Pope Leo XIV meets with Italian tennis star Jannick Sinner on May 14, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaCNA Staff, May 14, 2025 / 14:48 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV met Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner at the Vatican on Wednesday. Photos shared by Vatican News show the newly elected pope, who has described himself as "quite the amateur tennis player," warmly greeting the 23-year-old Italian and his family as well as the president of the Italian Tennis Federation, Alberto Binaghi.Sinner, who is ranked No. 1 in the world, is from a predominantly German-speaking region in Italy's far north. He became the first Italian man to win a major tennis title since 1976 when he bested Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open in 2024, earning kudos from the late Pope Francis. Sinner is currently competing in the 2025 Italian Open, taking place in Rome. Greeting the pope in a room off the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall, Sinner presented Pope Leo with a tennis racket and bal...
Pope Leo XIV meets with Italian tennis star Jannick Sinner on May 14, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media
CNA Staff, May 14, 2025 / 14:48 pm (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV met Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner at the Vatican on Wednesday.
Photos shared by Vatican News show the newly elected pope, who has described himself as "quite the amateur tennis player," warmly greeting the 23-year-old Italian and his family as well as the president of the Italian Tennis Federation, Alberto Binaghi.
Sinner, who is ranked No. 1 in the world, is from a predominantly German-speaking region in Italy's far north. He became the first Italian man to win a major tennis title since 1976 when he bested Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open in 2024, earning kudos from the late Pope Francis.
Sinner is currently competing in the 2025 Italian Open, taking place in Rome.
Greeting the pope in a room off the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall, Sinner presented Pope Leo with a tennis racket and ball and asked the pope in Italian if he wanted to play.
The pope responded: "Here we'll break something. Best not to!"
Leo also joked that "Wimbledon would let" him compete in his white cassock, a reference to the famous rule at the All England Club tennis tournament that players must wear white.
The pope had previously been asked by journalists about whether he would like to play tennis again — perhaps a charity match — and "seemed game" but quipped that "we can't invite Sinner," in an apparent pun on the English meaning of Sinner's last name, the AP reported Monday.
When asked about the pope's comment, Sinner genially responded that it's "a good thing for us tennis players" that Leo likes the sport and expressed openness to hitting with the pontiff in the future.
The nave of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral on Nov. 29, 2024. / Credit: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesParis, France, May 25, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).The 16th annual Vigil for Life was held in the newly restored Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on the evening of May 21 as the French Parliament continues to debate legislation that would legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia.Organized by the bishops of the Île-de-France region, the vigil has taken place annually since 2009. The 2025 edition, which gathered approximately 2,000 faithful, centered on the theme?"Builders of Love, Let Us Live in Hope!"The 2024 edition, also marked by the national conversation on end-of-life issues, carried the theme "When I Am Weak, Then I Am Strong"?(2 Cor 12:10).This year's gathering featured a series of testimonies from individuals with diverse personal and professional backgrounds, offering reflections on the ethical and human dimensions of end-of-life care and the responsibilities socie...
A priest celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass at the Church of St. Pancratius in Rome. / Credit: Thoom/ShutterstockCNA Staff, May 24, 2025 / 12:30 pm (CNA).The Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, will significantly restrict the practice of the Traditional Latin Mass, limiting it to a single chapel in what Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv, said is a bid to "promote the concord and unity of the Church."Martin issued a statement on Friday announcing the new policy, directing that the ancient liturgy would henceforth be celebrated in an as-yet-unnamed chapel in the town of Mooresville. Martin in his statement said the measure was meant to bring the Charlotte Diocese in line with Pope Francis' 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which greatly restricted the Latin Mass "in defense of the unity of the body of Christ."The pope said at the time that he was saddened that the celebration of the extraordinary form was characterized by a rejection of the Second Vatican Council and its...
Priest celebrating the traditional Latin Mass at the church of St Pancratius, Rome / Thoom/ShutterstockCNA Newsroom, May 24, 2025 / 12:30 pm (CNA).The Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina will significantly restrict the practice of the Traditional Latin Mass, limiting it to a single chapel in what Bishop Michael Martin OFM Conv. said is a bid to "promote the concord and unity of the Church." Martin issued a statement on Friday announcing the new policy, directing that the ancient liturgy would henceforth be celebrated in an as-yet-unnamed chapel in the town of Mooresville. Martin in his statement said the measure was meant to bring the Charlotte diocese in line with Pope Francis' 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which greatly restricted the Latin Mass "in defense of the unity of the Body of Christ."The pope said at the time that he was saddened that the celebration of the extraordinary form was characterized by a rejection of the Second Vatican Council and its liturgical...
Pope Leo XIV meets with Italian tennis star Jannick Sinner on May 14, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media
