Pope Leo XIV meets with the leadership and staff of Caritas Internationalis, the Church’s global charitable network operating in more than 200 countries, on Nov. 21, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2025 / 13:10 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Friday met with the leadership and staff of Caritas Internationalis, the Church’s global charitable network operating in more than 200 countries, asking them to be “pilgrims of hope” and “artisans of peace” in the world.

During the morning meeting held at the Vatican, the Holy Father thanked Caritas Internationalis president Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi and approximately 70 Caritas workers for their “steadfast service” within the Church and to people throughout the world.

“Caritas Internationalis has long been a luminous sign of the Church’s maternal love,” he said to the multinational delegation on Nov. 21. 

“The love we receive from Christ is never a private treasure but always a mission entrusted to our hands,” he added. “Love sends us forth; love makes us servants; love opens our eyes to the wounds of others.”

Repeating his papal predecessor’s desire that Caritas uphold Christ’s “preference for the poor, the least, the abandoned, and discarded,” Leo emphasized their mission, together with the “successor of Peter,” is to serve every person with dignity.

3 pillars that sustain the Church’s work in the world

“Your mission echoes the vision I shared in my first address to the diplomatic corps, where I spoke of the three pillars that sustain the Church’s work in the world: peace, justice, and truth,” he said. “These pillars are not abstract ideals.”

Besides asking Caritas to continue accompanying local churches and their various initiatives to support the poor, the pope also insisted they also work toward “strengthening the formation of lay leaders” and “safeguarding unity within your diverse organization.”

“The Church’s mission unfolds only when we walk together as companions along the way, allowing the Holy Spirit to shape our works of mercy,” he said during the private audience.

In 2022, Caritas Internationalis’ leadership was placed under temporary administration following a decree issued by Pope Francis to revise its statutes and regulations to “improve” its mission of charity and justice.

Before individually greeting each member of the delegation at the end of the meeting, Pope Leo entrusted Caritas’ work to “Mary, Mother of the Poor” and asked God to bless them with the “gifts of courage, perseverance, and joy.”  

“Quite sincerely, I thank you, each and every one of you, and the many people that you represent, those who work with you,” he said.

Before meeting with Pope Leo XIV on Friday, Kikuchi told EWTN News that the 162-member organization is more than a professional “goodwill” agency.

“We are the charitable arm of the Catholic Church,” he said in the Nov. 20 interview. “Why are we being charitable? Because we want to spread the Gospel message — the love of God.”

During the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, Kikuchi said Caritas’ “Turn Debt Into Hope” campaign is a response to Pope Francis’ call for the cancellation of developing nations’ international debt, outlined in the papal bull Spes Non Confundit.

“There are many countries who owe money to developed countries,” the cardinal said. “We want to turn debt into hope [and] to cancel that debt so people really have the hope to survive.”

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, meets Pope Leo XIV, along with a delegation of Ukrainian mothers, wives, and teenagers, at the Vatican on Nov. 21, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2025 / 12:40 pm (CNA).

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, joined a delegation of Ukrainian mothers, wives, and teenagers forcibly taken to Russia during the war with Ukraine who met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Friday. The audience highlighted ongoing humanitarian and diplomatic efforts to secure the return of abducted civilians.

In a statement from her Senate office, Klobuchar said: “Pope Leo is a true moral force for peace and justice and a champion for children around the world. It was an honor to meet him as part of our mission to bring home the Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and chart a path towards peace and healing for Ukraine.”

The senator added: “We cannot accept a world where children are abducted during wartime and used as hostages for negotiations. The United States must remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine’s fight for freedom, and we should all heed Pope Leo’s example of serving those in need, pursuing the common good, and calling for peace.”

According to the official Vatican News outlet, the meeting took place in the Apostolic Palace around midday and lasted about half an hour. Participants included young people who had been forcibly transferred to Russia and recently returned to Ukraine, along with their family members. The Vatican has put a priority on diplomatic efforts to return the children, starting under Pope Francis.

Klobuchar’s office noted that more than 19,000 Ukrainian children have been confirmed as unlawfully deported or transferred to Russia or Russian-occupied territory.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, meets Pope Leo XIV, along with a delegation of Ukrainian mothers, wives, and teenagers, at the Vatican on Nov. 21, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2025 / 12:40 pm (CNA).

