Vatican

The Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation announced a series of initiatives across several continents that will take place throughout 2026 to mark the centenary of Pope Benedict XVI’s birth.

Separatist factions operating in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions announced a temporary cessation of hostilities ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s stop in Cameroon on the second leg of his papal visit to the African continent.

Pope Leo XIV sent a letter to the College of Cardinals thanking them for their participation in the January consistory and preparing the conversation for their next gathering June 26-27 — right before the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Iraqi Archbishop Amel Shamon Nona, who until now led the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle of Australia and New Zealand, was elected patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, succeeding Cardinal Louis Sako.

Pope Leo XIV shared some of his favorite spiritual reading recommendations on the papal flight to Algeria, pointing to a particular letter by St. Augustine that he said provides wonderful tips for how to deepen prayer.

Pope Leo XIV honored the memory of Algeria’s Christian martyrs Monday evening, telling the country’s tiny Catholic community that the blood of those who died for their faith remains “a living seed that never ceases to bear fruit.”

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Algeria on the morning of April 13, becoming the first pope to make an apostolic journey to the North Africa nation, the first stop of the pope’s 11-day, four-country tour of Africa.