The Archdiocese of Mexico City announced that Pope Leo XIV has declared a Jubilee Year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Pope Leo XIV visited the Vatican Library for the first time as pope on his birthday, Sept. 14, and announced plans for the construction of a new modern building in Vatican City to house the holdings of the library and the Vatican Apostolic Archive.

As the first U.S.-born pope marked his birthday, a Catholic scholar told OSV News he sees a potential shift toward more positive views of Catholicism in the U.S. compared to the past two decades.

Of all the discourses he delivered in his nearly eight-year pontificate — with the exception of his 2013 resignation — Pope Benedict XVI’s Sept. 12, 2006, address at the University of Regensburg sparked unprecedented global reaction.

Pope Leo XIV commemorated the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in his Sunday Angelus address, praying for “those who continue to bear the wounds of that tragic day.”

Pope Leo XIV will put Europe and peace in the spotlight on Sept. 28, when he visits Metz as part of his trip to France from Sept. 25 to 28.

Everyone needs to feel there is room for them in their bishop’s heart, Pope Leo XIV said.

Andrzej Poczobut, a Belarusian Catholic dissident and journalist, returned to Belarus Sept. 8, following an audience with Pope Leo XIV and after five months in exile in Poland, saying he was prepared to risk arrest and urging Western Catholics to remember Christians imprisoned by the regime.

The Peruvian city of Callao announced an unusual tribute to Pope Leo XIV ahead of his November visit to the South American country: the largest statue of the pontiff in the world.

Pope Leo XIV returned Sept. 7 to the Marian shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel, where he asked the Virgin Mary for aid to bring God’s word to light through “courageous and wise decisions.”