Pope Leo XIV speaks to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Sunday Angelus on June 22, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 22, 2025 / 08:22 am (CNA).

Reacting to what he called the “alarming news” of U.S. airstrikes on nuclear facilities in Iran, Pope Leo XIV on Sunday pleaded with the international community “to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss.”

“Today more than ever, humanity cries out and pleads for peace,” the pope said in remarks following his Angelus reflection June 22, adding that the cry “must not be drowned out by the roar of weapons or by rhetoric that incites conflict.”

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday night that the U.S. had “obliterated” Iran’s main nuclear sites with massive bunker-busting bombs. Iran responded by launching a volley of missiles at Israel. Scores of civilians were wounded in a missile strike in Tel Aviv, Reuters reported.

Speaking to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square from a window in the Apostolic Palace, Leo framed the attacks, which have escalated the conflict between Israel and Iran, within the broader context of regional conflicts.

“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population — especially in Gaza and other territories — risks being forgotten, even as the urgency for proper humanitarian support becomes ever more pressing,” he said.

“There are no distant conflicts when human dignity is at stake,” he said. “War does not solve problems — on the contrary, it amplifies them and inflicts deep wounds on the history of nations that take generations to heal.”

The pope also evoked the most heartbreaking human toll of violence. “No armed victory can make up for a mother’s grief, a child’s fear, or a stolen future.”

Finally, he renewed his call for diplomacy and commitment to peace: “Let diplomacy silence the weapons; let nations shape their future through works of peace, not through violence and bloody conflict.”

In his catechesis prior to the Angelus on Sunday, the feast of Corpus Christi, Pope Leo XIV focused on the deep meaning of the Eucharist and the value of sharing.

Reflecting on the day’s Gospel, which recounts the miracle of the loaves and fishes (cf. Lk 9:11–17), he said that “God’s gifts, even the smallest, grow whenever they are shared.”

Pope Leo XIV noted that the supreme act of sharing was “God’s sharing with us.”

“He, the Creator, who gave us life, in order to save us asked one of his creatures to be his mother, to give him a fragile, limited, mortal body like ours, entrusting himself to her as a child,” the pope said. “In this way, he shared our poverty to the utmost limits, choosing to use the little we could offer him in order to redeem us.”

God’s generosity is especially manifested in the gift of the Eucharist, the Holy Father said.

“Indeed, what happens between us and God through the Eucharist is precisely that the Lord welcomes, sanctifies, and blesses the bread and wine that we place on the altar, together with the offering of our lives, and he transforms them into the body and blood of Christ, the sacrifice of love for the salvation of the world,” Leo said.

“God unites himself to us by joyfully accepting what we bring, and he invites us to unite ourselves to him by likewise joyfully receiving and sharing his gift of love,” he added. “In this way, says St. Augustine, ‘just as one loaf is made from single grains collected together ... so in the same way the body of Christ is made one by the harmony of charity.’”

The pope was scheduled to celebrate Mass for the feast of Corpus Christi at 5 p.m. Sunday followed by a Eucharistic procession through the streets of Rome.

null / Credit: SunKids/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 22, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

At 45 years old, Patty Montagno thought she would be married and have children by now, but her journey of learning “how to trust God throughout this process” has led to the founding of a new Catholic matchmaking service called Cana Connections. 

Inspired by the Gospel story of the wedding feast at Cana and grounded in the Dominican principle of “veritas,” or truth, the ministry “embraces God’s vision for marriage as a sacred covenant” and offers a “purposeful and prayerful” matchmaking process, Montagno said.

The native of Manhattan in New York City has always considered herself gifted at connecting people, and not just romantically. She told CNA she has moved a lot during her life and everywhere she has gone she’s been able to form communities. When she heard a homily from popular priest and podcaster Father Mike Schmitz in which he talked about pursuing a job that you’re excellent at not for your sake but for the sake of others, she took it as a sign.

