Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish

Pope Leo XIV shakes hands with U.S. President JD Vance in the papal library. The two had a private encounter before they were joined by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on May 19, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 21, 2025 / 17:02 pm (CNA).

In a sit-down interview with the New York Times’ Ross Douthat, Vice President JD Vance opened up about how his Catholic faith informs his political views and how he squares his religious beliefs with his hard-line views on immigration enforcement.

Vance, an outspoken convert to the faith, appeared on Douthat’s “Interesting Times” podcast while the two were in Rome for Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural Mass this past weekend. Douthat, who is also a convert to Catholicism, is a conservative columnist at the Times.

During the interview, Vance discussed how his faith and Catholic social teaching contribute to his views on governance. Yet, he also explained why he believes an American vice president cannot simply “do everything the Holy Father tells me to do” because of his obligations to serve the interests of the American people.

A Catholic American approach to governing

“When you really believe something, it ought to influence how you think about the way that you do your job, the way that you spend time with your wife and your children,” Vance said. “It just kind of necessarily informs how I live my life.”

Regarding governing, this philosophy means he thinks “the purpose of American politics” is “to encourage our citizens to live a good life.”

Vance said his faith informs his care for “the rights of the unborn” along with his belief in “dignified work,” where a person has “a high enough wage that [he or she] can support a family.”

On family policy, Vance said he fears that American and other Western societies have “become way too hostile to family formation,” contending that they “have been quite bad at supporting families over the last generation, and I think you see that in the fact that fewer people are choosing to start families.”

Vance added that he has faced criticism from the political right for being “insufficiently committed to the capital-M market.” Although he said “I am a capitalist,” he said he is not in principal against all interventions in the marketplace and cited the administration’s tariff policies as an example.

“I think one of the things that I take from my Christian principles and Catholic social teachings — specifically whether you agree with the specific policies of our administration — is the market is a tool, but it is not the purpose of American politics,” the vice president said.

Vance also discussed the potential benefits and drawbacks of developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and said he looks forward to Pope Leo providing moral guidance on these questions.

“The American government is not equipped to provide moral leadership, at least full-scale moral leadership, in the wake of all the changes that are going to come along with AI,” he said. “I think the Church is. This is the sort of thing the Church is very good at.”

Vance said he disagrees with the view that policy and religion are “two totally separate matters … because it understates the way in which all of us are informed by our moral and religious values.” Yet, he also said that taking direct orders from the Vatican on policy matters “would be a violation of the U.S. Constitution.”

“My obligation more broadly as a vice president [is] to serve the American people,” Vance said.

During his time in Rome, he said, “I’m not there as JD Vance, a Catholic parishioner” but rather “I’m there as the vice president of the United States and the leader of the president’s delegation to the pope’s inaugural Mass.”

“So some of the protocols about how I respond to the Holy Father were much different than how I might respond to the Holy Father, or how you might respond to the Holy Father purely in your capacity as a citizen,” Vance told Douthat.

For example, the vice president said he did not bow down to kiss Leo’s ring. Although that is a common act of respect for the pontiff, he noted that kissing the ring of a foreign leader would be against the protocol for an American vice president.

“So, no sign of disrespect, but it’s important to observe the protocols of the country that I love and that I’m representing and that I serve as vice president of, the United States,” he added.

When explaining this balance, Vance said he does not “just disregard” positions of Church hierarchy but that “you make a prudential judgment informed very much by the Church’s teachings as reflected by these leaders.”

The dignity of migrants and immigration enforcement

One of the primary issues on which President Donald Trump’s administration has sparred with the Vatican and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the enforcement of American immigration laws.

During the first four months of Trump’s presidency, he has clamped down on illegal border crossings, halted the entry of most refugees, stripped federal funding from nongovernmental organizations (including Catholic ones) that resettle migrants, and vowed mass deportations of those who are in the country illegally.

These policies have been criticized by Catholic charitable organizations, the USCCB, Pope Francis, and then-Cardinal Robert Prevost, who is now Pope Leo XIV.

On U.S. immigration policy, Vance noted that the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Catholic leaders acknowledge “the right of a country to enforce its borders” but also emphasize the need to respect “the dignity of migrants.” He said: “You have to be able to hold two ideas in your head at the same time.”

“There are obligations that we have to people who in some ways are fleeing violence, or at least fleeing poverty,” the vice president said. “I also have a very sacred obligation, I think, to enforce the laws and to promote the common good of my own country, defined as the people with the legal right to be here.”

Vance said he spoke with “a lot of cardinals this weekend” about immigration policy and “had a lot of good, respectful conversations, including with cardinals who very strongly disagree with my views on migration.”

“The point that I’ve tried to make is I think a lot about this question of social cohesion in the United States,” he said. “I think about how we form the kind of society again where people can raise families, where people join institutions together.”

