There was a Peruvian priest who sat next to the Pope’s secretary in the popemobile on May 13, 2025, when Leo XIV took possession of the chair of St. John Lateran. He was Bernardito Gil, vicar general to then-Bishop Prevost of Chiclayo, and he had come to Rome to greet his former bishop, who [...]

Leo XIV’s work to restore traditional trappings of the papal office began almost immediately and has continued, albeit discreetly, since he stepped onto the loggia clad in the mozzetta. There are other signs of restoration about, as well.

The latest calendar of liturgical celebrations, for example, highlights that the usual Mass at St. John [...]

Peace, justice, and truth. In these three words, Leo XIV indicated the guidelines for diplomatic activity at the meeting of ambassadors accredited to the Holy See on Friday of last week. They will also be the guidelines of this pontificate’s doctrine of diplomacy.

It is too early to pass judgment on Leo XIV, [...]

For the first time in history, the new Pope pronounced his first words as pontiff, reading a written text. Leo XIV presented himself to the world, visibly moved, reading a text he had prepared full of cross-references, explaining who he is and some, at least, of what he wants to do.

The first Pope [...]

The only certainty of the days following Pope Francis’s death, is uncertainty.

With his Church-as-a-field-hospital and his personal–personalist, in the political sense—modus gubernandi, Francis left many things unclear, confused, and subject to discussion. In a word: the “Franciscan” way of doing things created division.

This is the legacy of Pope Francis, which looms over [...]

There is a stark contrast between the idea that had been given of the funeral of Pope Francis, with the simplified rites and the desire that it not be seen as a sign of power, with the manner in which the transfer of the Pope’s body from the Santa Marta house to St. Peter’s [...]

Paradoxical and incomplete. The Pontificate of Pope Francis can be summed up in these two words. The time will come for all the excellent analyses apt to help us clarify whether Pope Francis’ revolution has given direction to the Church, or whether it was just a twelve-year tempest in a teacup. In short, to [...]

Except for the prefect of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches, Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, , there was not a single cardinal elector or even anyone with any particularly hefty role in the Vatican among the papal stand-ins during Holy Week.

When popes are ill or otherwise indisposed, standard practice in Holy Week and at [...]

Chosen to restore the Curia, overcome corruption, and even – it was said at the beginning of his pontificate – shutter the Institute of the Works of Religion once and for all (the IOR is the much-maligned and even more misunderstood “Vatican bank”), Francis finds himself at this moment of his pontificate facing a [...]

Pope Francis has been back in the Domus Sanctae Marthae for two weeks now, after more than a month in Rome’s Gemelli hospital. Besides a brief apparition on Sunday, at the end of the Mass for the Jubilee of the Sick, the Pope has not been seen publicly after the surprise stop at Santa [...]