“That homily helped me get over my fear of doing something — even though I haven’t been successful in love in my own journey, that doesn’t mean that I can’t help other people,” she shared.

Montagno described Cana Connections as “more old-school, traditional matchmaking.”

Users first create a free member profile, which includes answering 50 questions that are designed to help Montagno get a deeper understanding of the individual’s background, preferences, values, faith journey, and hopes for the future. 

“I leave these questions purposely open-ended because it gives the person the ability to really tell their story and it gives me a better sense of who they are and what they’re looking for,” she explained. 

Once Montagno identifies a potential match, she reaches out to both individuals to let them know and shares a summary of the other person’s profile and their photo. If they agree to meet each other, Montagno facilitates the exchange of information. She also pointed out that a criminal background check is performed on each individual, and she conducts a virtual screening to make sure the people are who they say they are.

Montagno shared that as she has gone through profiles that she has received, it makes her “teary-eyed” because she can “hear the longing and the pain, but I can also see the beautiful desire for this sacred love.”

“And that gives me so much hope — that there are people out there who value love in the way that God intended it. That exists. And I’m seeing it from a different lens now,” she added.

For anyone still waiting to find their significant other, Montagno pointed out that this time of waiting is “a great opportunity to focus on deepening your relationship with God — whether that’s reading Scripture or however that works for you.”

When asked what her hopes are for Cana Connections, she shared that it is to be “that instrument in helping Catholics find a spouse who’s going to help them grow in holiness and it’s going to be a relationship in which they’re going to journey towards heaven together and become the people that God created them to be.” 

“And that’s our mission,” she said. “And my vision is that we’ll transform the world through these holy families, ensuring that God’s truth and love continue to shape future generations.”

“I’m really excited to see how God uses both my gifts and my pain for a purpose that’s greater than myself.”

A life-sized statue of Christ is displayed at the site of the Stations of the Cross garden in Maysville, Kentucky, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. / Credit: Tammie Brown Photography

CNA Staff, Jun 22, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Catholics in northeastern Kentucky will soon be able to follow the passion of Christ in life-sized form thanks to the efforts of a longtime state politician.

Jerry Lundergan, a fixture in Kentucky Democratic politics for decades, is aiming to have the Stations of the Cross and meditation garden in Maysville open by Easter of next year.

He told CNA he purchased the property about 15 years ago. The parcel of land is next to St. Patrick’s Cemetery; Lundergan himself attended St. Patrick School in Maysville from first through 12th grades.

“The cemetery’s always been very important to me, because that’s where my great-great grandparents, my grandparents, my parents, all my aunts and uncles — they’re all buried there,” he said. Several members of the Clooney family, including George Clooney’s aunt Rosemary, are buried there as well, he noted.

Lundergan said he had dreams of turning the property into a meditation garden in honor of the Blessed Virgin, to whom he’s always had a special devotion. 

But “I never did do it,” he admitted. “It was my plan, but you get busy doing other things, and a dream you had sort of fades away.” 

Several years ago, shortly after getting out of prison for campaign finance violations, Lundergan said he decided to finally get the property built. He and his wife spoke with others around the country who developed meditation gardens. While speaking to a friend in Ohio who runs a religious goods store, Lundergan said she asked him if he had ever considered a Stations of the Cross installation. 

“In church, they’re little 2-by-2 plaques molded to the wall,” Lundergan said. “That’s not what I wanted to do. I wanted a nice garden where you can walk, with a few statues, and you end up at a grotto for the Blessed Mother.”

His friend suggested the idea that instead of plaques, the stations be made as fully life-sized sculptures. 

“Now, that got my attention,” he said with a laugh. 

Italian-made sculptures on a Via Dolorosa

Armed with that vision, Lundergan said he sought out a sculptor who could bring full-sized depictions of Christ’s passion and crucifixion to life.

