In his message for the World Day of Human Fraternity and the presentation of the Zayed Award, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV describes fraternity as an urgent necessity, stronger than conflicts, differences and tensions, while warning against leaving it trapped in the realm of ideas.

In a world where peace is often dismissed as an outdated utopia and fraternity reduced to an abstract ideal, Pope Leo XIV insists that human fraternity is not a theory but an urgent necessity. This is the central message of the text published on 4 February for the World Day of Human Fraternity and the presentation of the Zayed Award, in which the Pope calls for a fraternity stronger than conflicts, differences and tensions.

During his weekly General Audience, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV warns against "fundamentalist or spiritualist readings" of Scripture, and upholds the Church's mission to proclaim the Word of God in language that touches human hearts.

Scripture reveals God’s desire to be close to His people, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV expressed during his Wednesday General Audience, as he continued his catechesis series on the Second Vatican Council.

He concentrated again this week on the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum on Divine Revelation, which the Pope has called “one of the most beautiful and important” documents of the Council.

The Vatican releases the calendar for His Holiness Pope Leo XIV’s Liturgical Celebrations through Easter, which includes his five scheduled visits to Parishes in Rome.

His Holiness Pope Leo XIV will carry out Pastoral visits to five Roman Parishes, take part in Lenten Spiritual Exercises in the Vatican together with the Roman Curia, and celebrate the Easter rites in St. Peter’s Basilica and St. John Lateran.

The Bishop of Rome will express his closeness to the faithful of his Diocese as he makes a series of Pastoral visits to five Roman Parishes, scheduled from Sunday, February 15, to Sunday, March 15.

The Pope’s visits take place mostly in the outlying areas of the capital, and coincide with his participation in the Lenten Spiritual Exercises and the Easter Rites.

On Tuesday, February 3, 2026, His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), received His Eminence Sheikh Fayez Seif, Representative of His Eminence Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, the Mufti of the Lebanese Republic and Spokesperson of the Supreme Islamic Sunni Council, in the Catholicosate in Antelias, Lebanon.

The visit aimed to convey the Mufti’s warm greetings to His Holiness and to extend a special invitation.

The meeting also provided an opportunity to discuss the general situation in Lebanon, as well as the relations between the Armenian and Sunni Communities.

On February 4, 2026, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church of the World, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), presided over the Holy Qurobo on the occasion of the Fast of Nineveh, at St. Georges Patriarchal Cathedral in Bab Touma, Damascus.

His Eminence Archbishop Mor Augeen Al-Khoury Nemat, Patriarchal Secretary, celebrated the Holy Qurobo.

Their Eminences Archbishops: Mor Dionysius John Kawak, Patriarchal Vicar of the Archdiocese of Eastern USA, Mor Joseph Bali, Patriarchal Assistant, and Mor Andrawos Bahhi, Patriarchal Vicar for Youth Affairs and Christian Education, also attended.

The Dicastery of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments releases a decree in which Pope Leo XIV inscribes the Doctor of the Church, St. John Henry Newman, in the General Roman Calendar with his memorial held on October 9.

His Holiness Pope Leo XIV has inscribed St. John Henry Newman, Doctor of the Church, in the General Roman Calendar, with his optional memorial being on October 9, announced the Dicastery of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in a decree released on Tuesday, February 3.

The 19th-century English-born former Anglican priest, who converted to Catholicism and then became a Cardinal, was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 and canonized by His Holiness Pope Francis in 2019.

His Holiness Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass on the 30th World Day for Consecrated Life, praising consecrated men and women for living out their steadfast faith even in the most difficult of circumstances, and inviting them to be 'leavens of peace' and 'signs of hope.'

"Through your commitment to follow Christ more closely — sharing in his self-emptying and in his life in the Spirit — you can show the world the way to overcome conflict, sowing fraternity through the freedom of those who love and forgive without measure."

His Holiness Pope Leo XIV gave this powerful reminder during the Mass he celebrated on Monday for the World Day for Consecrated Life, an annual observance that was instituted in 1997 by His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II which is celebrated on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, 2 February.

Representatives from the outreach arm of the German Evangelical Church, "Gustav-Adolf-Werk", visited Reverend Dr. Paul Haidostian, Acting President of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East (UAECNE), President of Haigazian University in Lebanon, and President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) for the Evangelical Family, at the UAECNE headquarters in Beirut, on 2 Feb 2026.

