When Pope Leo XIV sat down to lunch with people experiencing homelessness and poverty at Castel Gandolfo this month, he offered a model that one Catholic organization says any parish can follow.

Franciscans in the United States urged U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to help stop increased attacks against Christians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

In his seven visits to America during his papacy, St. John Paul II often shared his mastery of the nation’s foundational documents — the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Darline Graham Nordone, the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, will complete the remainder of his term in the U.S. Senate, Gov. Henry McMaster, R-S.C., said July 13.

Damage from two back-to-back earthquakes that struck Venezuela June 24 is “a lot worse than expected,” said a Catholic Relief Services disaster response worker, who asked people to “keep Venezuelans in their hearts.”

As African bishops continue to back Pope Leo XIV over the excommunication of the Society of St. Pius X, known as SSPX, the traditionalist group in Kenya rejected the schismatic tag as it moved to assure followers of its Roman Catholic identity.

Much has been done to mitigate rates of HIV and AIDS, but more work remains as children are still vulnerable to the virus and the disease it causes, said the Holy See’s diplomatic representative to the United Nations in a July 10 address.

Donning a hardhat and work gloves July 8, Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis and students from St. Catherine University in St. Paul helped raise a wall of the first duplex being built in the Twin Cities as part of a national Habitat for Humanity initiative called the Pope Leo Village.

When the 8:21 a.m. train left Rome’s Termini Station to Castel Gandolfo July 12, people packed like sardines into the regional cars. While two or three passengers got off at stations along the way, most disembarked at Castel Gandolfo and headed up the hill to see Pope Leo XIV during the Sunday Angelus prayer — the first this summer to be said from his lakeview residence.

Under the Italian sun of Lake Albano and the shade of Castel Gandolfo’s Borgo Laudato si’ trees, Pope Leo XIV enjoyed lunch with people experiencing social vulnerability.