“We chose Reto Demetz,” he said. The Demetz Art Studio bills itself as “one of the worldwide leading studios that manufactures ecclesiastical art.” The business is located in Gardena, Italy, though Lundergan said that Reto Demetz has been to Maysville twice. 

In addition to the sculptures, the garden will feature a pathway that imitates the Via Dolorosa, the “Way of Suffering” that Christ walked in Jerusalem while carrying his cross toward his crucifixion. 

“We also came up with the idea that we would build a cross in the center of the garden,” Lundergan said. The cross will consist of “four steel columns, seven stories tall,” with the columns representing the four Gospels.

Notably, the cross will be built and positioned in such a way that, during the Easter season, it will project shadows onto the 13th Station of the Cross depicting Christ’s crucifixion. 

Nine of the stations have already been sculpted and shipped to Maysville, Lundergan said. The aim is to have the facility open by Easter 2026. 

Lundergan acknowledged that he’s “done very well in life, financially.” The property and installation, he said, will be given back to the Diocese of Covington. “My hope is that once we give it back [that] they’ll use that money for the upkeep of the garden and the cemetery, and then the church and the Catholic school.”

He said he aspires for visitors to the installation to “see the torture and the suffering Jesus experienced on this walk, and how he gave up his life for us.”

“It’s my hope that this garden is open to any denomination,” he said. “If you believe in the Crucifixion, you’ll want to come see it. Methodist, Baptist, anybody — it’s not just for Catholics.”

“This is for everybody that really wants to rethink their purpose here on Earth,” he said. “Why we’re here, and why we should be preparing ourselves for life afterward.”

Pope Leo XIV tells political leaders that “natural law, which is universally valid apart from and above other more debatable beliefs, constitutes the compass by which to take our bearings in legislating and acting” at the Jubilee of Governments on June 21, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 21, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV urged political leaders from around the world to promote the common good, warning especially of the threat to human dignity from artificial intelligence (AI).

AI “will certainly be of great help to society, provided that its employment does not undermine the identity and dignity of the human person and his or her fundamental freedoms,” the pope said on June 21 to legislators from 68 countries gathered at the Vatican for the Jubilee of Governments.

“It must not be forgotten that artificial intelligence functions as a tool for the good of human beings, not to diminish them, not to replace them,” Leo said, speaking in English to the international audience.

The pope has quickly made the challenge of artificial intelligence a signature issue of his pontificate, highlighting it at a meeting with the College of Cardinals two days after his election last month.

In his speech to political leaders on Saturday, Leo also urged them to promote the common good in other ways, including by “working to overcome the unacceptable disproportion between the immense wealth concentrated in the hands of a few and the world’s poor.” The pope decried such inequality as a leading cause of war.

Pope Leo stressed the importance of religious freedom and encouraged political leaders to follow the example of 16th-century St. Thomas More as a “martyr for freedom and for the primacy of conscience.” More was executed for refusing to recognize King Henry VIII as head of the Church in England instead of the pope.

Leo also recommended the ethical tradition of natural law, whose roots in classical antiquity predate Christianity, as “a shared point of reference in political activity” and “an element that unites everyone” regardless of religious belief.

Natural law arguments have played a prominent role in several recent legal and political debates over issues including abortion, euthanasia, religious freedom, same-sex marriage, and transgender policies.

The pope told the political leaders that “natural law, which is universally valid apart from and above other more debatable beliefs, constitutes the compass by which to take our bearings in legislating and acting, particularly on the delicate and pressing ethical issues that, today more than in the past, regard personal life and privacy.”

null / Credit: Sasapin Kanka|Shutterstock

Brussels, Belgium, Jun 21, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

A new study suggests that the ancient Catholic practice of praying the rosary may offer comparable mental health benefits to Eastern-inspired meditation techniques.

The outside of Guaranteed Rate Field, where the Chicago White Sox baseball team plays. / Credit: Spirit Juice Studios

CNA Staff, Jun 21, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

From popping a wheelie in front of Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home to sitting in “the pope’s chair” at a favorite local pizzeria, filmmaker Rob Kaczmark appeared to be enjoying every stop along a tour of Pope Leo’s childhood stomping grounds in a new short film released by Spirit Juice, a Catholic production company.

