VATICAN CITY (CNS) --The Catholic Church is both a community made up of fragile and limited human beings and a divine reality, Pope Leo XIV said at his weekly general audience.

The pope continued his series on the Second Vatican Council March 4 in St. Peter's Square, emphasizing one of its principal documents, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, "Lumen Gentium," which examines the nature and identity of the Church. 

He said the Church is "a community of men and women who share the joy and struggle of being Christians, with their strengths and weaknesses, proclaiming the Gospel and becoming a sign of the presence of Christ who accompanies us on our journey through life."

However, he added, it also has a "divine dimension." Its divine nature "does not consist in an ideal perfection or spiritual superiority of its members, but in the fact that the Church is generated by God’s plan for humanity, realized in Christ," he said. 

As proof of this coexistence, Pope Leo pointed to the life of Jesus Christ to illustrate the two dimensions of the Church. People were moved by his humanity, the sounds of his voice, as well as his message.

"Those who decided to follow him were moved precisely by the experience of his welcoming gaze, the touch of his blessing hands, his words of liberation and healing," the pope said. "At the same time, however, by following that man, the disciples opened themselves to an encounter with God. Indeed, Christ’s flesh, his face, his gestures and his words visibly manifest the invisible God."

It is through this humanity, through the struggles and fragility of the faithful that Christ's presence is manifested, the pope said.

"This is what constitutes the holiness of the Church: the fact that Christ dwells in her and continues to give himself through the smallness and fragility of her members," he said.

Pope Leo said this dichotomy is quintessential of God's love, making himself visible through the weakness of his creation and "continuing to manifest himself and to act." The faithful are called to act through communion and charity among all.

"Let us strive to be authentic witnesses of the love of Christ so that all can recognize in us and among us the charity that characterizes true Christians and builds up the Church," the pope said in his greetings to English-speakers.

CASTEL GANDOLFO (CNS) -- In a fractured world threatened by war, Christians can strengthen their bonds of unity to show the world that peace is possible, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago said.

Leaders in the Catholic Church also "need to make sure people understand what's at stake when we opt for war and the consequences that result," he told Catholic News Service March 2.

"I think that church leaders need to pastor our people, giving them a voice about what are the principles from a moral dimension when it comes to pursuing peace, and what should be kept into consideration as we see conflicts in some way trying to be resolved by acts of war, wars that seem to be a choice rather than something that is a matter of necessity," he said.

Cardinal Cupich spoke to CNS during a special visit to the papal farm and the Borgo Laudato Si' center in the papal gardens in Castel Gandolfo. He was taking part in an ecumenical pilgrimage together with Metropolitan Nathanael, who presides over the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. 

The two Christian leaders traveled from the Windy City to Istanbul to meet with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and then on to Rome to visit key Christian sites and to meet with Pope Leo XIV. 

"There'll be three people from Chicago: the pope, Cardinal Cupich and myself," Metropolitan Nathanael told CNS. "We will have a lot to talk about when we meet," though he was unsure about admitting to the pope -- a White Sox fan -- that he is a Yankees fan.

Before meeting the pope March 4, Cardinal Cupich and the metropolitan spent half a day March 2 at the papal gardens and the Borgo Laudato Si' zero-environmental-impact complex devoted to promoting Pope Francis' teachings on caring for creation.

The trip offers an opportunity "to strengthen the bonds of unity between our churches," especially at a time when the world seems to be so fractured by war and conflict, and "to announce to the world that peace is something we should all embrace," Cardinal Cupich said.

"It's an opportunity for us as well to double down on the importance of working together so that humanity can all flourish in a world in which there is peace," he said, adding that coming together at the Vatican-run center dedicated to promoting integral ecology, sustainability and a circular and generative economy was a good place to emphasize that call. 

At Borgo Laudato Si', he said, "we see firsthand how we are one with all of God's creation, and that we live on this tiny speck of cosmic dust called Earth, in which we all are responsible for making sure it is a place that's a home, a common home for all of us."

Metropolitan Nathanael said, "Looking around the beauty of the grounds, we see what can occur when there's synergy, not only between God and human beings, but amongst human beings."

The Greek Orthodox leader, who is based in Chicago, presides over 58 parishes and two monastic communities in six U.S. states.

