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The bishops of France told Catholic healthcare institutions to act now so they can refuse to carry out euthanasia and assisted suicide, as a new law is expected to permit from January 2027.

In a letter issued Nov. 8 at the close of their autumn plenary assembly in Lourdes, the bishops explained it was "urgent" for the institutions to update their charters, statutes, and internal rules.

The National Assembly passed the law on July 15. On Aug. 14 the Constitutional Council upheld it with three interpretive reservations, one allowing health institutions not to provide "aid in dying" when it is contrary to their statutes or mission.

To explain the urgency of the matter, the French prelates pointed to a precedent in Belgium: A clause in its 2002 euthanasia law was removed in 2020 partly over claims it had been poorly managed. "This point must therefore be handled with rigor and competence," they wrote.

The French bishops recalled Pope Leo XIV's words in Lourdes during his September visit to France: "It is impossible to consider giving death as normal. What is legal is not necessarily moral." A doctrinal and pastoral document for healthcare leaders, caregivers, and chaplains will follow in 2027, they said.

The Nov. 3–8 meeting was the bishops' first since the papal visit. In a message read at the opening, Leo asked them to reflect on their "pastoral fruits" and to keep accompanying victims of sexual violence and coercive control.

According to the assembly's closing summary, the bishops approved a scheme to accompany people abused as adults by diocesan clergy, to be implemented in the first quarter of 2027. Leaders of Iniave, the body that took over from the Inirr reparation body on Sept. 1, briefed them on its work.

Looking to next year's presidential election, the bishops presented a plan of statements, gestures, and visits to "significant places" throughout the 2027 presidential election campaign. The Church wants to contribute "without giving voting instructions," a Nov. 4 press briefing summary said.

About 80 diocesan directors of Catholic education joined the bishops for a day the conference called "unprecedented and historic."

Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille, the conference president, said Nov. 6 that he sensed a "thirst for meaning" and for "deep justice" in French society after weeks of demonstrations and violence. In his closing homily, he said society needs "the oil of encounter" to "talk, discuss, and debate, respecting differences and rejecting violence."

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CÓRDOBA, Argentina — Pope Leo XIV said all Christians are called to be saints and hence evangelists, drawing inspiration and guidance from the Church's canonized holy men and women.

"We are all called to holiness. This is our task here on Earth: to attain perfect union with God. Moreover, this calling is always missionary: We must make known to others the beauty that we have come to know in Christ," Leo said on Nov. 10.

The pope's words came in a homily at an open-air Mass on the outskirts of the city of Córdoba in central Argentina. Local authorities said the Mass, celebrated on the grounds of a military aviation school, drew about 650,000 people.

Calling Córdoba a "home of saints," Leo noted the diversity of its canonized sons and daughters to illustrate that there are many paths to holiness, including priestly or consecrated life, martyrdom, the founding of religious congregations, care of the sick, education, and lay life.

"Just as Córdoba's mountains are renowned for the beauty and harmony of their varied shapes and colors, so too are the saints and blesseds characterized by the different charisms and missions they received. They offer a polyphonic witness to the universal call to holiness of every baptized person: the call to be conformed to Christ," the pope said.

Leo specifically mentioned the missionary priest St. José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero, and the foundresses Blessed María del Tránsito Cabanillas and Blessed Catalina de María Rodríguez — all Córdobans — as well as St. María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa (Mama Antula), who evangelized widely in Argentina.

These saints were "marked by their Argentinian identity" and committed both to spreading the Gospel and "building a fraternal and compassionate homeland,"  Leo said.

The pope stressed the importance of evangelization through personal witness, stating that "there is no better way to teach than by setting an example with one's own life."

"Only those who have experienced friendship with Jesus Christ are capable of undertaking the task of evangelization; only those who know they are loved by the Lord are capable of extending his kingdom of charity and justice, devoting all their energies to proclaiming the Gospel, armed with nothing but the crucifix and the holy rosary,"  Leo said.

He urged his listeners to cultivate their spiritual lives in emulation of the saints: "Open your hearts, and with God's grace, go forth and be holy: at school and in the town square, in family life and with friends, in the countryside and in the city, on the farm and in the office. Go and evangelize!"

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Throughout the last two millennia, the Catholic Church has only granted the title "doctor of the Church" to 38 saints, one of whom we celebrate today on Nov. 10: St. Leo the Great, the 45th bishop of Rome.

