Until the announcement of his hospitalization and lung surgery that led to the diagnosis of adenocarcinoma last week, it appeared to all the world that Leo XIV’s would be a broad-ranging pontificate spanning the better part of two decades, in which the pontiff would have the opportunity to reshape and even redefine the Roman [...]

By appointing Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola as Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as Dean of the College of Cardinals, Leo XIV marked the transition to a new generation and, probably, a new era for the Church.

Not only were the two choices largely unexpected, but, ultimately, so were all [...]

The appointment of Cardinal Mauro Gambetti as Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto represents the first real personnel change of Leo XIV’s pontificate.

Gambetti became Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica in 2021 and has completed his five-year term. He could have been reappointed. He could have been assigned to another position in the Vatican, but he hasn’t.

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Last June, when asked in a private meeting about Leo XIV’s expectations and ideas for Europe, the Pope replied: “Wait for my speech in Metz.”

That speech, which will be delivered on Sep. 28, has been honed down to the last detail, studied for months, and translated again for the last time the day [...]

The news that Leo XIV has decided to revoke Pope Francis’s salary cut for cardinals has had a greater symbolic impact than one might imagine.

During the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis, Pope Francis cut cardinals’ salaries—the so-called “cardinals’ plate”—and the measure certainly made headlines.

Leo XIV is bringing things back to normal, [...]

Leo XIV’s plan for the Church was clear from the beginning: to seek to restore harmony within the Church. His episcopal motto, In Illo Uno Unum, says so. His actions, which have so far always sought not to divide, but rather to absorb tensions, also speak volumes.

After 16 months, however, we still await [...]

One theme lingers in the background of all the major debates surrounding the Catholic Church: Life.

Some say talking about life and family is outdated, that we should focus more on social issues than on principles, and that the Catholic Church should focus less on principles and more on helping people.

The question of [...]

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher’s trip to Moscow marked a definitive paradigm shift in the Holy See’s diplomacy regarding the situation in Ukraine. We cannot know what was said behind closed doors during the bilateral meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

The opening remarks from both the Holy See and the Russian delegation [...]

So far, Leo XIV’s government has been characterized by extraordinary prudence and a certain continuity. The Pope has made only a few relatively minor adjustments, without touching his immediate predecessor’s broad reform framework. He has retained the idea of synodality, but without giving it the central importance it had, at least narratively, during the [...]

Among the new appointments to the Council for the Economy are two young women in their thirties with impressive resumes: Gisela Liechtenstein and Elena Wettstein Principato. Both have aroused considerable curiosity. They’ve even made headlines.  The attention they’ve drawn is essentially of the same kind as arose in 2021, when Pope Francis reshuffled the [...]