The film, which Kaczmark called “a tribute to a South Side kid who made it all the way to the Vatican,” is now available on YouTube.

“I’m still in awe of the fact that Pope Leo is from here. He’s one of us,” Kaczmark says in the film. “No matter where you’re from, God can use you. You just have to be open to his call.” 

The filmmaker, who is CEO and president of Spirit Juice, grew up minutes from the pope’s hometown of Dolton, Illinois. In the film, he drives to several key locations — from Pope Leo’s time in Chicago, including his childhood parish, St. Mary of the Assumption, and Guaranteed Rate Field, where the Chicago White Sox baseball team plays and where the pope famously attended a World Series game in 2005.

Kaczmark not only shares local historical details about the sites but also personal stories about how these same places played a role in the pope’s younger years. At Aurelio’s, the pope’s favorite local pizzeria, which also recently unveiled its “pope-a-roni” pizza, Kaczmark tells viewers that it was in this pizzeria that he told his parents that he and his wife were expecting their first child.

Another stop on the tour was St. Rita of Cascia High School, where Pope Leo taught math and physics. Kaczmark told CNA in an interview that he had several friends who went there and he himself spent a lot of time at this high school in the 1990s as a DJ at school dances. 

When Kaczmark first heard the news that the new pope was from Chicago, he said “it didn’t fully register.”

“It’s just like a really weird feeling when you see this person come out that you know is going to be such an important figure in your life, but you have no idea who they are,” he said. 

It wasn’t until a couple days later, after leaving Mass, that Kaczmark fully processed that the pope was from his hometown, and after that realization he knew he needed to do something to honor this other “South Sider.”

He shared that now walking around the streets of Chicago “there’s definitely a buzz, I think, around the city for Pope Leo.”

Kaczmark also recently attended the “Chicago Celebrates Pope Leo XIV” event held on June 14 at Rate Field, where the pope addressed those in attendance via a video message. 

He and his team arrived early to get video footage of the atmosphere outside the park before the event started and recalled those gathered being “so jazzed to be there … people were singing and dancing.”

Seeing the buzz that the newly elected pope has caused in his hometown, Kaczmark said he believes that “Chicago has the opportunity to be transformed because Pope Leo is from here” as well as “an opportunity for the United States.”

Kaczmark said he hopes this papacy will help the Church “lead in a way that doesn’t feel like there’s a political agenda attached to it but is leading people towards Christ in a very authentic way.”

Watch the South Side Chicago tour of Pope Leo’s childhood spots below.

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass for the Jubilee of Sport on June 15, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 21, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV is preparing to celebrate the solemnity of Corpus Christi for the first time as bishop of Rome, one of the rare occasions on which a pontiff leaves the Vatican to celebrate publicly in the city.

As is the tradition, Leo XIV will celebrate Mass in St. John Lateran Basilica, the pope’s cathedral as bishop of Rome. He has also confirmed his subsequent presence at St. Mary Major Basilica.

However, it remains unclear whether he will walk — or otherwise take — the route between the two basilicas.

A statement from the Holy See Press Office confirmed the celebration for the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ at 5 p.m. local time on Sunday, June 22, in St. John Lateran Basilica’s square.

However, the Vatican only specified that “the Eucharistic procession will then take place, traveling along Via Merulana and arriving at St. Mary Major Basilica,” wording that leaves several scenarios open.

Popes have made the procession in different ways. In 2004, John Paul II, suffering from serious health problems, traveled this route seated in the popemobile. The following year, in May 2005, Benedict XVI accompanied the procession on his knees in a white, open-top vehicle that moved slowly, surrounded by a crowd of faithful praying with candles in hand.