Pope Leo I, who was the first pope to be remembered posthumously as "the Great," began his papacy in 440 and served until his death in 461. During his pontificate, he worked to clarify doctrines related to Christ's human and divine natures.

The pontiff was a "pope-theologian, but he's also known as a remarkable bishop," Thomas Clemmons, a professor of Church history at The Catholic University of America, told EWTN News, adding that "theologian popes are rare."

St. Leo's papacy began nine years after the Council of Ephesus, which condemned Nestorius and the heresy of Nestorianism, leading many of Nestorius' followers to schism. The heresy rejected the close union of Christ's human and divine natures and rejected the Marian title of "Theotokos," or God-bearer, claiming that Mary only gave birth to Christ's human nature.

Rising out of the Nestorian schism were more Christological conflicts over the relationship between Christ's humanity and divinity. Eutyches, an opponent of Nestorius, went too far in the opposite direction, claiming that Christ's human and divine natures were fused into one single nature. His human nature, Eutyches claimed, was "dissolved like a drop of honey in the sea."

This heretical understanding, according to Clemmons, turned Christ into a "third thing" or a "kind of monster" rather than the Catholic understanding of Christ as "one Person" with "complete and true humanity and complete and true divinity."

To combat Eutyches' error, Pope Leo wrote a letter to Flavian I, the archbishop of Constantinople, which clarified the hypostatic union of Christ's distinct human nature and distinct divine nature. The letter, which became known as "Leo's Tome," is the pontiff's most famous work and set the stage for defining Christological doctrines at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

"Both natures retain their own proper character without loss: and as the form of God did not do away with the form of a slave, so the form of a slave did not impair the form of God," Pope Leo wrote in the letter.

"From the mother of the Lord was received nature, not faultiness: nor in the Lord Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin's womb, does the wonderfulness of his birth make his nature unlike ours," the letter continued. "For he who is true God is also true man: and in this union there is no lie, since the humility of manhood and the loftiness of the Godhead both meet there."

In emphasizing the fullness of Christ's human nature in the letter, Leo cites the genealogy of Christ listed in the Scripture, along with his human experiences, particularly suffering and death on the cross: "Let [Eutyches] not disbelieve [Christ is a] man with a body like ours, since he acknowledges [Christ] to have been able to suffer: seeing that the denial of his true flesh is also the denial of his bodily suffering."

Leo emphasized the words of the Creed when emphasizing the fullness of Christ's divine nature, stating: "Not only is God believed to be both Almighty and the Father, but the Son is shown to be co-eternal with him, differing in nothing from the Father because he is God from God, Almighty from Almighty, and being born from the Eternal One is co-eternal with him."

The pontiff bolstered his argument with citations from Scripture that point to the fullness of Christ's divine nature and the fullness of his human nature.

"To be hungry and thirsty, to be weary, and to sleep, is clearly human," Leo said. "But to satisfy 5,000 men with five loaves, and to bestow on the woman of Samaria living water, droughts of which can secure the drinker from thirsting any more, to walk upon the surface of the sea with feet that do not sink, and to quell the risings of the waves by rebuking the winds, is, without any doubt, divine."

Clemmons praised Leo's Tome as a "simple and clear text" that is "very readable and very instructional now," even more than 1,500 years later.

At the time, however, the letter was met with hostility from supporters of Eutyches' position in Constantinople: "[It was] sent there, read aloud, and they rejected it," Clemmons said. Emperor Theodosius II convened the faux Second Council of Ephesus in 449, which rejected St. Leo's letter and defended Eutyches. The supporters of Eutyches brutally assaulted Archbishop Flavian I for defending St. Leo's position, deposed him, and sent him into exile. He died from his injuries.

St. Leo referred to the council as the "Latrocinium," the "robber council," and in 451 the Church convoked the Council of Chalcedon, which defined clearly the hypostatic union of Christ's human and divine natures and rejected the Second Council of Ephesus.

Chalcedon Council documents cite Leo's letter and affirm his teachings on the two natures of Christ, stating that Christ "must be confessed to be in two natures, unconfusedly, immutably, indivisibly, inseparably [united] … without the distinction of natures being taken away by such union."

When speaking to a general audience in 2008, Pope Benedict XVI referred to St. Leo the Great as one of the greatest popes in the history of the Church.

"As the nickname soon attributed to him by tradition suggests, he was truly one of the greatest pontiffs to have honored the Roman See and made a very important contribution to strengthening its authority and prestige," Benedict said.

