Pope Leo last May became the first US leader of the global Catholic Church, but for ​the initial 10 months of his tenure he mostly avoided comment about the US and never once mentioned President Donald Trump publicly. That era ‌has come to an end. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo ​urged U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday to look ‌for an "off-ramp" to end the Iran war, in a rare direct appeal from the pontiff as the regional conflict expands. For @reuters.com

Israeli police block Catholic cardinal from Jerusalem's Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday - www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Pope Leo says God rejects prayers of leaders who wage wars reut.rs/4rZIThC

Pope Leo said on Sunday that God rejects the ‌prayers of leaders who start wars and have "hands full of blood", in unusually forceful remarks as the Iran war entered its second month. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo on Saturday made a day trip to Monaco, a tax-free microstate on the French Riviera known as a haven for billionaires ​and their luxury yachts, and urged its residents to share their wealth ‌and help those in need. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo expressed concern on Tuesday about a ​rising tenor of animosity in the ‌expanding Iran war, repeating calls for a ceasefire amid reports the U.S. is planning to send thousands of ​soldiers to the Middle East in ​a military buildup. For @reuters.com

The Vatican said on Tuesday that Catholics can receive transplants of animal tissues ​to address medical conditions, as procedures involving genetically ‌modified pig or cow organs continue to advance. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo sharply criticised aerial bombardments on Monday, saying they ​are indiscriminate and should be banned, in ‌his latest anti-war comments as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran enters its fourth week. For @reuters.com

The Vatican on Friday launched an international project encouraging disinvestment from the mining sector, in an unusual initiative by the Catholic Church to ​steer investments away from a specific industry. For @reuters.com

A Catholic bishop said he would ​push the Vatican for permission to ordain married men as priests by 2028, in an unusual statement ‌that may test Pope Leo's willingness to change Church teaching to address the issue of dwindling clergy numbers. For @reuters.com

The Vatican's top diplomat on Wednesday called ‌on U.S. President Donald Trump to end the expanding Iran war as soon as possible and suggested Israel should also ​stop its strikes against Lebanon. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo made a plea on Wednesday for countries to offer their ​citizens universal healthcare, calling it a "moral imperative" that ‌people have access to the health services they need, in an unusually strong appeal. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo met on Monday with an investigative journalist who alleges that a prominent Catholic organisation with ​ties to right-wing politicians in the U.S. and other countries ‌covered up sexual and financial crimes, which the group firmly denies. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo urged journalists on Monday to highlight the suffering caused by war, cautioning against ​news reports that risk sliding into propaganda by ‌glorifying conflicts or serving as "a megaphone" to amplify the voices of those in power. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo suggested on Friday that Christian political leaders who start wars should go to ​confession and assess whether they are following the teachings ‌of Jesus, without naming any specific leaders or conflicts. For @reuters.com

Pope ​Leo on Wednesday lamented the death of numerous civilians ‌in the Iran war and also expressed closeness to people in Lebanon, saying the country, targeted by Israeli strikes, was going through a "great trial." For @reuters.com

Pope Leo on Saturday named a ​senior Church diplomat who represented the Vatican in the Philippines during former President Rodrigo ‌Duterte's war on drugs as the Vatican's U.S. ambassador and envoy to the Trump administration. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo released a video on Thursday praying that God would help world leaders renounce war ​as a means of resolving conflicts in an unusual ‌appeal as the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran pressed on for the sixth day. For @reuters.com

The Vatican's top diplomat warned on Wednesday that the ongoing U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran undermine international law and ​said nations do not have a right to launch "preventive wars", ‌in an unusually direct criticism of the military campaign. For @reuters.com:

Jesus will still love you as you age, even if you have a few wrinkles on ​your face, according to a Vatican document issued on ‌Wednesday. For @reuters.com

The secret conclave that elected Pope Leo head of the Catholic Church last May was interrupted when one of the 133 cardinals involved was found carrying a cellphone, a massive security breach, a book released on Sunday revealed. For @reuters.com

The Vatican unveiled a new postage stamp on Thursday honouring Ukraine's Catholics, with the design showing their cathedral in Kyiv during a blackout in an unusually pointed reference to the daily struggles of Ukrainians in wartime. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo will visit four countries across Africa from April 13-23, the Vatican announced on Wednesday, with the pontiff making his first major overseas trip in 2026 to the continent where the Catholic Church is growing fastest. For @reuters.com

