Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV met Jan. 15 with the families of victims of the Crans-Montana bar fire on New Year's night, which took the lives of 40 people and injured 116 in a Swiss resort tragedy.

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado asked for Pope Leo XIV's help in securing the release of political prisoners in the country following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

After an intense day of roundtable discussions, the "low-batteried" but "very pleased" cardinals wrapped the first historic extraordinary consistory convened by Pope Leo XIV. They left the consistory with a clear vision of the new pontiff for "a Church that cares."

Pope Leo XIV gathered cardinals present for the extraordinary consistory this week for an early morning Mass Jan. 8 in St. Peter's Basilica, telling them they're together not to promote "agendas," but to take part in a "discernment" that "comes from the Lord."

As the new year begins and the Jubilee Year comes to a close, Pope Leo XIV will hit the ground running with an extraordinary consistory taking place in Rome this week.

Seventeen Catholic priests, sisters, seminarians and lay workers were murdered in 2025, according to Fides, the Vatican's missionary news agency.

The powerful and violent cannot control, suppress or commodify God's grace, friendship and will to usher in a new dawn, Pope Leo XIV said.

An estimated 33 million visitors and pilgrims came to the Vatican to celebrate the Jubilee Year, exceeding early forecasts, officials said at a news conference at the Vatican Jan. 5.

The path to conversion, the door to God's mercy and the call to live in Christian hope all continue beyond the Jubilee Year, said the three cardinals who closed the Holy Doors at three major basilicas in Rome.

Jesus entering the world as a little baby in need of everything is a sign of God's solidarity with every person in need, longing for love and a helping hand, Pope Leo XIV said at Christmas morning Mass.