Reverend Dr. Martin Dutzmann (President), Reverend Enno Haaks (General Secretary), and Katja Buck, Researcher and Journalist on Church matters and the Middle East, spent an engaging hour with Union Acting President, clergy and lay leaders, learning more about the UAECNE's multifaceted ministries.

In a global context marked by escalating conflicts and growing fragmentation, His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, renewed a strong appeal not to surrender to resignation, but to persevere in the demanding work of peace.

Speaking in Geneva on 29 January 2026, during the 17th Annual Interreligious Service for Peace, hosted by the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, the Cardinal welcomed Pope Leo XIV’s Message for the 2026 World Day of Peace, “Towards an ‘Unarmed and Disarming’ Peace,” describing it as “a timely and necessary word for the moment we are living.”

Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12–13; 1 Corinthians 1:26–31; Matthew 5:1–12 

Dear brothers and sisters, 

We are on the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus delivered what is known as the “Sermon on the Mount,” which begins with the Beatitudes just proclaimed. This mountain is actually a small hill, not very high, a place that neither dominates nor overwhelms. Jesus begins his ministry right here, where people live, on one of the trade and life routes of that time. This discourse, therefore, is addressed to a population immersed in daily life, within a fragile and concrete reality. Jesus does not choose a place of power, but one from which life can be seen. He climbs this hill, sits down, and speaks: he does not denounce, accuse, or propose political solutions. He speaks of happiness. This is the first paradox: he does not say what to do, but who is blessed; he points to a way of life rather than strategies for action. He speaks of beatitude in a land marked at that time by hardship, poverty, tension, fear, and injustice – a land that knew well the violence and difficulty of living together… 

Human dignity, art, life, migrants, the elderly, young people, and artificial intelligence: these are some of the themes of the Prayer intentions that His Holiness Pope Leo XIV has entrusted to his Worldwide Prayer Network for next year.

His Holiness Pope Leo XIV has released his Prayer intentions for 2027. 

For each month of that year, the Pope will invite the Church to pray for a specific intention, touching on both global challenges and issues within the life of the Church.

The 2027 Prayer intentions were entrusted to the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which was received in audience by His Holiness Pope Leo XIV.

During his Sunday Angelus address, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV insists that living the Beatitudes can bring us happiness, bring light to the world’s shadows, and renew our hearts.

God gives hope to those whom the world discards as desperate, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV said on Sunday during his midday Angelus address in the Vatican.

Recalling the day’s Gospel reading according to Matthew on the Beatitudes, the Pope said Jesus announces Good News for all humanity.

“These are, in fact, lights that the Lord kindles in the darkness of history, revealing the plan of salvation that the Father accomplishes through the Son, with the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Welcoming the Plenary Assembly of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV calls the transmission of the faith an urgent matter, noting that the “rupture” in its generational transmission among Catholics must lead the Church to rediscover the “sweet and comforting joy of Evangelizing,” which lies at the heart of her life and mission.

His Holiness Pope Leo XIV insisted that “the transmission of the faith” is “a matter of great urgency in our time,” when addressing the Plenary Assembly of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on Thursday in the Vatican.

Mt 5,1-12a

Last Sunday (Mt 4:12-23), we saw that Jesus began his public ministry in a wounded land near a border. In this wounded land, his words came as a light, indeed, as a great light, the same great light that the prophet Isaiah had foretold, laying the foundation for the hope of those who lived in a land of darkness and death (Isaiah 8:23-9:1).

We see immediately what this great light is in today's Gospel (Mt 5:1-12a). It is the Gospel of the Beatitudes, which begins the first great discourse of Matthew's Gospel, the Sermon on the Mount.

It is a passage that we all know almost by heart, which we will try to read today using a twofold interpretation linked to the gaze. Today's passage begins by saying that Jesus sees the crowds, and that following this gaze, the words he then utters are born. Not only that. Continuing in the discourse, we see that the theme of the gaze returns, in reference to the Father: the Father sees in secret and will reward all that is done in secret (Mt 6:4, 6, 18).

This Father, therefore, is a Father who first and foremost sees: his gaze is directed towards his children, towards those who follow Jesus and welcome his presence…

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A 
Matthew 4:12–25 

Dear brothers and sisters, members of the newly established community of Saint Nicholas, 
dear priests, men and women religious, 
dear all of you who today gather as the family of God, 

The Word of God we have just heard could not be more fitting for this day of grace. It is not merely the account of a beginning in the past; it is a revelation of the way in which God, even today, brings His work to birth. And so, while the Church, in an act of trust and hope, establishes this parish, the Gospel sheds light on the deeper meaning of what we are living and celebrating. 

The Gospel opens with a shadow: “When Jesus heard that John had been arrested…” The arrest of the Baptist is more than a chronological detail; it is a theological event. The prophet of preparation, the voice crying out in the wilderness, is silenced by the injustice and violence of power. 

On Sunday, 25 January 2026, His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, solemnly erected a new Parish in Cyprus under the patronage of Saint Nicholas.

The newly established Parish brings together the faithful of Kyrenia, Famagusta, Nicosia, and Lefke, men and women of diverse languages, cultures, and backgrounds, now gathered as one community in Christ.

At the entrance, a delegation of Bishops, Clergy, and Parishioners welcomed His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, as young members of the community offered him flowers as a sign of gratitude for his Pastoral presence. Upon reaching the Church doors, he was vested with the stole and blessed the place with holy water, entrusting the new parish to God’s grace for the good of the Church in Cyprus.

Jerusalem

24 January 2026

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land announce the imminent commencement of restoration works in the Grotto of the Nativity, the hallowed site revered across Christendom as the place of the Incarnation. This joint undertaking together with the brotherly cooperation of the apostolic Arminian orthodox Patriarchate proceeds Under the auspices of the Presidency of the State of Palestine, in accordance with the Presidential Decree on the Restoration of the Grotto of the Church of the Nativity for the year 2024 and with the historical Status Quo governing the Holy Places.

Mt 4,12-23

Each of the four evangelists introduce Jesus’ public ministry through a kind of gateway, a key for interpretation that helps the reader pose the fundamental question underlying the entire text: Who is Jesus? What has he come to do? What is this story that is now beginning really about?  

Likewise, Evangelist Luke, through the episode in the synagogue of Nazareth (Lk 4:16–30), hints that Jesus is the prophet anointed by the Spirit, sent to bring the good news of salvation to the poor and the outcast. He will be rejected, just as he was in Nazareth; yet this rejection will not stop him from continuing his journey. 

Mark is the briefest of all: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel” (Mk 1:15). In such, he announces the definitive fulfillment of God’s gift, which calls for an urgent response from humanity: the time has come for all to convert and to believe… 

Acts 22:3–16; Galatians 1:11–24; Mark 16:15–18

Brothers and sisters,

the conversion of the Apostle Paul, which we celebrate solemnly today, is not primarily a story of sin and forgiveness. It is not simply the account of a man who makes a mistake and then retraces his steps. Above all, it is a story of encounter.

An encounter that does not arise from a search, but from surprise. It does not emerge from doubt, but from conviction. It does not take place in failure, but in the fullness of religious certainty.

Paul was not searching for God. He was not experiencing a spiritual crisis, nor had he lost his faith or felt distant from the Lord. On the contrary, he was convinced he was right - persuaded that he was serving God faithfully, zealously, coherently, passionately. And it is precisely there, within this deep and apparently irreproachable certainty, that the Lord reaches him.

This is already a decisive message for all of us gathered here today, coming from different Churches, traditions, and spiritual paths: God meets the human person not only when they are lost, but also when they are self-assured. God enters not only our obvious fragilities, but also our religious certainties, our well-constructed frameworks, our spiritual securities…

During his Wednesday General Audience, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV continues his reflection on the Dogmatic Constitution 'Dei Verbum' on Divine Revelation and emphasizes the close relationship between Sacred Scripture and Tradition.

“The ‘deposit’ of the Word of God is still in the hands of the Church and all of us, in our various Ecclesial ministries, must continue to preserve it in its integrity, as a lodestar for our journey through the complexity of history and existence,” His Holiness Pope Leo XIV said during the Wednesday General Audience on January 28, 2026.

Continuing his catechesis series dedicated to the Second Vatican Council and its documents, the Pope focused again on the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, on Divine Revelation. He highlighted the close relationship between Sacred Scripture and Tradition, meaning the living transmission of the Gospel through the Holy Spirit.