Gerard O'Connell

Pope Leo XVI placed the pallium on the shoulders of 35 new metropolitan archbishops appointed over the last year during the celebration of Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Pope Leo makes last-minute appeal to the SSPX to “turn back” from illicitly ordaining bishops,

Pope Leo XIV has appointed the Italian Salesian woman religious, Alessandra Smerilli, F.M.A., as prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting

The SSPX ordained four new bishops without a papal mandate in Switzerland, triggering automatic excommunication for all six bishops involved.

Today's Vatican decree also goes a step further, warning the priests and lay members of the SSPX that “from now on” they, too, will be in schism and automatically excommunicated if they “adhere” to the schism.

An interview with Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, the executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network

“I am very happy to be here among you and to spend the next few weeks with a little rest, a little prayer, a little reading and, hopefully, a little sport here in Castel Gandolfo!” Leo said.

The Vatican today responded to a misrepresentation of the pope's role by the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, by reaffirming that “the pope always speaks as a shepherd…. Even when he speaks about war and peace, migration or how to remain human in the age of artificial intelligence, the Successor of Peter remains, above all, a spiritual leader.”

Pope Leo is sending a Vatican cardinal and archbishop to Ukraine on his behalf this week to advance peace efforts that began under Pope Francis.

The trial of the disgraced ex-Jesuit proceeded under almost total secrecy until recent media reports alleged the judges had reached a verdict in Father Marko Rupnik’s favor.