In his first year as pontiff, Pope Francis surprised everyone by choosing to walk behind the Blessed Sacrament in a gesture of ecclesial closeness that he repeated in subsequent years.

Since 2014, the Argentine pontiff preferred not to participate in the procession and instead appeared directly at the Marian basilica. He also introduced several new features — for example, celebrating Corpus Christi in marginalized neighborhoods of Rome rather than in Rome’s cathedral.

In 2018, Francis offered the Mass for this liturgical solemnity, which celebrates the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, in Ostia, a seaside town outside Rome, attended by some 10,000 people.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the celebration was moved to St. Peter’s Basilica due to restrictions on social gatherings, and in other years Francis was unable to attend at all for health reasons.

In 2024, he celebrated this liturgical feast again in St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome, marking his final Corpus Christi as pope.

This Sunday, attention will be focused on how the new pope chooses to live out and express one of the most emblematic celebrations of the Catholic faith.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

null / Credit: LookerStudio/Shutterstock

Vatican City, Jun 20, 2025 / 18:46 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has issued a fresh warning about the negative effects that artificial intelligence (AI) can have on the “intellectual and neurological development” of rising generations, along with a call to confront the “loss of the sense of the human” that societies are experiencing.

“All of us, I am sure, are concerned for children and young people, and the possible consequences of the use of AI on their intellectual and neurological development,” the Holy Father said in a Friday message to participants at the second annual Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Corporate Governance, held June 19–20 in Rome.

“Our youth must be helped, and not hindered, in their journey toward maturity and true responsibility,” he indicated. He continued that young people are the “hope for the future” and that the well-being of society “depends upon their being given the ability to develop their God-given gifts and capabilities.”

Thus, according to the message made public by the Vatican Press Office, the Holy Father assured that while never before has a generation had “such quick access to the amount of information now available through AI,” this should not be confused with the ability to understand the workings of the world.

“Access to data — however extensive — must not be confused with intelligence,” he said. He added: “Authentic wisdom has more to do with recognizing the true meaning of life than with the availability of data.”

Similarly, he warned that AI can also be misused “for selfish gain at the expense of others, or worse, to foment conflict and aggression.”

At the beginning of his message, written in English, the pontiff stressed the “urgent need” for “serious reflection and ongoing discussion on the inherently ethical dimension of AI as well as its responsible governance.”

Leo XIV was particularly pleased that the second day of this meeting took place in the Apostolic Palace and assured that it was “a clear indication of the Church’s desire to participate in these discussions.”

The pontiff echoed the words of his predecessor, Pope Francis, in recalling that, despite being “an exceptional product of human genius, AI is above all else a tool.” Therefore, “tools point to the human intelligence that crafted them and draw much of their ethical force from the intentions of the individuals that wield them,” he underscored.

Pope Leo went on to point out that, in many cases, AI has been used “in positive and indeed noble ways to promote greater equality.” For example, in the uses it has been put to in the field of health research and scientific discovery.

The Holy Father stressed that the evaluation of the benefits or risks of AI must be made “in light of the “integral development of the human person and society,” as noted in the recent Vatican document Antiqua et Nova.

“This entails taking into account the well-being of the human person not only materially but also intellectually and spiritually; it means safeguarding the inviolable dignity of each human person and respecting the cultural and spiritual riches and diversity of the world’s peoples,” Leo insisted.

In the face of enthusiasm for technological innovations, the pope warned against a loss of sensitivity to the human. “As the late Pope Francis pointed out, our societies today are experiencing a certain ‘loss, or at least an eclipse, of the sense of what is human,’” he recalled. 

In this regard, Leo made clear the role of the Catholic Church in weighing the ramifications of AI in light of the “integral development of the human person and society.” 

Leo XIV also expressed his hope that the meeting’s deliberations would include reflection on intergenerational roles in ethical formation. “I express my hope that your deliberations will also consider AI within the context of the necessary intergenerational apprenticeship that will enable young people to integrate truth into their moral and spiritual life,” he concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

American adults in their 20s and 30s plan to have fewer children than adults did a decade ago, Pew Research Center reported on June 19, 2025. / Credit: Fotogrin/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 20, 2025 / 17:51 pm (CNA).