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, joined a delegation of Ukrainian mothers, wives, and teenagers forcibly taken to Russia during the war with Ukraine who met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Friday. The audience highlighted ongoing humanitarian and diplomatic efforts to secure the return of abducted civilians.

In a statement from her Senate office, Klobuchar said: “Pope Leo is a true moral force for peace and justice and a champion for children around the world. It was an honor to meet him as part of our mission to bring home the Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and chart a path towards peace and healing for Ukraine.”

The senator added: “We cannot accept a world where children are abducted during wartime and used as hostages for negotiations. The United States must remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine’s fight for freedom, and we should all heed Pope Leo’s example of serving those in need, pursuing the common good, and calling for peace.”

According to the official Vatican News outlet, the meeting took place in the Apostolic Palace around midday and lasted about half an hour. Participants included young people who had been forcibly transferred to Russia and recently returned to Ukraine, along with their family members. The Vatican has put a priority on diplomatic efforts to return the children, starting under Pope Francis.

Klobuchar’s office noted that more than 19,000 Ukrainian children have been confirmed as unlawfully deported or transferred to Russia or Russian-occupied territory.

Archbishop Dermot Farrell of the Dublin Archdiocese holds up the decree on Nov. 14, 2025, that Pope Leo XIV sent him granting his request that St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Dublin be designated as the cathedral Church of the archdiocese. / Credit: John McElroy/Dublin Archdiocese

Dublin, Ireland, Nov 21, 2025 / 12:09 pm (CNA).

There was immense joy among Catholics in Dublin following a decree from Pope Leo XIV formally designating St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Dublin, ending 200 years of the cathedral’s “temporary” status and giving the capital its first official Catholic cathedral since the Reformation.

Speaking at Mass in the cathedral to mark the bicentenary on Friday, Nov. 14, Archbishop Dermot Farrell of the Dublin Archdiocese told the faithful of Dublin: “I am pleased to announce that the Holy Father, Pope Leo, has consented to my request and has approved by decree that St. Mary’s be designated as the cathedral church of our archdiocese.”

Farrell added that the timing could not have been better as it coincided with the cathedral’s bicentenary celebrations.

“It is appropriate that this announcement should be made in the context of our celebration of the exemplary service which St. Mary’s has given to our diocese over 200 years, but also at a time when we are renewing our focus on our mission as a diocesan family, ‘Building Hope and Proclaiming Good News,’ affirming the faith of our people and reaching out to the city and beyond,” the archbishop said.

The following Sunday, Auxiliary Bishop Paul Dempsey of Dublin warmly welcomed the news and told the faithful gathered in St. Mary’s: “In the Catholic tradition, over the centuries, many beautiful places of worship have been built. It is important to return to why they were built. They are not built as tourist attractions or museums; they are places where the Church community gathers to worship the Lord. The beauty and aesthetics are there to help raise our minds and hearts to God and to draw us into the mystery that is God’s love,” he said.

St. Mary’s opened on Nov. 14, 1825. From around that time onward and following Catholic Emancipation, the Irish Church entered a period of strong growth. Many of the churches, parochial houses, and religious houses in Ireland were built in the middle of the 19th century symbolizing the strong presence of the Catholic Church in Irish society. 

“It continued for about 150 years or so. Then we saw the beginnings of change, something that has escalated over the last two to three decades. We find ourselves in a very different place today,” he said.

“There can be a temptation to look to the past with rose-tinted glasses when the churches were full, but as we know not all was well and serious issues needed to be faced. This process has been disconcerting for some who have a nostalgia for the past and want to go back to the way it was. However, nostalgia could be described as a looking into the past with the pain taken away.”

He continued: “So today, as we reflect upon 200 years of St. Mary’s we are left with a choice: Do we lament the past and wish for its return or seek ways of looking forward with hope-filled hearts, responding to the new questions we face in a complex and changing culture? When I reflect upon the life of Jesus in the Gospels, I see someone who was always looking forward! As his disciples we need to do the same, while always learning from the past.”

As the penal laws persecuting Catholics were relaxed in the later 18th century, the Pro Cathedral site was bought in 1803. The completed building was dedicated 200 years ago on Nov. 14, 1825, the feast day of St. Laurence O’Toole, who was canonized 800 years ago and who is the Dublin Archdiocese’s patron.

