The Council of Nicaea 1,700 years ago recognized that Christian unity had to be based on a common faith and should be demonstrated by a common celebration of Easter, the most sacred feast of the Christian year, said speakers at a Rome conference.

Because of its universal character and outlook, the Catholic Church can be a driving force for building communion between the church of Rome and the local churches as well as fostering friendly relationships in the world community, Pope Leo XIV told members of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

While the world is still just getting to know him, first impressions appear to hint that Pope Leo XIV doesn’t seem like a pontiff to say, “I told you so.”

Although Pope Francis already set Aug. 3 as the date to declare the sainthood of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, Pope Leo XIV will hold a meeting with cardinals to approve his canonization and that of seven other people.

God loves every person and wants to help everyone discover their inherent value and dignity, especially those who feel unworthy or unappreciated, Pope Leo XIV said.

An interest in life at the Church’s administrative center is fine; an obsession with it, fueled by ill-informed blogs and social media, is not.

Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for June, a month devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is “that the world might grow in compassion.”

In a letter marking the 100th anniversary of the canonization of three French saints — John Eudes, John Vianney and Thérèse of Lisieux — Pope Leo prayed that the anniversary celebrations “will not merely evoke nostalgia for a past that might seem bygone, but that they will awaken hope and give rise to a new missionary impetus.”

Blessed Iuliu Hossu, the Romanian Greek Catholic bishop of Cluj-Gherla, was named a cardinal “in pectore” — secretly — by St. Paul VI in 1969.

The Catholic Church, its ministers and its members must find new ways to reach out to and welcome families who are distant from the church and have no understanding of how much God loves them, Pope Leo XIV said.