Courtney Mares

Pope Leo XIV marked the anniversary of his May 8 election by making a pilgrimage to celebrate Mass at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Pompeii.

When Robert Francis Prevost stepped onto the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica one year ago, his first speech was, in ways that would only become clear over the year that followed, a preview of what was to come.

Pope Leo XIV said on the papal plane April 23 that the Holy See does not approve of formalized blessings of same-sex couples, while stressing that Church unity "should not revolve around sexual matters" and that all people are welcome in the Catholic Church.

Pope Leo XIV told inmates at a correctional facility in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, April 22 that "no one is excluded from God's love" and "God never grows tired of forgiving."

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass in the second-largest Catholic Church in Africa April 22, telling Catholics in the oil-rich nation that "the future of Equatorial Guinea depends upon your choices."

Pope Leo XIV arrived April 21 in Equatorial Guinea, the fourth and final country of his 11-day apostolic journey in Africa, where the pope met the country's longtime ruler and urged the country's civil authorities to choose justice over power, quoting St. Augustine's "City of God."

Flying over the west coast of central Africa on April 21, Pope Leo XIV paused to honour his predecessor on the first anniversary of Pope Francis' death, remembering the Argentine pope’s witness to mercy and closeness to the poor.

Pope Leo XIV traveled to the heart of Angola's diamond country April 20, urging the tens of thousands gathered at the papal Mass in the country's northeast to trust that "Christ hears the cry of the people" in the face of evil.

Pope Leo XIV led tens of thousands of Angolan Catholics in praying the rosary April 19 at southern Africa's most visited Catholic shrine, calling the pilgrimage site a place where "the heart of the Church" is "alive and beating.

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for more than 120,000 people in Cameroon's largest city on April 17, urging "beloved children of the African continent" to share God's love by feeding the hungry and offering the spiritual nourishment of "the bread of life."