The vice president argued that proponents of mass migration do not recognize “how destructive immigration at the levels and at the pace that we’ve seen over the last few years is to the common good” and that “I really do think that social solidarity is destroyed when you have too much migration too quickly.”

“That’s not because I hate the migrants or I’m motivated by grievance,” he said. “That’s because I’m trying to preserve something in my own country where we are a unified nation. And I don’t think that can happen if you have too much immigration too quickly.”

Vance became Catholic in August 2019, when he was 35 years old, and is the second Catholic vice president of the United States. Former president Joe Biden was the first when he served under former president Barack Obama from 2008–2016.

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia speaks at a press conference for a Vatican summit on longevity on March 24, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 21, 2025 / 15:22 pm (CNA).

The Pontifical Academy for Life, the elderly advocacy group AARP, and the Muslim Council of Elders this month signed a declaration promising to support elderly populations and promote research on brain health. 

The organizations launched the initiative in order to help safeguard the elderly from discrimination and abuse and to protect their human dignity, right to independence, and engagement in society. 

The leaders met at a two-day global symposium held at the Vatican titled “The Memory: Addressing the Opportunities and Challenges of an Aging Global Population.”

Representatives from the Vatican and AARP talked with doctors, scientists, academics, nongovernmental organizations, and nonprofits from more than 20 countries about the future of the elderly population and how organizations can advocate for older generations.

“We promote this symposium in partnership with AARP to reflect with scientific and academic institutions on how to promote a model of longevity that does not limit itself to extending the years of life but to enriching them,” Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said at the summit.

The event concluded with Paglia, AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan, and Muslim Council of Elders Secretary-General Mohamed Abdelsalam signing the official declaration pledging their commitment to the mission.

The “landmark initiative marks the first official activity of the Vatican under Pope Leo XIV,”  Abdelsalam wrote in a post to X.

“Caring for the elderly is a religious and moral responsibility, as they are the memory keepers of human societies,” he wrote. “They serve as a living record for transmitting wisdom and knowledge across generations.”

The event and declaration were spearheaded by the leaders to help plan for future demographic shifts. 

“By 2050, 1 in 5 people worldwide will be over the age of 60,” AARP reported. “Globally, systems and supports are not in place to handle the unique needs of a rapidly aging population.”

“Aging is not a problem to solve,” Minter-Jordan said at the event. “It is an opportunity to rethink how we support our communities.”

Pope Leo XIV at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls on May 20, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

Vatican City, May 21, 2025 / 14:32 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on May 20 visited St. Paul Outside the Walls Basilica, one of the papal basilicas located outside Rome, to pray at the tomb of the “apostle to the Gentiles.”

Upon his arrival, the Holy Father was welcomed by basilca abbot Father Donato Ogliari, OSB, and the archpriest of the basilica, Cardinal James Michael Harvey.

Accompanied by Benedictine monks, custodians of the church built over the tomb of St. Paul the Apostle, Pope Leo XIV entered the basilica through the Holy Door amid the chants of the Sistine Chapel choir and the Benedictine community.

He then descended to the altar of confession to venerate the tomb of St. Paul, kneeling in silence. After returning to the apse of the church, a passage from St. Paul the Apostle’s Letter to the Romans was read.

In his homily, delivered in Italian, the Holy Father emphasized that the reading revolves around three themes — “grace, faith, and justification” — and entrusted the beginning of his pontificate to the intercession of the apostle to the Gentiles.

Leo XIV reminded the nearly 2,000 faithful gathered in the basilica that St. Paul claimed to have received “from God the grace of his vocation.”

“He acknowledges, in other words, that his encounter with Christ and his own ministry were the fruit of God’s prior love, which called him to a new life while he was still far from the Gospel and persecuting the Church,” he explained.

He also quoted the convert St. Augustine, the pope’s spiritual father, “who spoke of the same experience.”

In this context, he emphasized that “at the root of every vocation, God is present, in his mercy and his goodness, as generous as that of a mother who nourishes her child with her own body for as long as the child is unable to feed itself.”

Recalling how St. Paul spoke of the “obedience of faith,” he pointed out, however, that on the road to Damascus, the Lord “did not take away his freedom but gave him the opportunity to make a decision, to choose an obedience that would prove costly and entail interior and exterior struggles, which Paul proved willing to face.”

The pontiff thus pointed out that “salvation does not come about by magic but by a mysterious interplay of grace and faith, of God’s prevenient love and of our trusting and free acceptance.”

In this regard, he invited the faithful to “ask him to enable us to respond in the same way to his grace and to become, ourselves, witnesses of the love ‘poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.’”

“Let us ask the Lord for the grace to cultivate and spread his charity,” he continued, “and to become true neighbors to one another. Let us compete in showing the love that, following his encounter with Christ, drove the former persecutor to become ‘all things to all people’ even to the point of martyrdom.”

He further emphasized that “the weakness of the flesh will show the power of faith in God that brings justification.”

