Pope Leo XIV didn’t just write his first message as pontiff for World Communications Day Jan. 24. He wrote a programmatic document on artificial intelligence in response to the challenges of the modern world, just like Pope Leo XIII faced the industrial revolution more than a century before.

On the eve of the 2026 March for Life in Washington Jan. 23, Pope Leo XIV issued a message to participants, expressing his deep gratitude for their “eloquent public witness” and imparting his apostolic blessing.

Five cardinals bid their farewell Jan. 17 to Angelo Gugel, the pontifical butler and witness to modern papal history, who stood silently behind St. John Paul II for nearly three decades, and contributed to saving the pope on the day of the assasination attempt.

Indonesian Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur of Bogor, who previously declined to become a cardinal, has resigned amid allegations of mismanagement in the diocese.

John Allen, the editor-in-chief of Crux whose decades-long career in journalism defined him as one of the authoritative voices on the Vatican and the Catholic Church, has died at the age of 61.

Pope Leo XIV is currently evaluating an invitation by U.S. President Donald Trump to join his “Board of Peace,” an international body chaired by the president to oversee the governance and reconstruction of Gaza, the Vatican secretary of state said.

Adding some sweetness to the usual general audience-focused Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV was presented with two lambs Jan. 21 as part of an ancient Roman Catholic tradition marking the feast of St. Agnes of Rome.

Pope Leo XIV said that God is revealed through Jesus’ humanity, not solely through a “channel of transmission of intellectual truths.” It is through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection that one can come to know God.

As atrocities against civilians surge globally, the Vatican’s top diplomat to the United Nations stressed the crucial need for both prevention and accountability — and the vital roles of individual nations and the global community in those tasks.

People of faith and goodwill need to take time to acknowledge the needs and suffering of those around them and be moved by love and compassion to offer others concrete help, Pope Leo XIV said.