Pope Leo XIV, the object of dozens of “deepfake” videos, has chosen “Preserving human voices and faces” as the theme for the Catholic Church’s celebration of World Communications Day in 2026.

Pope Leo XIV encouraged members of the European Parliament to pursue “a healthy secularism” that maintains the distinction between religions and governments.

Among the estimated 20,000 pilgrims in Rome for the Jubilee of Catechists, a group of three dozen from the United States had their own private audience with Pope Leo XIV.

The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development announced Sept. 26 that Pope Leo XIV had chosen the theme for the church’s next celebration of the World Day of the Sick: “The compassion of the Samaritan: Loving by bearing the pain of the other.”

With just a few months left in the Jubilee Year 2025, Pope Leo XIV has a full calendar of public Masses scheduled for October.

In the first major appointment of his papacy, Pope Leo XIV chose an Italian expert in canon law to succeed him as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

The Vatican City State Court of Appeals handed a major victory to Cardinal Angelo Becciu and eight other defendants convicted in late 2023 of crimes related to the Vatican’s huge financial loss on an investment property in London.

The pope met the writers and staff of the Italian Jesuit magazine, “La Civiltà Cattolica,” at the Vatican Sept. 25 as part of journal’s 175th anniversary celebrations. Father Arturo Sosa, superior general of the Jesuits, also attended the audience.

As fall begins, Catholics are watching closely for Pope Leo XIV’s first major Vatican appointments. One of the most urgent vacancies to fill is his own former role — prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.

When people hit “rock bottom,” they can be confident that God is there ready to rescue and redeem them, Pope Leo XIV said.