A prelate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine called for greater unity among Ukraine’s Christians in order to “overcome the evil that has come upon our land.”

“Only by being united can we overcome the evil that has come upon our land today,” said Archbishop Agapit of Vyshgorod. “I want to wish that the Lord, through our prayers and seeing our intentions, will help us Ukrainians to unite first and foremost—to unite around Christ, around God.”

The prelate made his remarks at a January 22 service for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The service, led by the apostolic nuncio, took place in a Latin-rite church whose stained-glass windows were shattered in a recent Russian attack.

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The Diocese of Rome has announced that on each of the first five Sundays of Lent, Pope Leo XIV will visit a parish in Rome: Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Lido, Sacred Heart of Jesus in Castro Pretorio, Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Santa Maria della Presentazione, and Sacred Heart of Jesus in Ponte Mammolo.

“They will be real pastoral visits,” said Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome. “Pope Leo XIV will meet with participatory bodies, pastoral animators and some youth organizations. The culmination of the visit will be the Eucharistic celebration with the entire parish community.”

As gang violence and prison riots led Guatemala’s president to declare a state of emergency, the nation’s Primate suspended Sunday evening Masses in his archdiocese on January 18.

Archbishop Gonzalo de Villa y Vásquez, SJ, also called for prayers for peace. The prelate subsequently discussed the violence in the Central American nation in an interview with Vatican News.

Pope Leo XIV received the bishops of Puerto Rico and encouraged them to be “bearers of fraternal communion and to strive for peace in all our dioceses,” according to a bishop who was present at the meeting.

Auxiliary Bishop Tomás González made his remarks in an interview with Vatican News following the January 23 audience.

Bishop González also said that synodal meetings in Puerto Rico’s dioceses have “blessed us enormously as we live this process as children of God, all the baptized, faithful and pastors together.”

Pope Leo XIV received Grand Duke Guillaume, Luxembourg’s head of state, and his consort, Grand Duchess Stéphanie.

The Grand Duke subsequently met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations. According to a Vatican statement, the parties discussed “social cohesion, the education of young people, and the safeguarding of the dignity of life and of the human person,” as well as international affairs.

The Western European nation of 690,000 (map) is 72% Christian (70% Catholic) and 4% Muslim.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, sent a message in Pope Leo’s name to participants in a conference on Catholic social thought and peacebuilding in Europe.

The conference was organized by the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice (CAPP) Foundation, named after Pope St. John Paul II’s 1991 social encyclical.

No continent can “live in peace and thrive without commonly held truths that inform its norms and values,” the papal message stated.

Catholic social teaching “has much to offer as it goes beyond borders and provides a platform for collective interests and way of living, thus making peaceful coexistence possible,” the message added.

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"I am here today as living proof of the theme that life is a gift."