Nicole Winfield

Venezuela's first two saints were canonized Sunday: José Gregorio Hernández, revered by millions for his dedication to poor people, and Mother Carmen Rendiles Martínez, founder of a Venezuelan religious order.

The Catholic Church and Church of England, divided for centuries over issues that now include the ordination of female priests, will take a historic step on the path to unity when Britain's King Charles III and Pope Leo XIV pray together in the Sistine Chapel.

The Vatican's child protection board said the Catholic Church has a moral obligation to help victims of clergy sexual abuse heal, and identified financial reparations and adequate sanctions for abusers and their enablers as essential remedies.

Pope Leo XIV thanked Italy on Tuesday for its efforts to combat human trafficking but urged the country to remain open to welcoming and integrating migrants as he took part in a pomp-filled meeting with the Italian president.

The Vatican said that the five judges named to hear the Marko Rupnik case in a canonical court include women and priests who don't hold jobs in the Vatican bureaucracy.

The Texas bishop on the front lines of the U.S. immigration crackdown met Wednesday with Pope Leo XIV and brought him a packet of letters from immigrant families "terrorized" by fear that they and their loved ones will be rounded up and deported as the Trump administration's tactics grow increasingly combative.

Pope Leo XIV has begun correcting some of Pope Francis' more questionable financial reforms and decisions, canceling a law Monday that had concentrated financial power in the Vatican bank.

The pope's army on Oct. 2 unveiled an additional uniform for nonceremonial, formal occasions, such as a diplomatic reception or official dinner outside the Vatican walls.

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday named a successor to embattled New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond, two weeks after the archdiocese agreed to a $230 million proposed settlement for survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

Defense lawyers in the Holy See's "trial of the century" asked the Vatican prosecutor to recuse himself from the appeals trial Monday, arguing he was implicated in questionable behavior according to years of private WhatsApp messages that have shaken the proceedings.

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday honored hundreds of Christians who have been killed for their faith in the 21st century, praising their courage and lamenting that their numbers were growing in many parts of the world.

Traditionalist Catholics celebrated news Monday that the Vatican under Pope Leo XIV had given them permission to celebrate the old Latin Mass in St. Peter's Basilica during their upcoming pilgrimage.

Matthew Schmalz, professor of religious studies at Holy Cross college in Worcester, Massachusetts, said the canonization extends the church tradition of popular piety to the digital age.

"Brothers and sisters, I say this with emotion: It is time to restore dignity to everyone, especially to those who have been denied it," Bishop Franceseco Savino said at a Mass for the pilgrims.

Fr. James Martin met with Pope Leo for about a half-hour. The meeting was officially announced by the Vatican in a sign that Leo wanted it made public. The audience was significant because it showed a strong sign of continuity with Francis.

"The voice of weapons must be silenced, while the voice of fraternity and justice must rise," Pope Leo XIV said.

Pope Leo XIV prayed Friday for a peaceful end to the "increasingly deafening violence" of wars around the world as he celebrated a Catholic feast day on the same day as a high-stakes U.S.-Russia summit over the war in Ukraine.

It all has the vibe of a World Youth Day, the Catholic Woodstock festival that Pope John Paul II inaugurated and made famous in 2000 in Rome at the very same Tor Vergata field. 

Italy agreed to a Vatican plan to turn a 430-hectare (1,000-acre) field north of Rome, once the source of controversy between the two, into a vast solar farm that the Holy See hopes will generate enough electricity to meet its needs and turn Vatican City into the world's first carbon-neutral state.