The conclusions of the Francis-appointed commission on the female diaconate – basically a hard “No” softly delivered, one that surprised pretty much no one – were published last week, on the same day as another decision by Leo XIV to repeal one of Pope Francis’s financial reforms.

The two events were unrelated, but [...]

The week Leo XIV left for his first international trip was also when the Pope made several decisions and really began to give his pontificate some direction.

The decisions he made revealed something of Leo XIV’s characteristics: he is capable of overturning Pope Francis’s decisions, especially in administrative matters; in doctrinal matters, he will [...]

Pope Leo XIV has initiated a major generational change in the Church’s central governing apparatus, the Roman Curia.

This change began in the Secretariat of State this past week, with the appointments of Anthony Onyemucho Ekpo as assessor and Mihăiţă Blaj as undersecretary for Foreign Affairs of the Secretariat of State, the key and [...]

The news that Leo XIV will convene a consistory for January 7-8 has not yet been made official by the Holy See Press Office. Since the National Catholic Register broke the news, however, numerous confirmations have emerged – some from cardinals themselves – and the circular letter sent to all the cardinals has made [...]

The document calling Mary’s title of co-redemptrix “inappropriate” isn’t the only news that broke last week.

At the press conference presenting the doctrinal note, held in the Jesuit Curia rather than in the Holy See Press Office, as would be more appropriate for a document of such importance, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez announced [...]

Leo XIV’s first Apostolic Letter is dedicated to the sixtieth anniversary of the conciliar declaration Gravissimum Educationis. It is titled Drawing New Maps of Hope and revelas, in its content and language, much of the ideological tension with which te neo-elect Pope Leo XIV is contending.

On the one hand, the last thing [...]

Pope Leo XIV gave a speech on October 23, to participants in the World Meeting of Popular Movements, and with it brought a central question (back) into sharp focus: Who really is Leo XIV?

It’s a question pretty much everyone has had, petty much right from the beginning of his still-very-young pontificate, and [...]

Leo XIV visited Italy’s President, he pulled out all the stops. Leo and President Sergio Mattarella met at the Quirinal Palace this past week, on Oct. 14, in a visit that used the entire ritual of a state visit, an unmistakable signal.

Pope Francis had preferred simplified visits, and refused the escort of mounted [...]

The week in which Leo XIV published his first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te, was also the week in which he made the first governing decision that overrode a decision of his predecessor – on the subject of Vatican finances – and that is no small matter.

Dilexi Te is, in fact, profoundly the work [...]

Pope Leo XIV has made his first major curial appointment. As prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops, the Pope has chosen Bishop Filippo Iannone, who has headed the Dicastery for Legislative Texts since 2017.

This is only the first of many appointments he will need to make, marking the beginning of what will prove [...]