"I want to encourage all of our people -- Catholic, Orthodox and even nonbelievers -- to do all they can to find common ground among ourselves as children of God, to love God with all our heart and all our mind and all our soul, and to also love our neighbor," he said. "It's important for us to not just coexist, but to find ways to come closer to God and to one another."

Born in Thessaloniki, Greece, the metropolitan said he felt at home during a tour of the papal farm and saw the donkeys -- which provide milk to pediatric patients -- and four horses leisurely munching on a hill of clover. 

While one chestnut horse happily bonded with the metropolitan, the purebred white Arabian horse named "Proton" skittishly avoided his orbit.

Cardinal Cupich and Metropolitan Nathanael also brought freshly-cut flowers grown at the papal farm with them to leave and pray at the tomb of Pope Francis in Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major.

Pope Leo visited and inaugurated the center in Castel Gandolfo Sept. 5, 2025. U.S. Father Manuel Dorantes, a Chicago priest, has been the administrative-management director of the Laudato Si' Center for Higher Education since Dec. 1, 2024, when Pope Francis appointed him to a four-year term.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When millions of visitors flock to the Sistine Chapel each year, their seemingly invisible breath and sweat are slowly leaving a mark on this Renaissance masterpiece, according to Vatican Museums officials.

After 30 years since the chapel's last big renovation, the director of the Vatican Museums, Barbara Jatta, said the impact of five to six million visitors a year has created a white film over different surfaces in the chapel. The largest damage was found on Michelangelo's famous fresco of the Last Judgment.

She said the increased accumulation of residue from human sweat and breath on the artwork may be linked to climate change, as Italy has experienced warmer temperatures in recent years. 

"Every day, we check the Sistine Chapel, but last year, we realized that there is a layer of salt," she told the press invited to the chapel Feb. 28. "It's something that probably is due to the presence of the people, even if we have a very sophisticated climate system" meant to mitigate their impact.

Spread across the entire back wall, greeting visitors as they walk into the chapel, Michelangelo's Last Judgment depicts the second coming of Christ at the moment before delivering his final verdict, surrounded by saints and angels as the blessed rise to heaven and the damned are dragged to hell. 

Jatta said the film is "nothing too serious" and the work is a simple maintenance project. Restorers have been gently brushing deionized water over layers of Japanese paper pressed against the fresco, preserving the underlying pigment while gradually removing the calcium lactate film. 

Every January and February, the museum carries out minor patch repairs on the fresco surrounding the chapel, including removing the whitish film from certain sections, Jatta said. Most of the time, this maintenance can be done quickly with mobile scaffolding. During previous inspections, calcium lactate was found in smaller spots, including on the so-called "Quattrocento paintings." These paintings by several Florentine artists were commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV for two side walls. 

This year, staff found the residue throughout the Last Judgment. Jatta said it was more effective to address the issue by setting up scaffolding rather than use multiple temporary setups. So Feb. 23, the Vatican Museums erected scaffolding concealed by a full-scale image of the Last Judgment fresco on a screen, allowing visitors to continue touring the Sistine Chapel as staff work to delicately remove the residue from the artwork and refresh the mural. 

The scaffolding and screen are expected to remain in place until Holy Week, Jatta said. 

In order to preserve the artwork, Jatta said they have already reduced the number of visitors allowed in the chapel at any one time and extended museum hours. Museum officials plan to add climate control to the upper and lower galleries by the end of 2026 to reduce the effects of visitors' perspiration and breath, she said.

The maintenance work is meant to ensure the vibrancy of Michelangelo's iconic work remains visible to tourists. Staff performed some cleanings last year, "and we realized that it's much better," Jatta told reporters. 

"The colors and the incredible and magnificent fresco of Michelangelo will be back," she said.

Completed between 1536 and 1541, the Last Judgment was essentially painted only by  Michelangelo. Fabrizio Biferali, curator of the museums' department of 15th–16th century art, said the cleaning process has allowed them to uncover new technical details of his work. 

Speaking with reporters on the scaffolding, Biferali pointed to visible revisions in the fresco, explaining how the artist adjusted his figures directly on the wall. 

Biferali drew attention to what are called “pentimenti" or "changes of mind,” where Michelangelo repainted a figure after realizing “the foreshortening wasn’t perfectly effective from below.” Sometimes he even left areas of plain plaster exposed instead of adding a layer of pigment so that “the light plaster itself supplies the highlight.” 

