begin our Lenten journey today, let us ask the Lord to grant us the gift of true conversion of heart so that we may better respond to his love for us and share that love with those around us," he said. 

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, announced that the Holy See “will not participate in the Board of Peace," promoted by the U.S. president to address Gaza and other conflicts.

The Vatican will open new parts of St. Peter’s — including the full terrace — and roll out a “SmartPass” digital entry system as it marks the basilica’s 400th anniversary.

The brief Ash Wednesday walk between two hilltop basilicas marks the start of Lent in Rome.

The Church should engage with universities about how to take “an ethical approach” to the dignity of unborn life, the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life said.

WASHINGTON—The Committee for Religious Liberty of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued its annual report on the state of religious freedom in the United States. The report summarizes developments on national questions and federal policies affecting religious liberty in the U.S., including the role of religion in American public life, and the challenges and opportunities of the present moment.  

The report identified six areas of critical concern for religious liberty in 2026: 

• Political and anti-religious violence
• Unjust terms and conditions on federal grants, and unreliability of government
• Access to sacraments for ICE detainees and immigration enforcement at houses of worship
• School choice and the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit
• Repeal of provisions that prevent religious organizations from participating in government programs
• Further repudiation of gender ideology 

“All of these developments in religious liberty are taking place as Americans prepare to celebrate two hundred fifty years as in independent nation,” said Archbishop Alexander K. Sample, chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty in his introduction of the report. “It is a fitting time to reflect on the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence, and how those ideals have shaped the unique culture that has grown over the past two-and-a-half centuries.”  

In highlighting the critical areas of concern, the report provides the Catholic faithful an opportunity to reflect on how the Church has enriched American life, he added, and cited the bishops’ consecration of the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June. “When we consecrate our nation to the Sacred Heart and enthrone the Sacred Heart in our homes, we recognize the kingship of Christ and offer our own lives in service to God and our neighbors,” said Archbishop Sample.  

The report is available at: www.usccb.org/religious-liberty/2026-annual-report. 

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