An exclusive look inside the small Vatican workshop that cares for the hundreds of mosaics that decorate the interior of St. Peter's Basilica in a sea of colour. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo made an impassioned appeal on Sunday for peace in Ukraine, saying an end to the four-year-old conflict "cannot be postponed" as the United States tries to broker an elusive accord between Moscow and Kyiv. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo, the first U.S. leader of the global Catholic Church, will spend the Independence Day holiday this year visiting an Italian island known as the first port of call for migrants sailing from North Africa for Europe. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo lamented a world "in flames" due to wars and the destruction of the environment during an Ash Wednesday Mass, opening the season of Lent for the world's Christians. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo on Friday sent best wishes to the athletes preparing to compete in the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics and reiterated his call for world leaders to use the Games to promote peace efforts and de-escalate the world's violent conflicts. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo will likely travel to Peru in November, the president of the nation's Catholic bishops said on Wednesday, for a visit expected to draw large crowds to see a pontiff who was a missionary in the South American country for decades. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo on Wednesday urged leaders in Russia and the United States to renew their last nuclear arms control treaty, New START, which caps the number of strategic nuclear weapons deployed by each country. @reuters.com

Sometimes even God needs a bit of a makeover. Michelangelo's "Last Judgment", a Renaissance masterwork in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel that depicts the Second Coming of Jesus, is undergoing its first restoration in 30 years. @reuters.com

Pope Leo said on Sunday he was deeply concerned about rising tensions between the United States and Cuba, and he called for "sincere and effective dialogue" to prevent violence and further suffering for the Cuban people. @reuters.com

Pope Leo appealed against the global rise of antisemitism on Wednesday, marking the annual commemoration of the Holocaust during his weekly audience at the Vatican with a prayer for a world without prejudice or racism. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo is among world leaders invited to join U.S. President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace", Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's top diplomatic official, said on Wednesday. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo plans to visit Angola as part of a multi-nation trip across Africa, the Vatican's ambassador to the country announced on Tuesday, in what could be the pontiff's first overseas trip in 2026. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo met Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel peace prize winner Maria Corina Machado on Monday, the Vatican said, but did not provide any further details. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo decried the use of military force as a means of achieving diplomatic goals on Friday, delivering an unusually fiery annual foreign policy speech in which he also called for human rights to be respected in Venezuela. For @reuters.com:

Pope Leo met on Thursday with the world's Catholic cardinals as part of a two-day summit, urging the senior clerics to shun divisions in the 1.4-billion-member Church and focus on attracting new believers. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo closed the Catholic Church's Holy Year on Tuesday by sealing shut the special "Holy Door" in St. Peter's Basilica and urging Christians worldwide to help those in need and treat foreigners with kindness. For @reuters.com

About 33.5 million pilgrims came to Rome in 2025 for the Catholic Holy Year, Vatican and Italian officials said on Monday, marking a record number of yearly visitors and a boon for local tourist shops, museums and restaurants. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo called for Venezuela to remain an independent nation and said he was following developments after the United States' toppling of President Nicolas Maduro with a "soul full of concern" on Sunday. For @reuters.com:

Pope Leo in his first Christmas blessing on Thursday lamented the situation for migrants and refugees who "traverse the American continent". For @reuters.com

Pope Leo decried conditions for Palestinians in Gaza in his Christmas sermon on Thursday, in an unusually direct appeal during what is normally a solemn, spiritual service on the day Christians across the globe celebrate the birth of Jesus. For @reuters.com:

Pope Leo said in a Christmas Eve sermon that the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should remind Christians that refusing to help the poor and strangers today is tantamount to rejecting God himself. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo on Tuesday criticized the governor of the U.S. state of Illinois for signing a bill to allow some adults with a terminal illness to end their own lives with medical help, in an unusual political intervention by the church leader. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo said on Tuesday that he feels "much sadness" that Russia did not agree to a Christmas ceasefire in its nearly four-year old war with Ukraine. @reuters.com

Most of Pope Leo's appointments for Catholic bishops in the U.S. have called for better treatment of immigrants in the country, in a trend that may shape how the national Church responds to the Trump administration's divisive anti-immigration policies. For @reuters.com

Pope Leo urges joyful, welcoming Church in speech to Vatican cardinals reut.rs/4b15hCs

Pope Leo indicated on Monday that he plans to follow the reform agenda of his predecessor Francis, praising the late pontiff's attempts to make the global Catholic Church more inclusive in an annual Christmas address to Vatican cardinals. For @reuters.com: