Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV's offer to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine—an offer Russia has turned down—was motivated by a conviction that the two sides must start negotiating and stop the killing, the Vatican secretary of state said.

Pope Leo XIV has named Cardinal Baldassare Reina grand chancellor of the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences.

Pope Leo XIV met privately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife May 18, their second encounter of the day.

Launching his papacy with a call for reconciliation and communion, Pope Leo XIV formally began his ministry as the successor of St. Peter by calling for "a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world."

Thanking Pope Leo XIV for his prayers for Ukraine, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church gave the pope a painting and a list of prisoners the Ukrainians want the Vatican's help in liberating.

Pope Leo XIV will officially inaugurate his papacy with Mass in St. Peter's Square May 18.

Where Christians are "mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied" is where the Catholic Church's "missionary outreach is most desperately needed," Pope Leo XIV said in his first homily as leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

Even before he stepped out on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica and spoke May 8, Pope Leo XIV's choice of a name was a powerful statement.

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has been chosen by the 133 cardinal electors to guide the Church following the passing of Pope Francis April 21. He will assume the name Pope Leo XIV.

Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, the Chicago-born prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Francis, was elected the 267th pope May 8 and took the name Pope Leo XIV.