This story was first published on Nov. 10, 2023, and was updated on Nov. 10, 2026.

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The business apostolate His Way at Work (HWAW) has bestowed an award for the project "Según tu Palabra" ("According to Your Word"), an initiative by a young Spaniard, Yael Moreno, that aims to facilitate Bible study among Catholics.

Developed through the EROI Incubator at the Francisco de Vitoria University (UFV, by its Spanish acronym), "Según tu Palabra" took first prize at the 10th annual HWAW event held in Cancún, Mexico, in October.

'Making reading the Bible trendy again'

Moreno, who holds a degree in translation and interpreting from the University of Granada and specializes in the Syriac language, won the award with her proposal to create a "Bible with notes" (laid out to provide space for annotations) along with a mobile phone app that through a few simple questions offers a personalized study tailored to the user.

In an interview with EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Moreno explained that the proposal aims to "make reading the Bible trendy again" and to help Catholics "overcome their fear of reading the Bible," because they think it is "an encrypted book that must be deciphered."

This aspiration took shape during her childhood. Her parents were part of Bible study groups and initiatives to create biblical musical theater, both initiatives promoted by Juan Bautista Arroyo, a priest of the Archdiocese of Granada who passed away in 2020 and whom Cardinal Antonio Cañizares had appointed as director of performing arts for that ecclesiastical region.

For Moreno, Bible study was part of her daily routine. Upon reaching adolescence, she discovered that "it's not all that common in the Catholic Church to know the Bible beyond hearing the Gospel at Mass and having the priest explain it during the homily."

At the age of 15 or 16, she began looking for Bible studies: "I wanted to delve deeper, to have the Bible be a part of my prayer life, and to encounter God and his word. But there weren't many Catholic options available."

'Lord, are you calling me to be an entrepreneur?'

With a desire to address this situation, she completed her university studies but was still uncertain about what to do next. At that time, she recalled, "I wasn't sure which path to take, nor could I quite see how my gifts might take concrete form, what my professional vocation was."

Following a friend's recommendation, she joined the EROI Incubator — a Catholic business entrepreneurship program with the personal goal of answering one question: "Lord, are you calling me to be an entrepreneur?"

Having won the HWAW competition, she joined Growth Lab, another UFV initiative where students are currently putting together their business venture. For Moreno, this presents a challenge, given her background in the humanities; however, with this support, she hopes to soon launch the first prototype of the app and determine whether the concept is truly a viable business idea.

The young, up-and-coming entrepreneur is convinced of the need for a project of this nature: "We live in a world where it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish what is true from what is not, especially with AI. I believe it is important that, when it comes to faith, that there be no distortion of what Jesus said."

Understanding the context of each book, recognizing the original meaning of the words "in the language in which they were conceived," being able to apply this to concrete, everyday life, and sharing it with others — these are some of the project's main objectives.

For Moreno, "According to Your Word" is more than just the name of a project. "It constantly reminds me what my prayer should be" regarding this endeavor: namely, she said, "that it may be done according to his word."

This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Pope Leo XIV has made it clear since the start of his pontificate that he seeks to be a pope of unity. On Monday, Nov. 9, he brought that message to Argentina, in speeches on economic relations, interfaith dialogue and leadership of the Church itself.

Speaking to an audience at the Catholic University of Argentina that included business leaders, trade unionists and grass-roots social activists, the pope encouraged groups with apparently conflicting interests to join together in embracing the fundamental principles of Catholic Social Teaching.

Leo made his talk a mini-tutorial in the subject, offering brief definitions of the dignity of the human person, the common good, the universal destination of goods, solidarity and subsidiarity. By acting in accordance with these, he said, society could "build the civilization of love."

The pope offered a concrete example of someone who lived by the principles in the Venerable Enrique Shaw, an Argentine businessman "who underwent a conversion after discovering the beauty of the Gospel as expressed in the Church's Social Doctrine."

Leo said the entrepreneur "understood that industry was not just a productive mechanism or a means of accumulating capital, but a true community of people called to grow together."

Shaw died in 1962 and Pope Francis recognized his heroic virtues in 2021.

The pope also pointed to trade unions, workers' associations, cooperatives and welfare organizations, whose "specific mission is to be instruments of solidarity and cohesion, channels of cooperation between workers and businesses."