The Pro Cathedral was always a “provisional” cathedral; the intention was to build a “proper” one when time and money allowed. In the past, both the Church of Ireland and Catholic archbishops extended claims of ownership over St. Patrick’s and Christ Church — the city’s two other cathedrals that, since the Reformation, have not been Catholic places of worship. 

Archbishop Dermot Farrell of the Dublin Archdiocese holds up the decree on Nov. 14, 2025, that Pope Leo XIV sent him granting his request that St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Dublin be designated as the cathedral Church of the archdiocese. / Credit: John McElroy/Dublin Archdiocese

Dublin, Ireland, Nov 21, 2025 / 12:09 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV formally designated St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Dublin, ending 200 years of the cathedral’s “temporary” status.

Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts Recent years have seen increased climate-related natural disasters. In the United States, an inland hurricane brought catastrophic flooding to the mountains of North Carolina. Ash from wildfires in Canada has clouded the air for hundreds of miles. And across the globe, extreme climate catastrophes have destroyed lives and communities. We’re seeing wildfires […]

The post What does the church really teach about climate change? | Lorna Gold appeared first on U.S. Catholic.

November 10th marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Patti Smith’s landmark debut album, Horses. A blend of poetry and back-to-basics rock and roll the album came at a time of budding music movement, providing a connection to the past while breaking away from it. Known today as punk rock, this new musical landscape […]

The post Patti Smith: An unlikely religious poet appeared first on U.S. Catholic.

Lucy Snipes, Anne Young, and Presley Hilderbrand from Columbus, Georgia tour exhibits during the first night of NCYC 2025 on Nov. 20, 2025, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. / Credit: Tessa Gervasini / CNA

Indianapolis, Indiana, Nov 21, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Teenagers piled into the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday in Indianapolis to start the 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC). 

Young Catholics from across the country have traveled to Indianapolis to take part in NCYC for three days of prayer, community, evangelization, catechesis, and service. The 2025 theme is “I Am,” and the conference mission is for participants to encounter Christ and form discipleship. 

On the evening of Nov. 20 exhibits opened to help students gain a deeper understanding of the sacraments and to encourage them to interact with one another. Teens with themed hats packed into the convention center and began to exchange the caps as a way to meet new people at the start of the weekend.

Exhibits open

The interactive exhibits opened Thursday night with themes based on the seven sacraments. Aaron Frazita, the director of the interactive exhibits for NCYC, shared with CNA how they wanted to help the teens “think in a new way, and in a very practical way.”

“About a year and a half out from every NCYC, we have a small group of folks that have gotten together for the better part of 20 years. And we brainstormed some ideas with themes, and this year we really wanted to connect what was going on in the interactive exhibit with the whole of what was going on with the main stage,” he said.

“This year we decided to really focus on the sacraments,” Frazita said. “So we added a few of our own sacraments, like being joyful with games and things like that.”

“The whole idea with all the interactive places we put together is to create crafts and games and conversation and catecheses, really trying to help young people engage with them and meet them where they are,” he continued.

“We have so many young people who maybe just started faith journeys, who are really deep in their experience,” he said. The team created games, service projects, and exhibits on ideas including discernment and vocations to “really engage” the students. 

Teens anticipate NCYC activities

As teens began to play the games with one another, look at exhibits, and meet with students from other cities, they shared with CNA what they are looking forward to most during the NCYC experience. 

Miriam Stebel, Catherine Downer, and Addi Kandel from the Diocese of Cincinnati told CNA they are looking forward to growing in their faith. Stebel said she hopes to “get a better understanding of the Church and the Catholic faith.” 

She added: “I also think it’s pretty cool that the pope is deciding to connect with the youth more and I think it’s a good opportunity to get everyone engaged.”

“I am hoping to meet new people and just be able to talk to other young people,” Downer said. “I’m excited to learn more about Catholicism and to understand it on a deeper level.”

She said she is also looking forward to the daily breakout sessions. “There’s a few about missions and learning your faith plan,” Downer said. “So I’m excited to go and learn more about what I’m being called to do.”

Kandel, meanwhile, said she hopes to learn what she can work on in her own life.

"One big thing I also want to do is learn more about Scripture and how to interpret it and understand it, and just how I can deepen my relationship with the Lord," she said.

Lucy Snipes, Anne Young, and Presley Hildenbrand are all high school students from Columbus, Georgia. Snipes told CNA she came to NCYC to “meet new people and see how Catholicism has changed and inspired people.” 

She is looking forward to “seeing everyone all together, doing concerts, and praising together.”

