Pope Leo XIV called attention to two important events that fell on May 24: the day of prayer for Catholics in China and the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment.

Celebrating his first Mass in Rome’s diocesan cathedral, Pope Leo XIV said communion is built primarily “on our knees,” through prayer and a constant commitment to conversion.

Pope Leo XIV was formally inaugurated as the successor of Peter in a Mass May 18 in St. Peter’s Square. Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori was among the concelebrants of the Mass, and he shares his reflections about being there for the historic event, and his hopes for the future of the church with Pope Leo.

As Pope Leo XIV settles into his new ministry, the Jubilee Year 2025 and its special events mean the pope has a full calendar of public Masses scheduled for June.

The Archdiocese of Chicago has scheduled a Mass and a special program June 14 to celebrate the election and inauguration of Pope Leo XIV, a native son of the Windy City.

Young people in the former Peruvian diocese of Pope Leo XIV used to gather in a parish parking lot behind the bishop’s residence, where they would rehearse music and dance, worship and make noise into the night — all within earshot of then-Bishop Robert F. Prevost.

Get to know Pope Leo through this list of 10 things he’s actually said in the first days of his pontificate.

The election of a Chicago-born pope with Louisiana Creole ancestry is drawing attention from Black Catholics, especially after genealogist Jari Honora traced Pope Leo XIV’s maternal grandparents to New Orleans’ Black Catholic community. 

Pope Francis, who took his name from the patron saint of ecology — St. Francis of Assisi — died the day before Earth Day and about five weeks before the 10th anniversary of his landmark encyclical on care for creation.

Pope Leo XIV has advanced the sainthood causes of two missionaries whose murders in the Amazon jungle in Ecuador led to the protection of remote Indigenous peoples from encroaching extractive industries.