VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV will not travel to the United States this year, the head of the Holy See Press Office said Feb. 8.

Vatican observers had speculated about whether the first American pope would return to the United States during his first full year as pontiff, particularly as some news outlets reported that he might visit in September to coincide with the U.N. General Assembly in New York, a meeting attended by each of his three most recent predecessors during their pontificates.

But, Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, told reporters that no U.S. trip is planned for 2026 when asked about the pope’s travel schedule.

Recent popes have all traveled to the United States at least once, making such visits an expected trip for modern papacies. 

St. John Paul II visited the United States frequently, traveling to the country seven times during his pontificate and making stops across the nation. During those visits, he met with President Jimmy Carter at the White House and President Ronald Reagan in Alaska.

Pope Benedict XVI visited the United States once, spending six days in April 2008, during which he met with President George W. Bush in Washington and addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Pope Francis also made a single six-day visit in 2015, becoming the first pontiff to address a joint session of Congress. He also traveled to Washington D.C., New York and Philadelphia.

St. Paul VI was the first pope to visit the United States in 1965. He made a historic address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, met with President Lyndon B. Johnson and celebrated Mass at Yankee Stadium.

Since his election in May 2025, Pope Leo has taken one international trip to Turkey and Lebanon, a six-day trip previously planned before his predecessor's passing last year. The November trip included meetings with civil and religious leaders, visits to holy sites, and prayer at the Port of Beirut, where a 2020 explosion killed 218 people and injured more than 7,000.

While the Vatican has not made any official announcements, a number of local sources have suggested how Pope Leo’s 2026 calendar may already be taking  shape with potential trips to Africa, Spain and South America.

Last month, Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco of Algiers told reporters outside the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall Jan. 8 that a papal visit to Algeria was “on track” and would occur in “the first part of 2026.” Archbishop Kryspin Witold Dubiel, the apostolic nuncio to Angola, has also said the pope accepted invitations from both Church and government officials to visit the country.

Spanish Cardinal José Cobo of Madrid told reporters in January that Pope Leo is also expected to visit Spain this year, and will likely include stops in Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands.

The president of Peru's Catholic bishops, Bishop Carlos Garcia Camader, told reporters in Lima Feb. 4 that a papal trip to Peru was "very probable" in November or the first week of December, according to Reuters. The Vatican typically makes an official announcement of a papal trip at least a month before the expected departure.

The pontiff is expected to travel to Africa in April, visit Peru later this year, and make a summer stop in Spain.

The country’s bishops will travel to Rome from Feb. 16–20 to present to Pope Leo XIV “the vicissitudes, sorrows, joys, and hopes of the Church in Cuba.”

WASHINGTON – Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Most Reverend Samuel J. Aquila, 75, from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Denver, and has appointed Most Reverend James R. Golka, currently bishop of Colorado Springs, as his successor. 

The resignation and appointment were publicized in Washington, D.C. on February 7, 2026, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop Golka’s biography may be found here.

The Archdiocese of Denver is comprised of 40,154 square miles in the State of Colorado.

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In a message for the Church’s Feb. 8 World Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking, the pope warns that conflict and inequality fuel exploitation.

Pope Leo XIV and Sant’Egidio Community founder Andrea Riccardi discussed the role Christians and the Church are called to play in promoting peace in the midst of various world conflicts.

“We talked about the importance of chastity, how it heals and strengthens and restores the person," said Courage International Executive Director Father Brian Gannon.

The pontiff warned that profit, doping, and fanaticism can distort sport’s deeper human purpose.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Just as the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan Cortina were about to begin, Pope Leo XIV called on the Catholic Church to recognize sport as an opportunity to offer much-needed human and spiritual guidance.

With so many dangers and distortions threatening the integrity of athletics and the dignity of players, the Church can help strengthen the needed harmony between people's physical and spiritual development, he wrote, helping sport become a place "for athletes to learn to take care of themselves without falling prey to vanity, to push themselves to their limits without harming themselves and to compete without losing sight of fraternity."

Pope Leo, who considers himself "a decent amateur tennis player," issued a letter on "the value of sport," Feb. 6, titled "Life in Abundance," from Jesus' declaration, "I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly," from the Gospel according to St. John (10:10).

The need for holistic, integral human development is critical, he wrote, because "the danger of narcissism … permeates the entire sporting culture today. Athletes can become obsessed with their physical image and with their own success, measured by visibility and approval."