“Adoration here is also always the best thing ever,” said Snipes, who is returning for her second time to NCYC. “It’s always so nice to be around a lot of other people that are feeling the same things as you.”

Young added she’s looking forward to the daily Masses for the same reason.

Hildenbrand said she is looking forward to being around other teens while they get to hear Pope Leo XIV speak. “I think it’s really cool to hear from the pope, especially since he’s the first American pope and he’ll talk in English.”

Amelia Horner and Maeve Wendiger showed up in their Indianapolis 500 race car hats to represent the famed racing city.

“It is really nice just being with so many young Catholics that are here,” Wendiger said. “And it has been really nice to reconnect with a lot of people from my middle school.”

Horner has never been to NCYC but said she’s “heard a lot of talk about it, and people who have so much in common can come together and just be who they are.” She said she is very excited to lean into the 2025 theme of “I Am.” 

The girls said they were “shocked” the event was going to be in their own backyard. While sometimes they feel big events don’t come to their hometown, they said: “Indiana is special.”

Lucy Snipes, Anne Young, and Presley Hilderbrand from Columbus, Georgia tour exhibits during the first night of NCYC 2025 on Nov. 20, 2025, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. / Credit: Tessa Gervasini / CNA

Indianapolis, Indiana, Nov 21, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Teenagers piled into the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday in Indianapolis to start the 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC). 

Young Catholics from across the country have traveled to Indianapolis to take part in NCYC for three days of prayer, community, evangelization, catechesis, and service. The 2025 theme is “I Am,” and the conference mission is for participants to encounter Christ and form discipleship. 

On the evening of Nov. 20 exhibits opened to help students gain a deeper understanding of the sacraments and to encourage them to interact with one another. Teens with themed hats packed into the convention center and began to exchange the caps as a way to meet new people at the start of the weekend.

Exhibits open

The interactive exhibits opened Thursday night with themes based on the seven sacraments. Aaron Frazita, the director of the interactive exhibits for NCYC, shared with CNA how they wanted to help the teens “think in a new way, and in a very practical way.”

“About a year and a half out from every NCYC, we have a small group of folks that have gotten together for the better part of 20 years. And we brainstormed some ideas with themes, and this year we really wanted to connect what was going on in the interactive exhibit with the whole of what was going on with the main stage,” he said.

“This year we decided to really focus on the sacraments,” Frazita said. “So we added a few of our own sacraments, like being joyful with games and things like that.”

“The whole idea with all the interactive places we put together is to create crafts and games and conversation and catecheses, really trying to help young people engage with them and meet them where they are,” he continued.

“We have so many young people who maybe just started faith journeys, who are really deep in their experience,” he said. The team created games, service projects, and exhibits on ideas including discernment and vocations to “really engage” the students. 

Teens anticipate NCYC activities

As teens began to play the games with one another, look at exhibits, and meet with students from other cities, they shared with CNA what they are looking forward to most during the NCYC experience. 

Miriam Stebel, Catherine Downer, and Addi Kandel from the Diocese of Cincinnati told CNA they are looking forward to growing in their faith. Stebel said she hopes to “get a better understanding of the Church and the Catholic faith.” 

She added: “I also think it’s pretty cool that the pope is deciding to connect with the youth more and I think it’s a good opportunity to get everyone engaged.”

“I am hoping to meet new people and just be able to talk to other young people,” Downer said. “I’m excited to learn more about Catholicism and to understand it on a deeper level.”

She said she is also looking forward to the daily breakout sessions. “There’s a few about missions and learning your faith plan,” Downer said. “So I’m excited to go and learn more about what I’m being called to do.”

Kandel, meanwhile, said she hopes to learn what she can work on in her own life.

"One big thing I also want to do is learn more about Scripture and how to interpret it and understand it, and just how I can deepen my relationship with the Lord," she said.

Lucy Snipes, Anne Young, and Presley Hildenbrand are all high school students from Columbus, Georgia. Snipes told CNA she came to NCYC to “meet new people and see how Catholicism has changed and inspired people.” 

She is looking forward to “seeing everyone all together, doing concerts, and praising together.”

“Adoration here is also always the best thing ever,” said Snipes, who is returning for her second time to NCYC. “It’s always so nice to be around a lot of other people that are feeling the same things as you.”

Young added she’s looking forward to the daily Masses for the same reason.

