Vatican

Archbishop Jorge García Cuerva of Buenos Aires rebuked the country’s political class for ignoring Pope Francis’ magisterium on unity by bickering among themselves at a Mass celebrated on the anniversary of the late pope’s passing.

On his last day in Equatorial Guinea, Pope Leo XIV reminded Catholics in the country to seek strength, justice and hope from the Gospel and the sacraments.

Pope Leo XIV arrived April 21 in Equatorial Guinea, the fourth and final country of his 11-day apostolic journey in Africa, where the pope met the country’s longtime ruler and urged the country’s civil authorities to choose justice over power, quoting St. Augustine’s “City of God.”

Flying over the west coast of central Africa on April 21, Pope Leo XIV paused to honor his predecessor on the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ death, remembering the Argentine pope’s witness to mercy and closeness to the poor.

One year ago today, Pope Francis died at 7:35 a.m., April 21, 2025.

Pope Leo XIV traveled to the heart of Angola’s diamond country April 20, urging the tens of thousands gathered at the papal Mass in the country’s northeast to trust that “Christ hears the cry of the people” in the face of evil.

Pope Leo XIV has donated $100,000 to provide access to clean water in El Salvador, supporting a program launched by the papal nuncio to that nation and by Catholic Relief Services, the official humanitarian and development agency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.