The Gospel parable of the “wasteful sower” who casts seeds on fertile soil as well as on a rocky path “is an image of the way God loves us,” Pope Leo XIV told visitors and pilgrims at his first weekly general audience.

As congressional lawmakers consider a sweeping package for Trump’s agenda, the U.S. Catholic bishops offered both praise and criticism of federal actions affecting human life, such involving gender transition, abortion funding, and pregnant migrants, in a pair of statements May 19.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin received the Path to Peace Award at a May 19 gala dinner in New York, having addressed representatives at the United Nations headquarters to celebrate the election of Pope Leo XIV earlier that day.

President Donald Trump on May 19 signed into law the Take It Down Act, a measure that imposes penalties for online sexual exploitation.

The pope visited the basilica and tomb of St. Paul two days after the Mass for the inauguration of his Petrine ministry in St. Peter’s Square. It was part of a series of visits to the city’s major papal basilicas after his election.

As Pope Leo XIV begins his pontificate with an emphasis on peace, justice and bridge-building, the Vatican has reaffirmed its “unwavering support for the mission of the United Nations” amid conflict and other urgent challenges facing the global community.

Catholics in Normandy commemorated the 100th anniversary of St. Thérèse’s of Lisieux’s canonization with three days of solemn celebrations May 16-18. These included a live broadcast of Pope Leo XIV’s May 18 inauguration Mass on giant screens in the Basilica of St. Thérèse in Lisieux.

A move to hold talks between Ukraine and Russia at the Vatican appeared to gain momentum May 19, following a call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Those were, in a sense, the marching orders for the eight young adult Catholics sent forth hours later from St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis on a 36-day National Eucharistic Pilgrimage that will cross 10 states — Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

Former U.S. President Joe Biden, the nation’s second Catholic president and a Wilmington resident, revealed May 18 that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and it has metastasized to his bones.