Hildenbrand said she is looking forward to being around other teens while they get to hear Pope Leo XIV speak. “I think it’s really cool to hear from the pope, especially since he’s the first American pope and he’ll talk in English.”

Amelia Horner and Maeve Wendiger showed up in their Indianapolis 500 race car hats to represent the famed racing city.

“It is really nice just being with so many young Catholics that are here,” Wendiger said. “And it has been really nice to reconnect with a lot of people from my middle school.”

Horner has never been to NCYC but said she’s “heard a lot of talk about it, and people who have so much in common can come together and just be who they are.” She said she is very excited to lean into the 2025 theme of “I Am.” 

The girls said they were “shocked” the event was going to be in their own backyard. While sometimes they feel big events don’t come to their hometown, they said: “Indiana is special.”

The city of Tyre, in southern Lebanon, has been bombed several times by the Israeli armed forces. / Credit: Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 21, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The upcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV to Lebanon, scheduled for Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, comes as a new wave of Israeli bombings have shaken several towns near the southern border.

“We have been experiencing continuous attacks like this for almost two and a half years. But we have never evacuated, we have never left our village,” said Maronite parish priest Father Tony Elias from the border village of Rmeich, a Christian village located just a few meters from Israel.

Rmeich, he explained, is one of the largest Christian villages in southern Lebanon. “We cannot leave, because if we did, there would be no one to rebuild, no one to protect our village,” he said in an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

The situation in neighboring villages confirms his fears: “The villages to the right and left are completely destroyed. Missiles were launched from there, and they were razed in retaliation.”

Rmeich, on the other hand, only suffered some structural damage during the recent attacks: “Some houses have been hit, projectiles have fallen on cars and roofs… but thank God we managed to protect our village,” he said.

The Lebanese still retain in their collective memory the devastation of the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. That conflict, which lasted six weeks, left 1,300 Lebanese and 165 Israelis dead and destroyed entire villages and several neighborhoods of Beirut.

In October of last year, another Israeli siege in Lebanon resulted in hundreds of people crushed under the rubble.

In this climate of uncertainty, Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Lebanon — scheduled before this upturn in violence — will be like a balm for the Christian community and for the entire country, Elias said.

‘This first apostolic journey of the pope will be a sign of peace’

“I am convinced that this first apostolic journey of the pope will be a sign of peace for the whole world, giving a voice back to Christians and the Lebanese people, whose reality is often blurred or manipulated by politics,” he said.

Although the priest said the tension is constant, he insisted that the community is trying to maintain a certain degree of normalcy: “The roads to Beirut are open; we can get in and out. We’re not like in 2006, when they were completely blocked for weeks.” 

Several chartered buses will take Catholics from the south to the events the pope has scheduled during his apostolic visit to the country, such as the meeting with young people in the square in front of the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerké or the Mass at the Beirut Waterfront.

“Every parish has organized buses to attend the Mass and to greet the pope along the way. The schools are also mobilized,” confirmed Father Raffaele Zgheib, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Lebanon.

Zgheib, who lives in the port city of Jounieh, 11 miles north of Beirut, and is part of the team organizing the papal visit, does not deny that there is “fear that the violence could ruin the pope’s visit.” 

“We hope that the visit will be a call for dialogue instead of escalation, but I don’t deny that there is a real fear of a new war in southern Lebanon,” he said.

Last-minute preparations

Despite the limited time available, all Christian communities in the country have thrown themselves into the preparations. “All components of the local Lebanese Church, along with all the Eastern Churches in the country, are preparing to welcome the Holy Father,” Zgheib said.

This visit to Lebanon is “very important because Pope Leo XIV is coming in continuity with Pope Francis, who always wished to travel to Lebanon, although his health problems prevented him from doing so,” he continued.

The trip confirms, Zgheib pointed out, the value that the Holy See attributes to the country as a link between East and West, and as a place — currently fragile — of religious coexistence. Furthermore, the Holy Father will arrive in a country going through a difficult period with a rampant economic crisis.

“The pope is traveling to a wounded country. The last six years have been terrible. We lost all our savings in the banks, then came the pandemic, then the Beirut port explosion, and now there is also the war in southern Lebanon,” Zgheib explained.

“The pope is coming to a country that has been greatly weakened by all these crises,” he noted, but said the pontiff’s visit has awakened much hope: “All Lebanese people want it to be the beginning of a lasting and just peace in the Middle East.”

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