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Pope Leo XIV formally began his ministry as head of the 1.4 billion members of the universal Catholic Church with a Mass in St. Peter's Square on May 18, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNAVatican City, May 18, 2025 / 06:58 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Sunday formally began his ministry as head of the 1.4 billion members of the universal Catholic Church, acknowledging divisions among the faithful with a call for fraternal communion and unity at his inaugural Mass.Addressing an estimated 150,000 people crowded into St. Peter's Square and the surrounding streets, the 69-year-old pope, elected May 8, said, "I would like that our first great desire be for a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world."Under Pope Francis, the Church experienced internal division over issues of liturgy and moral doctrine on sexuality and the family, including the approval of the blessing of same-sex couples.At the Mass, concelebrated with the members of ...
Photograph of Pope Leo XIV released by the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaCNA Newsroom, May 17, 2025 / 23:50 pm (CNA).Follow our live coverage as Pope Leo XIV, first U.S.-born pope in history, begins his pontificate: Experience history in the making with former Cardinal Robert Prevost.
Vice President JD Vance shares a moment of laughter with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, during their meeting at the Vatican on Holy Saturday, April 19, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media/screenshotVatican City, May 17, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are among numerous international leaders and dignitaries, representing approximately 200 foreign delegations, who will attend Pope Leo XIV's inaugural Mass at the Vatican on Sunday, May 18. The global leaders and representatives who will be present in St. Peter's Square for the 10 a.m. Sunday Mass include: AmericasJD Vance, vice president of the United StatesMarco Rubio, U.S. secretary of state of the United StatesMark Carney, prime minister of CanadaRodney Williams, governor general of Antigua and BarbudaTeresa Susana Subieta Serrano, ambassador of Bolivia to the Holy SeeJavier Milei, president of ArgentinaJoseph Curry, ambassador of the Bahamas to th...
Marchers participate in the grand procession of the Jubilee of Confraternities in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025 / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNACNA Staff, May 17, 2025 / 16:45 pm (CNA).Thousands of the faithful took to the streets of Rome on Saturday to take part in elaborate and beautiful processions by members of Catholic confraternities from around the world who gathered in the Eternal City as part of the 2025 Jubilee festivities. A confraternity is a voluntary association of the faithful devoted to special works of Christian charity. Many date back hundreds of yearsThe Saturday processions were held to mark the Jubilee of Confraternities. Two processions total marched through the Roman streets and ended at the Circus Maximus.Members of a confraternity enjoy a drink during the grand procession of the Jubilee of Confraternities in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNAA crucifix is held aloft during the grand procession of the Jubilee of Confraternities in Rome, Sa...
The Blessed Sacrament is held aloft during a Eucharistic procession through Washington, D.C., Saturday, May 17, 2025 / Credit: Tessa GervasiniWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 17, 2025 / 17:30 pm (CNA).The Catholic Information Center (CIC) on Saturday held its third annual Eucharistic procession through Washington, D.C. in which more than 1,000 participants processed through the downtown area with the Blessed Sacrament. Father Charles Trullols, the director of the CIC, told CNA the day was "perfect."The faithful kneel during a Eucharistic procession through Washington, D.C., Saturday, May 17, 2025. Credit: Tessa GervasiniThe event kicked off with a Mass at CIC's chapel. The group of attendees was so large that it could not fit inside the chapel itself, sending people to watch the Mass on a screen outside where they were eventually brought Holy Communion. The procession began after Mass and was led by the crossbearer, candle-bearers, religious sisters, and young children ...
Pope Leo XIV waves at a massive, jubilant crowd gathered on St. Peter's Square for the Regina Caeli on Sunday, May 11, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNACNA Staff, May 17, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).The Vatican's sacred music school is seeking to teach Catholics worldwide how to sing ancient Gregorian chant as a means to help the faithful participate actively in the liturgy, including in papal Masses. The Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music said this week it is launching its "Let's Sing with the Pope" initiative as a series of "short educational video tutorials" to make Gregorian music accessible to everyone. The institute described Gregorian chant as a "rich heritage" and a "universal musical and spiritual language" used in papal Masses and other celebrations. The video series will help "promote active and conscious participation in the liturgy," including in upcoming papal celebrations, the institute said in an Instagram post. null In the initial video of the series, Father Robert...
Young students cheer during an assembly at Bishop O'Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia, Saturday, May 10, 2025. / Credit: EWTN NewsCNA Staff, May 17, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).For Catholic students in the United States, the election of Pope Leo XIV as the first American pope on May 8 filled them with excitement and hope.Or, as one student put it: "Everyone just freaked out."Students shared memories of the day with Roselle Reyes, news correspondent for "EWTN News In Depth," on Friday.Bahkita Karenge, a Catholic school student in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, remembered the excitement of finding out during the school day. Students were "screaming," "jumping and laughing," and giving hugs. "It was so beautiful because at that moment, it didn't really matter which sport you played or which friend group you were in or which trend you were following," Karenge reflected."Everyone was just a young Catholic kid, and everyone was excited that we have a new leader."Ka...
Pope Leo XIV smiles as a jubilant crowd joins in prayer on Sunday, May 11, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNAVatican City, May 17, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).The Mass for the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV's pontificate will be celebrated on Sunday, May 18, at 10 a.m. Rome time in St. Peter's Square. The liturgy will mark the official beginning of his ministry as successor of Peter and bishop of Rome. On May 25, he will take canonical possession of St. John Lateran Basilica, the cathedral of the bishop of Rome.The Mass on May 18 will be celebrated as established in the "Order of Rites of the Beginning of the Petrine Ministry as Bishop of Rome," a liturgical book approved by Benedict XVI in 2005 and reformed by him in 2013."The beginning of the Petrine ministry is what the celebration of the coronation of the pope used to be. Now, popes are no longer crowned with the three-tiered tiara, worn until Paul VI, but rather begin their ministry as the successor of Peter," Father Juan José Silv...
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone at the San Francisco walk for life on Jan. 21, 2023. / Credit: Dennis CallahanWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 16, 2025 / 18:03 pm (CNA).U.S. President Donald Trump has tapped San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone to serve on an advisory board for the country's newly established Religious Liberty Commission, according to an announcement from the archdiocese.Cordileone, who has served as archbishop since 2012, is the third member of the Catholic hierarchy to be given a role in the presidential commission's work. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York and Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, are members of the commission."Religious liberty is a critical issue in our time that needs to be defended and addressed," Cordileone said in a statement. "I am happy to join my brother bishops in providing a Catholic voice on this important topic at a national level."Cordileone told CNA he does not know w...
Pope Leo XIV addresses more than 100 ambassadors in an audience on Friday, May 16, 2025, in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, May 16, 2025 / 11:59 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Friday said peaceful societies can be achieved if governments invested in families "founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman" in his first address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.Welcoming more than 100 ambassadors to an audience held inside the Vatican's Clementine Hall, the Holy Father stated that resolving global inequalities as well as deep divisions between "continents, countries, and individual societies" starts in the home."This can be achieved above all by investing in the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman, 'a small but genuine society, and prior to all civil society,'" he added, citing Rerum Novarum."Indeed, the Church can never be exempted from speaking the truth about humanity and the world, ...