The most recent major restoration of the Last Judgment was completed in 1994, removing a layer of smoke and wax buildup, the Vatican Museums said in a press release.

The Florida Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums covered restoration costs, and Jatta said the museums are very grateful for their support over the years. 

Timothy Lisenbe and Diane Lisenbe, a couple visiting from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, said that while it's not the full experience to see Michelangelo's work during the maintenance project, the Sistine Chapel remains a sight to behold. 

"I've been hearing about this since I was in grade school. Now I'm 64 years old, and it's still fresh on my mind what the teachers told us in school," he told Catholic News Service Feb. 28. "It's really something to see it in real life."

The Lisenbes said they understand that restorations are necessary. She said she also visited the Sistine Chapel during its first major modern-day restoration project and found it ironic that her second visit was again hampered by scaffolding. 

"That means we will have to come back," she said to her husband.

WASHINGTON - On the weekend of March 14-15, Catholics in many dioceses across the United States will be asked to help some of the most poor and vulnerable people. The U.S. bishops’ annual Catholic Relief Services Collection helps those in need in the United States and worldwide by benefiting six agencies and offices affiliated with the Catholic Church, including the U.S. bishops’ flagship international relief and development agency, Catholic Relief Services. Gifts are also accepted online at https://www.igivecatholic.org/story/USCCB-CRS.

“The Church in the United States was built on ministry among immigrants. We help all who are marginalized, including victims of war and disaster overseas. The Catholic Relief Services Collection combines all these kinds of assistance,” said Bishop Daniel H. Mueggenborg of Reno, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on National Collections. “Our Lord tells us to love our neighbors – those we know, those we don’t and those we think are very different from us. The Catholic Relief Services Collection is one way that we show that love. Today it is more vital than ever.”

Of nearly $13.5 million distributed from The Catholic Relief Services Collection in 2024, nearly $8 million went to Catholic Relief Services for international relief and development efforts in places affected by war and natural disaster.

The other recipients are:

• The Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC): Provides training and support to a dedicated network of more than 400 Catholic and community-based immigration law providers in 49 states.
• USCCB Secretariat of Migration (formerly the Department of Migration and Refugee Services): Assists dioceses in carrying out their ministries to newcomers, publishes educational resources, and promotes policies that affirm the life and dignity of immigrants and refugees.
• Two initiatives of the USCCB Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church: pastoral ministries to migrant workers, travelers, and seafarers through its Subcommittee on the Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees, and Travelers, and its Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Island Affairs, which helps the Church address the unique pastoral needs across many boundaries of language and tradition.
• USCCB Secretariat of Justice and Peace: Engages in advocacy on behalf of the poor around the world and works with policymakers and government officials to end violent international conflicts through its International Justice and Peace program.
• Holy Father’s Relief Fund: Helps Pope Leo XIV rush aid to areas of the world in crisis.

“Together, these agencies help victims of war and natural disaster, support sustainable economic development overseas, advocate for international peace and human rights, help refugees and immigrants in the United States to obtain legal support, offer pastoral support to a wide variety of people who migrate for work and build cross-cultural understanding,” Bishop Mueggenborg said.

For more information on The Catholic Relief Services Collection please visit www.usccb.org/catholic-relief.

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ROME (CNS) -- Life is a journey that requires trust and reliance on Jesus, who sometimes asks his disciples to leave everything behind, Pope Leo XIV said.

While it may be tempting to flee from the uncertainty of heading into the unknown, it is precisely in this "dizzying vertigo" that people of faith will find God's promise of unexpected greatness, he said in a homily during a Mass celebrated at a small parish in Rome March 1.

While it is normal to try to have everything under control, he said, "we miss the opportunity to discover the true treasure, the precious pearl, as the Gospel teaches us, which God has surprisingly hidden in our field."

Pope Leo was visiting the Church of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the working-class neighborhood of Quarticciolo for the second Sunday of Lent as part of a series of parish visits in the run-up to Easter. 

The neighborhood has experienced an increase in crime and drug-dealing. The church and local community, however, have been active in building initiatives to create job opportunities and strengthen essential services and solidarity. 