American adults in their 20s and 30s plan to have fewer children than adults did a decade ago, a new Pew Research Center report finds. 

From 2002 to 2012, men and women ages 20 to 39 reported that they planned to have an average of 2.3 children. In 2023, the number of children adults reported they wanted decreased to an average of 1.8, according to Pew Research analysis of government data. 

Pew looked at data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, specifically from the National Survey of Family Growth, which “gathers information on pregnancy and births, marriage and cohabitation, infertility, use of contraception, family life, and general and reproductive health.”

Pew reported that the total number of children included kids the respondents already had, plus any future children they planned to have. Women were asked how many “live births they have had” and men were asked how many children they have “ever fathered.” Adopted children were not included in the study numbers, but children placed for adoption were.

Differences based on gender and education 

In 2023, the total number of children that men and women ages 20 to 39 planned to have fell below 2.1, which is “about the average number of children, per woman, that a population needs to replace itself over time,” according to Pew.

In 2002, the average number of children women planned to have was 2.3 and for men, it was 2.2. These numbers remained mostly stable for the next 10 years until 2012, when they began to decline. 

The exact change in numbers varied depending on the age of the adults. In 2012, women ages 20 to 24 reported they planned to have an average of 2.3 children, but in 2023 the number fell to 1.5. For women ages 25 to 29 the amount of children they wanted declined from 2.3 to 1.9. For women ages 30 to 34, the number declined to 1.9 from 2.5.

The study found that there was not a significant drop for women ages 35 to 39. Among the men surveyed, the declines were similar across all age groups.

The research also found that education levels may affect how many children women age 25 to 39 intend to have. There was less of a decline in the number of children women who had “some college or less” planned to have than among women who had a bachelor’s degree or higher.

In 2002, women with some college experience planned, on average, to have 2.4 children, which only fell to 2.2 in 2023. In 2002, women with a bachelor’s degree or higher education planned to have an average of 2.1 children, but this number declined to 1.7 in 2023.

For women 30 to 34, the decline occurred almost entirely among those with a bachelor’s degree. In 2023, women in this age group with at least a bachelor’s degree planned to have 1.5 children. The number for that group was 2.1 in 2002. Those without a bachelor’s experienced almost no change.

Pew’s analysis did not find a significant difference by education among men ages 25 to 39.

Decline in number of adults who plan to have at least 1 child

The analysis found the number of adults in their 20s and 30s who have, or intend to have, at least one child also declined.

In 2012, 9 in 10 men and women reported that they planned to have at least one child. But, in 2023, this declined to 76% of men and 77% of women. The decline was primarily among young women ages 20 to 24.

In 2002, a strong majority (94%) of this group planned to have at least one child, and this remained mostly stable until 2012 with only a small shift to 93%. But by 2023, this number had declined to 66%.

Men ages 20 to 24 experienced a decline from 89% in 2012 to 75% in 2023.

Impact of lower birth rates

In 2024, Pew asked Americans about the impact of lower birth rates on the country and how effective they thought certain federal policies would be at encouraging more people to have children.

Pew reported that 47% of U.S. adults said fewer people choosing to have children would have a negative impact on the country, 20% said it would have a positive impact, and 31% said it would have neither a positive nor a negative impact.

When asked about what policies would be “extremely or very effective” at increasing birth rates, 60% of adults said providing free child care, 51% said requiring paid family leave, 49% said providing more tax credits for parents, and 45% said giving parents of minor children a monthly payment.

The British Parliament building in London. / Credit: Marinesea/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 20, 2025 / 17:21 pm (CNA).

British lawmakers in the House of Commons passed a bill on June 20 legalizing assisted suicide for terminally ill patients in England and Wales.