Pope paves way for St. John Henry Newman to be formally named doctor of the church

Rome’s historic Risorgimento Square, built in the 19th century in honor of the unification of Italy, has always been a gateway to Vatican City with countless pilgrims, tourists, and locals passing through it on their way to St. Peter’s Basilica.

The enthusiastic joy of young people, who love Jesus and want all wars to stop, will be heard to the ends of the earth, Pope Leo XIV said, welcoming tens of thousands of cheering young men and women to Rome for their Jubilee.

Pope Leo XIV met with a top Russian Orthodox cleric, the first such visit from Moscow since the papal election, and one that comes amid strained relations with Rome due to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

Greeting tens of thousands of visitors crowded in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV welcomed all the young people who arrived in Rome for the Jubilee of Youth.

Pope Leo XIV called on every parish and church group or association to become part of a “revolution” of care and gratitude by regularly visiting older people.

The relics of two saints-to-be — Blesseds Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis — will be in Rome for veneration during the Jubilee of Youth July 28-Aug. 3, according to worldyouthday.com.

Peering at the sunlit skies through a Vatican-owned space telescope and calling the last surviving member of the Apollo 11 spaceflight mission was how Pope Leo XIV celebrated the anniversary of the first crewed moon landing.

The humanitarian tragedy in the Gaza Strip and the need for urgent assistance were part of discussions between Pope Leo XVI and Mahmoud Abbas, president of Palestine and the Palestinian National Authority.

The “barbarity of war” and forced displacement of people have to end, and civilians and places of worship have to be protected, Pope Leo XIV implored.