"You are signs of hope," he told the parishioners in his homily.

Faced with so many complex problems, he said, "you are entrusted with the pedagogy of the gaze of faith, which transfigures everything with hope, putting passion, sharing and creativity into circulation as a cure for the many wounds of this neighborhood."

It is easy to become discouraged and doubt efforts make any sense when so many things are not right in the world, he said. "Instead, it is precisely in the face of the mystery of evil that we must bear witness to our identity as Christians, as people who want to make the Kingdom of God perceptible in the places and times in which we live."

Life, he said, "is a journey that requires trust; it requires reliance on the Word of God, who calls us and sometimes asks us to leave everything behind."

For example, he said, Abraham's journey began with the loss of his homeland, but he was led to a new land with many descendants and "where everything becomes a blessing."

"If we allow ourselves to be called by faith to walk the path, to risk new decisions in life and love, we, too, will cease to fear losing something, because we will feel ourselves growing in a wealth that no one can steal," the pope said. 

Another example, he said, is Jesus' "Eucharistic gesture," that is, his willingness to offer his body as bread to eat and to live and die to give life.

In fact, Sunday is a chance to take a moment during the journey to gather together around Jesus, who "encourages us not to stop and not to change direction" and to know there is "no more precious treasure than to live in order to give life!"

"Listen to Jesus!" Pope Leo said. "He travels with us, even today, to teach us in this city the logic of unconditional love, of abandoning every defense that becomes an offense."

"Let us enter into his light to become light of the world, beginning with the neighborhood where we live," he said, because "the whole life of the parish and its groups exists for this: it is a service to light, a service to joy." 

Pope Leo is the third pope -- after St. John XXIII in 1963 and St. John Paul II in 1980 -- to visit the church, which is overseen by the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, also known as the Dehonians.

During the late afternoon visit, the pope met with children and young people active in the Jesuits' MAGIS program. The young adults gave the pope a soccer ball and the black and gold jersey of their local soccer team, the Lions.

The pope also met with vulnerable members of the community, including the elderly, the ill and parents whose children's drug addictions led them to incarceration. He also spoke with members of the parish's pastoral council and priests.

WASHINGTON - As reports emerge regarding the escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, urgently called upon the United States, Iran, and the broader international community to return to dialogue and pursue every avenue toward a just and lasting peace.

Echoing the heartfelt appeal of Pope Leo XIV to halt the spiral of violence before it becomes “an unbridgeable chasm,” Archbishop Coakley emphasized the critical need for restraint and for all parties to take concrete steps to end the conflict, work for peace and protect innocent lives. His full statement follows:

“The growing conflict risks spiraling into a wider regional war. As the Holy Father has warned, we are faced with the possibility of a tragedy of immense proportions. My brother bishops and I unite our voice with our Holy Father and make the heartfelt appeal to all parties involved for diplomacy to regain its proper role. We ask for a halt to the spiral of violence, and a return to multilateral diplomatic engagement that seeks to uphold the ‘well-being of peoples, who yearn for peaceful existence founded on justice.’ All nations, international bodies, and partners committed to peace must exert every effort to prevent further escalation.

“At this critical moment, I invite Catholics and all people of goodwill to continue our ardent prayers for peace in the Middle East, for the safety of our troops and the innocent, that leaders may seek dialogue over destruction, and pursue the common good over the tragedy of war. We implore the intercession of our Blessed Mother, Mary, Queen of Peace, to pray for our troubled world and for a lasting peace.”

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ROME (CNS) -- Eight hundred years after his death, the bones of St. Francis of Assisi have been placed on public display for the first extended public viewing in history, drawing hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to the hilltop town.

Following Pope Leo XIV's approval and blessing of this exposition, St. Francis' skeleton was exhumed from the sarcophagus where it normally rests and placed on a specially prepared table in the crypt of the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi Feb. 21. His remains will be on display until March 22, when Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian bishops’ conference, is to preside over a closing celebration. 

As of the opening day Feb. 22, more than 370,000 people had registered to venerate the remains, according to the Franciscan community at the Sacred Convent of Assisi. The majority have been Italian pilgrims, though the second-highest number of registrations have so far come from the United States.

The friars at the Sacred Convent in Assisi described the exposition as "an invitation to rediscover the legacy of Francis, a man whose message of peace and fraternity continues to resonate deeply with humanity.”