And sometimes sports can take on a "quasi-religious dimension" with athletes perceived as "saviors," he wrote. "When sport claims to replace religion, it loses its character as a game that benefits our lives, becoming instead aggrandized, all-encompassing and absolute." 

The pope dated and released the eight-page letter the same day the XXV Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo began Feb. 6. Set to run until Feb. 22, the international sporting event will be followed by the XIV Paralympic Games March 6-15.

Offering his "greeting and good wishes to those who are directly involved" in the Games, the pope also encouraged all the world's nations to "rediscover and respect" the Olympic Truce as a symbol and promise of hope and reconciliation in "a world thirsting for peace."

"We need tools that can put an end to the abuse of power, displays of force and indifference to the rule of law," he wrote, decrying the "radicalization of conflict and a refusal to cooperate" as well as a "culture of death."

The world is witnessing "lives broken, dreams shattered, survivors' trauma, cities destroyed -- as if human coexistence were superficially reduced to a video game scenario," he wrote, repeating St. John Paul II's warning that aggression, violence and war are "always a defeat for humanity."

The Olympic Truce is built on the belief that participating in public sport with a spirit of "virtue and excellence" promotes greater fraternity, solidarity and the common good, he wrote.

"International competitions offer a privileged opportunity to experience our shared humanity in all its rich diversity," he wrote. "Indeed, there is something deeply moving about the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games, when we see the athletes parade with their national flags and in the traditional garments of their countries." 

These global gatherings "can inspire us and remind us that we are called to form one human family" and that "the values promoted by sport -- such as loyalty, sharing, hospitality, dialogue, and trust in others -- are common to every person, regardless of ethnic origin, culture or religious belief," he wrote.

While the pope praised the power and potential of the Olympics, the bulk of the letter was dedicated to all levels of sport, from those engaged in informal fun to serious athleticism.

Like his predecessors, Pope Leo highlighted the virtues of engaging in physical activity and competition as well as warned against current risks that threaten healthy values.

He criticized the perennial problems of using sports as a platform to push political or ideological interests, doping and seeking profits or winning at all costs, warning against the "dictatorship of performance."

"When financial incentives become the sole criterion, individuals and teams may also fall prey to subjecting their performance to the corruption and influence of the gambling industry," he wrote. "Such dishonesty not only corrupts sporting activities themselves, but also demoralizes the general public and undermines the positive contribution of sport to society as a whole." 

He also criticized "pay-to-play" programs, which often require costly fees for children to participate, when organized sports should be accessible to everyone.

"In other societies, girls and women are not allowed to participate in sports. Sometimes, in religious formation, especially of women, there is a mistrust and fear of physical activity and sport," he wrote in the letter, encouraging greater efforts to make sport more accessible to diversity and fraternity, too.

He also warned against "transhumanism" or technologies, including AI, being applied to enhance performance, artificially separating body and mind, and "transforming the athlete into an optimized, controlled product, enhanced beyond natural limits."

"Finally, we must question the growing assimilation of sport into the logic of video games," Pope Leo wrote, pointing to the "extreme gamification of sport," turning it into "simply a device for consumers" and disconnecting it from "concrete relationships."

The pope said, "There is an urgent need to reaffirm integral care of the human person; physical well-being cannot be separated from inner balance, ethical responsibility and openness to others," calling on the Church "to recognize sport as an opportunity for discernment and accompaniment and to offer human and spiritual guidance." 

He asked that every national bishops' conference have an office or commission dedicated to sport and help unite parishes, schools, universities, oratories, associations and neighborhoods in a "shared vision." 

"Pastoral accompaniment of sport is not limited to moments of celebration, but takes place over time through sharing the efforts, expectations, disappointments and hopes of those who play daily on the field, in the gym or on the street," he added.

He called for seeking out those "who have combined passion for sports, sensitivity to social issues and holiness," such as St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, who "perfectly combined faith, prayer, social commitment and sport." Pope Leo canonized the 24-year-old Italian Sept. 7 at the Vatican.

The fullness of life "integrates our bodies, relationships and interior lives," the pope wrote. "In this way, sport can truly become a school of life, where all can learn that abundance does not come from victory at any cost, but from sharing, from respecting others and from the joy of walking together."
 

The pontiff said Christians grow closer when they deepen their shared faith in Christ, “the ultimate source of our peace.”