The president of CELAM (the Episcopal Conference of Latin America) described COP30, the upcoming UN climate change conference, as “a decisive test for humanity and for the mission of the Church.”

“We can say that in recent months, all Catholic communities in Brazil have become aware of the reality of climate change and the Church’s position,” Cardinal Jaime Spengler told the Vatican newspaper. “The market, the technocratic society, starts from a different principle than ours ... There is a difference between what economics and politics say, and what the Church defends. I don’t mean they are contradictory, but perhaps there are different perspectives.”

“We have women and men who dedicate themselves to political activity, but we lack statesmen of ethical, human, and spiritual greatness,” added Cardinal Spengler, who is also the president of the Brazilian bishops’ conference. The prelate called for “leaders capable of making a difference in debate and capable of providing constructive guidance, necessary to face the difficulties our times impose.”

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, invited all people to “ all people to read, reflect, and pray with” Dilexi Te, Pope Leo’s first apostolic exhortation.

“Our lives must reflect the reality of the ultimate, loving sacrifice of Christ,” said Archbishop Broglio. “The Holy Father calls upon each of us to respond to a world that is marked by indifference, division, and apathy especially when directed towards the poor and vulnerable.”

In an interview with the Vatican media, Mali’s most prominent prelate characterized relations between Christians and Muslims as good, despite jihadist military actions there.

Archbishop Robert Cissé of Bamako said that “our families may include Christians, Muslims, or even members of traditional faiths, and everyone lives their faith peacefully, without any problems.”

“What drives the so-called jihadists are economic interests, and their game is easy because they capitalize on the poverty of so many young people who, without jobs and little money, are easily ensnared,” he added. “It’s a question of money ... Rather than Islamic terrorism, therefore, I would speak of terrorism for money.”

During an audience with Pope Leo yesterday, President Gabriel Boric of Chile invited the Pontiff to visit the South American nation.

Following the audience, President Boric said that he and the Pope had discussed the recent apostolic exhortation on love for the poor, sexual abuse in the Church in Chile, and the Chile-Argentina peace agreement the Church brokered four decades ago.

The president also met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of His Holiness, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations. The parties discussed “the Chilean socio-economic situation,” with “special attention to the fight against poverty, migratory phenomena and ethical questions,” according to a Vatican press release.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, traveled to the shrine in Assisi where St. Carlo Acutis is buried and celebrated Mass on the first liturgical memorial of the newly canonized saint, 19 years after his death.

“From this shrine, together with St. Francis, he speaks to the world and reminds us that we are all called to holiness,” Cardinal Parolin preached. “With the simplicity of his life, he teaches us that holiness is possible at any age and in any state of life.”

Over 2.5 million people this year took part in the Círio De Nazaré Marian procession in Brazil.

In a papal message for the occasion, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, wrote:

Having been informed of the spiritual preparation—which unites thousands of families through careful meditation on the Word of God and the prayer of the Holy Rosary—for the feast days of the Círio, the Holy Father willingly joins those who raise to the loving Virgin Mother the most sincere and profound expression of filial devotion, committed to the care of our Common Home and imploring the gift of peace for the entire world.

During his Sunday Angelus address, Pope Leo XIV told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square that the “agreement to begin the peace process has given a spark of hope in the Holy Land.”

“I encourage the parties involved to continue courageously on the path they have chosen, towards a just and lasting peace that respects the legitimate aspirations of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples,” he continued. “We ask God, who is the true Peace of humanity, to heal all wounds and to help us with his grace to accomplish what now seems humanly impossible: to remember that the other is not an enemy, but a brother or sister to be seen, forgiven and offered the hope of reconciliation.”

Without mentioning Russia by name, Pope Leo also rued “the recent violent attacks that struck several cities and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, causing the death of innocent people, including children, and leaving many families without electricity and heating.” The Pontiff renewed his appeal “to put an end to violence, to stop destruction, to open up to dialogue and peace.”

At the conclusion of Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square, the culminating event of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, Pope Leo XIV entrusted the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (booklet, pp. 47-48) in the presence of the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima, brought from Portugal for the occasion.

Earlier, during his homily, Pope Leo lauded Marian spirituality. “Our affection for Mary of Nazareth,” he preached, “leads us to join her in becoming disciples of Jesus.”

“Mary’s path follows that of Jesus, which leads us to encounter every human being, especially the poor, the wounded and sinners,” he added. “Because of this, authentic Marian spirituality brings God’s tenderness”

In a message to a philosophy conference taking place in Paraguay, Pope Leo XIV warned against “the attitude of those,” such as the Swiss Protestant theologian Karl Barth, “who, pretending to exalt the Word of God, ended up demeaning the value of human reason.”

Pope Leo also warned against “the claim that transcendent knowledge can be attained through mere rational analysis”—a claim made in various ways, he said, by Pelagius and the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

On the other hand, figures like St. Justin Martyr, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Bonaventure have shown that “faith and reason are not only not opposed, but support and complement each other in an admirable way.” Thus, said the Pope, “the Christian thinker is called to be a living reminder of the authentic philosophical vocation as an honest and persevering search for Wisdom.”

Today is the Optional Memorial of St. Callistus, Pope and Martyr. Callistus was a Christian slave of Rome, and later was ordained deacon by Pope St. Zephyrinus, whom he succeeded as pope in the year 217. As deacon he was guardian of the Christian cemetery on the Appian Way which is still known by his name. While he vigorously opposed heresy, his charitable attitude toward repentant sinners incurred the wrath of contemporary rigorists. He was martyred in the persecutions of Alexander Severus in the year 223.