For some, the sight of a saint’s bones inspires devotion. For others, it may provoke discomfort or morbid curiosity about why the Catholic Church displays the physical remains of its holy men and women.

According to Catholic tradition, the physical remains of a saint are known as first-class relics. They are venerated not as magical objects, but as tangible reminders that holiness touches both body and soul.

Elizabeth Lev, a U.S. art historian who teaches in Rome, said relics serve as "a concrete reminder that the blessed or saint’s body is here on earth and his or her soul is with God.”

"It feels like you’ve got almost like a hotline into heaven,” she told Catholic News Service in 2011. The relic is "something we can see and touch, and it becomes our portal to a world we cannot see and cannot touch."

Relics, she emphasized, are not charms or spiritual talismans. 

"God controls what he’s going to do and how he’s going to do it," she said. 

The object itself has no power; it is understood as a channel through which believers direct their prayers.

Even in a secularized age, relics continue to draw large crowds. Tours of saints’ remains in Europe and the United States in recent decades have attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors, including many who might not otherwise attend church regularly. 

Assisi also holds the remains of the first millennial saint, St. Carlo Acutis, who was canonized last year. His body can be found at the Church of St. Mary Major, where more than 620,000 individuals visited in the first eight months of 2025, according to the Diocese of Assisi.

While in Paris, an estimated 2-3 million annual visitors go to see St. Catherine Labouré's preserved body. Next to the altar, she lies in a glass shrine in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, where she is reported to have seen the Virgin Mary in 1830. 

The body of St. Thérèse of Lisieux went on a tour of the United States last year, attracting an estimated one million visitors across more than 30 stops. Her permanent shrine in Lisieux brings more than 600,000 visitors annually. 

Lev suggested that the enduring appeal may reflect a deeper hunger.

"An over-secularized world that rejects the divine and embraces the finite and man-made leaves a void in people,” she had said. Relics, and the traditions surrounding them, offer a reminder that death does not sever the bonds between the living and the dead in the Christian imagination.

At the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi, the friars said in the press release that they invite the faithful to be inspired by the mortal remains of St. Francis, that death can bear fruit. 

"This awareness, eloquently expressed through the mortal remains of St. Francis, serves as an invitation to view one’s personal life in a similar light: like Francis, each person is called to give themselves generously in relationships, becoming a living tree of fraternity that continues to bear fruit in the history of the Church and the world," the convent's press release said.

The monthlong exposition includes a vigil with members of the Italian Parliament, a youth gathering titled "Sister Death: An Experience to Embrace,” and a theological conference exploring St. Francis’ understanding of death not as an end, but as a passage.

Though he died 800 years ago, St. Francis is still reminding the faithful that death should be viewed as a transition. During his life, he was known for his love of nature, renounced his wealthy upbringing to live as a beggar, and restored several chapels. He viewed death not with fear, but as a sibling, calling it "Sister Death." For the saint, death was not the end, but a peaceful transition to eternal life with God.

ROME (CNS) -- The Jubilee Year, the death of Pope Francis and the unexpected election of a U.S. pope boosted the number of U.S. visitors seeking free tickets to Vatican events in 2025, said the Bishops' Office for U.S. Visitors to the Vatican.

The peak moments with the highest visitor volume were in October and Nov. 26, 2025, the day before Thanksgiving and the pope's first trip abroad, when there were 2,000 to 2,300 ticket requests for three Wednesday general audiences, it said.

Also, the period of Pope Francis' death, April 21, and the election of Pope Leo, May 8, saw a "huge spike" in emails requesting information and tickets, said the office, which is sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Pontifical North American College.

Other events triggering increased interest and inquiries were the funeral of Pope Francis April 26, and Pope Leo's inaugural Mass, May 18, the office said. Large numbers of Americans were already in Rome in late April for St. Carlo Acutis' anticipated April 27 canonization, which was then postponed until Sept. 7.  

The small office near the Trevi Fountain said it handed out about 24,000 Wednesday general audience tickets for just 28 general audiences held in 2025, which showed a 64% increase from 2024, when about 21,900 tickets were requested over 42 general audiences held that year.  

