As the Catholic Church prepares to join Christians around the world in commemorating the 2026 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the theme chosen also reflects Pope Leo XIV’s hope of unified humanity in an increasingly individualistic world.

If Christians are to speak about God, then they must dedicate time each day and week to listening to God’s word in prayer and the liturgy, Pope Leo XIV said.

Speaking to a crowd of about 300 Jan. 9 at St. Louis in Clarksville, part of a pastorate with St. Francis of Assisi in Fulton, George Weigel urged Catholics to resist snap judgments about the new pope and instead understand the complex moment he has inherited. 

Pope Leo has established that from Jan. 10, following the closing of the church’s Jubilee Year, until Jan. 10, 2027, a special Year of St. Francis may be proclaimed, in which every Christian, “following the example of the Saint of Assisi, may himself become a model of holiness of life and a constant witness of peace.”

While Catholics have been accustomed to the famed silver papal staff featuring the suffering of Christ crucified and used by the pontiffs for decades, a new staff, or crosier, used by Pope Leo XIV, emphasized the victory of the risen Christ over death.

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado asked for Pope Leo XIV’s help in securing the release of political prisoners in the country following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Just as we wouldn’t leave newborns without clothes or food, we cannot leave them without faith and baptism, Pope Leo XIV told parents of children he baptized in the splendor and beauty of the Sistine Chapel Jan. 11.

Pope Leo XIV strongly condemned the Church’s failure to welcome survivors of sexual abuse, calling it a “scandal” that deepens their suffering, even though the issue was not a main topic at the Jan. 7-8 extraordinary consistory in Rome.

Pope Leo XIV embraced the youth of Rome — both literally and with his words — during a Jan. 10 meeting with the young people of the Diocese of Rome, telling them to choose real relationships over digital isolation.

Pope Leo XIV and members of his College of Cardinals have begun what is a kind of synodal journey together to grow in communion and discern together “what the Lord is asking of us for the good of his people.”