A little later the same afternoon, Leo addressed representatives of other Christian churches and other religions, proposing an understanding of "sincere prayer" that unites their different creeds. Such prayer, the pope said, gives voice to "religions as guardians of human dignity, religions as expressions of our freedom, and religions as places in which to cultivate hope."

The pope's last public event of the day was a vespers service with the Catholic bishops of Argentina. After surveying the geographic and cultural diversity of the country, Leo noted that Catholicism in the country is united by veneration of the Virgin Mary, though under different titles and devotions, including the Most Holy Virgin of the Miracle, Our Lady of the Valley, the Virgin of the Rosary, Mary of Itatí and Our Lady of Luján.

Leo is scheduled to celebrate Mass in front of the Basilica of Our Lady of Luján on Wednesday, his last day in Argentina.

The pope offered the biblical story of Joseph's reunion with his father Jacob and his brothers, depicted in a relief on the facade of the cathedral where he was speaking, as a model of reconciliation for his listeners.

"Let us cultivate communion, welcoming our legitimate differences with charity and fostering fraternity, so that our unity may make Christ's love visible and help many to encounter him," the pope said.

Leo asked the bishops "to continue listening to one another and discerning together what the Holy Spirit is asking of you in the light of the word of God and the Magisterium of the Church." He said they should do so in conjunction with their synodal teams, also present in the cathedral, since they were "fellow disciples of the one Teacher."

Synodality, a signature initiative of Pope Francis that Leo has pledged to continue, seeks to involve the whole Church, including the laity, more fully in discernment and mission.

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An estimated 2.5 million people made Pope Leo XIV's Mass in Buenos Aires on Monday the largest of his pontificate. Behind that figure were faces, stories and testimonies of faith that filled a historic day.

Access opened at midnight, on a national holiday declared for the apostolic visit, for the Mass at the Monumento a los Españoles in the Palermo neighborhood, scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Local artists greeted those who had camped overnight beside the altar, a large structure put up some weeks earlier, under a clear spring sky.

Around 9 a.m., the singer-songwriter Athenas warmed the crowd with familiar Catholic songs. The surprise of the morning was Soledad Pastorutti, who sang her own pieces, including La Viajera and A Don Ata, and closed with religious songs such as Alma Misionera and Oración del Remanso.

With the streets closed, people walked in the hundreds: families, parish groups, couples, friends and a few onlookers, mixed in with street vendors selling flags, mugs and even images made with artificial intelligence that showed Pope Leo embracing Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona.

Florencia Raspi and Nicolás Deim arrived on Avenida del Libertador with four of their five children, all in yellow and white caps bearing the pope's image. Raspi, who was nine when she saw St. John Paul II with her own family, wanted her children to have that same experience.

"What moves us is the faith, the unique moment we are going to live," she told EWTN News, "and above all this great public act of faith, how faith moves us and stirs us." For Argentine families, she hoped the pope would leave "a message of hope, of unity," and the sense of "welcome everyone … that in our differences we all come together."

Olga walked arm in arm with her daughter, and with tears in her eyes spoke of "the emotion of seeing him, the faith we have," and of waiting for "the blessing he is going to give us all." For her country she wished "that we may be united, that we respect one another, and that the country may move forward."

Manuel Bur arrived in Buenos Aires on Friday with his girlfriend, from Concepción del Uruguay in Entre Ríos province. He hoped the pope would "give us strength, encouragement, to be better people, to be a better community."

Milagros Kirpach, of the Noche de la Caridad group at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, said she had come for more than a glimpse of the pope. "What is being lived, the people walking to meet their faith, is what brought me," she said. For Argentines she hoped for a message of unity and peace. "I think that all of us being united today reflects that."

Martina Navarro, of the Residencia Universitaria Sur of Opus Dei, had been volunteering since the early hours. "I had the joy of being able to take part. It was incredible to see the Church so alive, so happy to receive Pope Leo."

"As always, the pope leaves us unity, because he is literally the vicar of Christ on earth," she said. "We have the joy of being able to be a little closer to heaven with him."

Francisco Brusco, of the Piarist Schools at Colegio Calasanz in Buenos Aires, also served as a volunteer. "I cannot think of Pope Leo without thinking of the first pope, who is St. Peter, and whenever I think of St. Peter I think of the great mercy of God," he said. "Falling is human. Redemption comes from God and from his great mercy."

With the pope's arrival, he said, "the most important thing is to show that the faith is more alive than ever," and that it is "a very good way of showing that Argentina really is Catholic."