While there are no general audiences in July and the visitors' office is closed in August, there were fewer audiences in 2025 because Pope Francis was in the hospital starting Feb. 14; after his death April 21, audiences were on hold until after Pope Leo was elected May 8.

Mercy Sister Marie Thérèse Savidge, RSM, coordinator for the USCCB's Visitors' Office, said they stayed open nonetheless, even when there were no general audience tickets to distribute. 

They held a period of Eucharistic adoration and prayer in the residence's chapel, and "it was a privilege to witness the faith of the handful of visitors each week who came to take timeout of their pilgrimage schedule to pray and intercede for Pope Francis," Sister Marie Thérèse wrote in an article that appeared on the Archdiocese of Los Angeles' site AngelusNews.com Dec. 30.

When Wednesday general audiences resumed May 21 "the response was remarkable," she wrote. "We were used to welcoming about 900 people in peak seasons. But for Pope Leo's first audience, more than 1,800 came, and since then pilgrims have continued to come in larger numbers than ever."

The visitors' office also provided support and information for at least 23 papal Masses held in 2025, it added.  

The office, tucked away in the Casa Santa Maria, the residence for U.S. priests doing graduate studies in Rome, is where hundreds of Americans -- and not only -- go on Tuesday afternoons to pick up their tickets for the pope's weekly general audience on Wednesdays. It has been offering these services since the early 1970s.

They are welcomed by the Mercy Sisters of Alma, Michigan, aided by U.S. priests and seminarians studying in Rome.  

After requesting tickets online before beginning their journeys, the visitors pick up their tickets at the office in Rome and receive detailed information on when to go to the Vatican for the audience and what to bring or not bring -- metal water bottles and rolling suitcases topping the list of forbidden items.

The sisters also explain who the pope is, why he is important and what the meaning of his blessing is.  

They also briefly talk about the sacraments and their availability in Rome, including at the visitors' office, where they have priests available to hear confessions.

The office estimated they had from four to six priests hearing confessions for two to three hours during almost every ticket distribution day from May to December in 2025.

Office staff also tallied the numbers of small groups by state, that is, families, individuals and newlyweds requesting tickets for the first 12 audiences of the year, from January until the end of June. Naturally, California, Texas and Florida -- states with the highest populations -- ranked in the top three. However, Illinois -- Pope Leo's home state and the sixth most populous state in the U.S. -- had more visitors than New York, the fourth most populous state.  

ROME (CNS) -- While Satan tempts humanity with the lie of gaining unlimited power, God offers the gift of true freedom that leads to real love, relationships and fulfillment, Pope Leo XIV said.

Beginning with the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, humankind has had to face "the age-old dilemma: can I live my life to the fullest by saying 'yes' to God? Or, to be free and happy, must I free myself from Him?" the pope said in his homily during a morning Mass celebrated in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Rome Feb. 22.

Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, shows the world "the new man, the free man, the epiphany of freedom that is realized by saying 'yes' to God" and "opposing the snares" of the devil, he said.

The pope also urged the faithful to turn off all devices during certain moments of the day in order to create "space for silence," prayer, listening and the sacraments. 

"Let us dedicate time to those who are alone, especially the elderly, the poor and the sick. By giving up what is superfluous, we can share what we save with those in need," he said before praying the Angelus at noon with those gathered in St. Peter's Square.

"Let us create space for silence by turning off televisions, radios and cell phones for a while," he added.

Early in the morning, Pope Leo visited a Salesian-run 19th-century basilica in the city's center, near the main train station, where more than 450,000 people travel each day, Father Javier Ortiz Rodríguez, the parish priest, told the pope.

This heavy stream of people during the day is "like a full river in a storm," the priest said, which then turns into devastating "landslides" in the dead of night with increased violence, exploitation, drug use and prostitution. 

"Your visit is like a healing ointment" for the community, which includes numerous students, immigrants, people lacking housing and employment, as well as the elderly, the priest told the pope. 

It was Pope Leo's second of five pastoral visits in the Diocese of Rome in the run-up to Easter April 5. The visits include private meetings with members of each parish's pastoral council, local priests, volunteers and the people they serve.

The Lenten season is a time to rediscover the beauty of Baptism as a grace that does not negate, but that "encounters our freedom," the pope said in his homily on the first Sunday of Lent.

