As U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Gulf Arab countries, ending May 16, brought “the largest defense cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done, according to the White House fact sheet, Catholic leadership in the region expressed its concern to resolve long-standing conflicts, particularly in the Middle East, peacefully.

Pope Leo XIV will formally begin his ministry as bishop of Rome with a liturgy steeped in tradition and rich in symbolism May 18.

While Pope Leo XIV has deleted the account he began as Father Robert F. Prevost on Twitter, now X, in 2011, the Vatican has launched new accounts for him on X and Instagram.

The Catholic Church wants to reach out and embrace all people who need and yearn for truth, justice and peace, Pope Leo XIV said in his first meeting with the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.

St. Monica is the patron saint of mothers, women in difficult marriages and alcoholics. She died in the fourth century in the coastal town of Ostia, Italy, about 13 miles west of Rome.

This is what the seven days of papacy tell about the first American pope and how his predecessors spent their honeymoon in the Vatican.

Thanking Pope Leo XIV for his prayers for Ukraine, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church gave the pope a painting and a list of prisoners the Ukrainians want the Vatican’s help in liberating.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments May 15 over the Trump administration’s executive order to end birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents without legal status or temporary visa holders, and whether federal judges could properly block that order.

Dialogue and bridge-building have emerged as early indicators of what Pope Leo XIV’s interreligious approach to Jews and Muslims may look like, giving hope that Pope Francis-era advances in the church’s interfaith relations will continue, experts told OSV News.

Both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will attend the inaugural Mass of Pope Leo XIV on May 18, the vice president’s office said.