The popemobile crossed Avenida del Libertador after 11 a.m., nearly an hour behind schedule. The crowd in the sun covered their heads with caps, scarves, blankets and even bags. Many were moved by the pope's arrival; others were somewhat surprised at how quickly the vehicle passed.

The Mass itself was marked by respect, prayer and recollection. At the consecration, a great many of the faithful knelt, then went in an orderly way to receive Communion, distributed by more than 2,000 ministers of Holy Communion.

In his homily, the pope spoke of the family as the place where faith, human virtues, a culture of work, respect for the elderly, the defense of life and fidelity to one's word are handed on. He also drew applause when he recalled Pope Francis, who was archbishop of Buenos Aires before he became pope.

At the sign of peace there was joy and a sense of fellowship, which lasted to the end, when the crowd left the site in an orderly way for home.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, and has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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A papal diplomat to North American and South American countries said Pope Leo XIV brings a "message of hope" to the people.

Leo, who was born in the United States and spent more than 20 years in Peru, traveled to Uruguay this weekend. He is in Argentina Nov. 9–11 and will end his trip with a seven-day visit to Peru.

The Holy Father's message to the people is a message of hope, "a message that these countries need," said Monsignor Juan Antonio Cruz Serrano, permanent observer of the Holy See to the Organization of American States (OAS), during a Nov. 6 Spanish-language interview with "EWTN Noticias," the Spanish-language broadcast edition of EWTN News.

"We know, in particular, that there is great inequality among these nations — socially, politically, and economically," Cruz Serrano said. "The pope's presence serves as a call for social reconciliation wherever there are fractures or divisions, and it will also point us toward a path to follow."

"He does not come with ready-made solutions, of course, but he can certainly show us a way forward — both as an ecclesial community and as citizens — so that we may continue our journey toward a better future and a new humanity," he said. "It is about becoming better Christians. I see it as a constructive, forward-looking message; it is not something imposed upon others. Rather, he comes with the hope that the message he brings is truly good news.

Cruz Serrano was appointed as observer to the OAS under Pope Francis in 2021 and remains in the role. The OAS is a regional association of countries that represents every nation in North America and South America, with the exception of Nicaragua, which withdrew in 2023. The Holy See has no resident ambassador in Managua after the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Waldemar Sommertag, was expelled in 2022.

In the interview, Cruz Serrano noted the region to which Leo is traveling "lies at the heart of Christendom and also at the heart of the pope himself." This is "not only because of the high number of Catholics there, but also because of the deep Christian roots that run through these countries," he said.

"I believe that the whole of Christendom is tuned in to hear the message the pope wishes to convey," he said. "I think his primary message is one of strengthening the faith; after all, we know that the pope's main mission is to confirm us in our faith in Christ."

Cruz Serrano noted that a papal trip is not diplomatic or economic, but rather pastoral. Although Leo is meeting with government officials and diplomats, "he will convey a message — a moral and ethical message, but also one of dialogue."

"He proposes that we walk together," the diplomat said. "He comes as a messenger of peace, a messenger of hope. So, I believe that, more than a diplomatic trip, it is a pastoral journey — one that includes, among other things, meetings with political and diplomatic leaders, as well as representatives of civil society. But above all, I would like to emphasize its pastoral dimension."

Cruz Serrano also spoke with "EWTN News Nightly" anchor Veronica Dudo, saying he expects Leo's trip to Peru will be "very meaningful" and similar to a "homecoming" for the pontiff. He said Leo "knows the people, he knows the history."

The diplomat also discussed relations between the Indigenous of South America and the people of European descent, speaking of an importance to "build bridges" so people understand one another. He said Leo "is not coming only to speak" but "is also coming to listen."

Outreach to the Indigenous communities of South America was also an important issue for Pope Francis, who was born in Argentina. This included the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region, also known as the Amazonian Synod.

Speaking to EWTN News, Cruz Serrano noted that Francis taught that people "need to respect" the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon and "learn from them."

In the context of dialoguing with people who follow Indigenous religions, Cruz Serrano said "they have their values that we should learn" but added that "our faith is in Jesus Christ" and "he sent his disciples to go to the end of the world and preach the good news," which must be preached to all people.

He said the Church does not seek to be an imposition on those who follow Indigenous religions, saying: "We don't impose. Our faith is a proposal. So we go to the Indigenous people with a proposal. This is our proposal" that "Jesus Christ died and he rose for us."

This is Pope Leo XIV's first trip to South America since becoming pope.

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