OSV News asked George Weigel — the American biographer of the pope from Poland, St. John Paul II — about what the first few days of papacy tell us about Pope Leo XIV, how as an American missionary he can influence the world and about his own hopes for the papacy.

With a huge and festive crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV led his first Sunday recitation of the “Regina Coeli” prayer and urged all Catholics to pray for vocations, especially to the priesthood and religious life.

The Catholic community is alive, beautiful and strong, and it is up to its pastors to protect and nourish the faithful and to help bring God’s hope to the whole world, Pope Leo XIV said.

On May 11, Archbishop François Fonlupt and neighboring bishops will mark the 100th anniversary of the beatification of the Martyrs of Orange — 32 religious sisters guillotined during the French Revolution for refusing to renounce their faith.

Each shrine has free passports and pilgrims may get theirs stamped at each shrine’s gift shop. Each stamp bears the unique logo of its shrine for pilgrims to collect as they travel.

Pope Leo XVI will officially inaugurate his papacy with Mass in St. Peter’s Square May 18.

A group of House Republicans have reportedly expressed opposition to eliminating Planned Parenthood’s federal funding through the budget reconciliation process.

Where Christians are “mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied” is where the Catholic Church’s “missionary outreach is most desperately needed,” Pope Leo XIV said in his first homily as leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

Full text of the first public homily of Pope Leo XIV, given at a Mass for the College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel May 9, 2025.

The head of the Midwestern Augustinian province that Pope Leo XIV once led called the new pope’s election “moment of profound significance — not only as the first pope from the United States, but also as the first Augustinian to be elected pontiff.”