"The story in Genesis brings us back to our condition as creatures, tested not so much by a prohibition, as is often believed, but by a possibility: the possibility of a relationship" with God the Creator and all his creatures, he said. "Human beings are free to recognize and welcome the otherness of the Creator."

But the devil, in the form of the serpent, tempted Adam and Eve with the illusion of becoming like God, deceiving them that God was actually seeking to deny them of something "to keep them in a state of inferiority," the pope said.

Jesus, however, shows how freedom comes from finding fulfillment in loving God and one's neighbor, he said.

"This new humanity is born from the baptismal font," which is "the source of life that dwells within us and that, in a dynamic way, accompanies us with the utmost respect for our freedom," Pope Leo said.

Baptism is "dynamic," he said, "because it sets us on a journey again and again, since grace is an inner voice that urges us to conform ourselves to Jesus."

Baptism is about building a relationship, he said, as it "calls us to live in friendship with Jesus and, in this way, to enter into his communion with the Father."

"This grace-filled relationship enables us to live in authentic closeness with others, a freedom that -- unlike what the devil proposes to Jesus -- is not a search for power, but love that one gives and makes us all brothers and sisters," he said. 

Pope Leo noted the many challenges facing the neighborhood and praised the work of the Salesians and other church-run organizations ministering to young people and those in need.

It was his namesake, Pope Leo XIII, who asked St. John Bosco to build the basilica dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus that Pope Pius IX wanted built near the then-new railway station.

He encouraged the parish to continue to be "the leaven of the Gospel," a sign of "closeness and charity," and "a small flame of light and hope."

"May Mary, Help of Christians, always support our journey, make us strong in times of temptation and trial, so that we may fully live the freedom and fraternity of the children of God," he said.

Before praying the noonday Angelus, the pope again reflected on the day's Gospel reading of Jesus in the desert, where he fasted and resisted the temptations of the devil, showing "how we, too, can overcome the devil's deception and snares." 

"By means of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we can renew our cooperation with the Lord in the crafting of our lives as a unique masterpiece," he said. "This involves allowing him to cleanse the stains and heal the wounds of sin, as we commit to letting our lives blossom in beauty until they attain the fullness of love -- the only source of true happiness."

"This is a demanding journey," he said, especially when there are promises of "easier paths to satisfaction, such as wealth, fame and power."

However, these temptations, which Jesus himself faced, "are merely poor substitutes for the joy for which we were created. Ultimately, they leave us dissatisfied, restless and empty," he said.

That is why penance, "far from impoverishing our humanity -- enriches, purifies and strengthens it," he said. "Indeed, while penance makes us aware of our limitations, it also grants us the strength to overcome them and to live, with God's help, in deeper communion with him and with one another."

WASHINGTON - Newly released details show how the Administration plans to double federal immigration detention capacity, spending an estimated $38.3 billion from last year’s reconciliation bill to implement a new detention model by the end of Fiscal Year 2026. This amounts to nearly fifty times the annual budget for the entire immigration court system and almost five times the funding provided this year to operate the federal prison system. The plan partly entails opening eight “mega‑centers,” each of which would be capable of detaining 7,000 to 10,000 people. Aside from the internment camps used to incarcerate Japanese Americans in the 1940s, such facilities have no precedent in American history.

In response, Bishop Brendan J. Cahill, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration, urged the Administration and Congress to pursue a more just approach:

“These plans are deeply troubling. The federal government does not have a positive track record when it comes to detaining large numbers of people, especially families, and the proposed scale of these facilities is difficult to comprehend. The private prison industry is who stands to gain the most from this supercharging of immigration detention. 

“Last November, my brother bishops and I unequivocally opposed the indiscriminate mass deportation of people and raised concerns about existing conditions in detention centers. We specifically highlighted a lack of access to pastoral care for detainees. On many occasions, we have also opposed the expansion of family detention, recognizing its harmful impacts on children in particular. 

“The thought of holding thousands of families in massive warehouses should challenge the conscience of every American. Whatever their immigration status, these are human beings created in the image and likeness of God, and this is a moral inflection point for our country. We implore the Administration and Congress to lead with right reason, abandon this misuse of taxpayer funds, and to instead pursue a more just approach to immigration enforcement that truly respects human dignity, the sanctity of families, and religious liberty.”

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