From this basilica, entrusted to the care of the Benedictine community, Pope Leo XIV also recalled St. Benedict, who proposed “love as the source and driving force of the preaching of the Gospel,” noting his insistent exhortations “to fraternal charity.”

The pontiff did not want to end his homily without recalling Pope Benedict XVI and his words at World Youth Day in Madrid in 2011: “‘Dear friends,’” he said, “‘God loves us. This is the great truth of our life; it is what makes everything else meaningful.” Indeed, “our life originates as part of a loving plan of God,” and faith leads us to “open our hearts to this mystery of love and to live as men and women conscious of being loved by God.’”

“Here we see, in all its simplicity and uniqueness, the basis of every mission, including my own mission as the successor of Peter and the heir to Paul’s apostolic zeal. May the Lord grant me the grace to respond faithfully to his call,” Leo XIV concluded.

At the end of his homily, the Holy Father knelt again before the altar, located above the apostle’s tomb. Later, the Lord’s Prayer and the Regina Caeli were sung in Latin. 

Pope Leo XIV left the basilica again in procession, preceded by Benedictine monks, to the applause of the faithful.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Catholic Health building in Buffalo, New York. / Credit: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, May 21, 2025 / 14:01 pm (CNA).

A Catholic health care system in New York state has agreed to pay a multimillion-dollar settlement over allegations that it violated federal Medicare reporting laws. 

The U.S. attorney’s office for the western district of New York said in a press release that Catholic Health Systems agreed to pay nearly $3.3 million in order to resolve allegations that the network “knowingly submitted or caused to be submitted false claims to the Medicare program” in violation of federal law. 

The government had alleged that the Catholic hospital system violated the Stark Law, a federal rule that prohibits health care entities from receiving Medicare payments for services referred by a physician with “a financial relationship to the health care entity.”

The prosecutor’s office claimed that the Catholic health provider “had financial relationships with nonemployee physicians” who “referred health services, such as laboratory testing, hospital services, or medical supplies, to CHS and its affiliated hospitals.”

“The Stark Law is designed to protect Medicare by ensuring that physician referrals are not influenced by financial interest,” U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo said in the press release, stating that his office “is committed to holding health care providers accountable who engage in such conduct.”

Though the Catholic medical system will pay more than $3 million over the claims, the payout does not establish the guilt of the hospital, the government said. 

“The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability,” the press release stated. 

Federal authorities were originally tipped off to the alleged violations by Gary Tucker, a former executive in the Catholic Health Systems network. Under whistleblower provisions, Tucker “will receive a share of the settlement,” the government said. 

In a statement provided to CNA, Leonardo Sette-Camara, the general counsel of the hospital system, said: “Defending these types of subjective allegations requires an unsustainable and unacceptable allocation of Catholic Health resources.”

“This investigation was never about the quality of care provided to our patients. By resolving the case now, we can move forward and remain fully focused on delivering the highest standard of care,” he said.

This report was updated on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at 3 p.m. with a statement from the hospital.

Pope Leo XIV smiles during his first general audience in St. Peter's Square on May 21, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, May 21, 2025 / 10:46 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV will hold a meeting of cardinals on June 13 to give the final approval to the canonizations of several beatified men and women.

The ordinary public consistory, as it is called, will be the first of Leo’s pontificate. Pope Francis had called for the consistory in late February, when he was in the hospital, but the date was never set.

At the consistory, cardinals will vote to approve the canonizations of five beatified men and women whose causes were advanced earlier this year by Pope Francis. The vote of the cardinals marks the final step in the canonization process and allows a date for the Mass of canonization to be set.

Among the almost-canonized saints expected to be discussed on June 13 is Blessed Bartolo Longo (also known as Bartholomew Longo).

Longo, an Italian layman and lawyer, was a former Satanist “priest” who returned to the practice of the Catholic faith through the influence of Mary and the rosary.

The canonization of the Venezuelan “doctor of the poor,” José Gregorio Hernández, is also expected be voted on at the June 13 consistory, along with Pietro To Rot, the first blessed from Papua New Guinea; Vincenza Maria Poloni, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy of Verona; and Ignazio Maloyan, a bishop martyred in the Armenian genocide in 1915. 

The consistory will take place in the consistory hall in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace with all of the cardinals resident or otherwise present in Rome. It usually begins with a short time of prayer.

The Vatican also announced Wednesday a slew of liturgies to be celebrated by Pope Leo XIV in June, including a Mass at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran followed by a Eucharistic procession through Rome to the Basilica of St. Mary Major for the solemnity of Corpus Christi on June 22.

Here is the full list of public Masses Pope Leo will celebrate during the month of June:

• June 1: Mass in St. Peter’s Square for the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly

• June 8: Mass in St. Peter’s Square for the solemnity of Pentecost and the Jubilee of Movements, Associations, and New Communities 

• June 9: Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, and the Jubilee of the Holy See

• June 15: Mass in St. Peter’s Square for the solemnity of the Holy Trinity and the Jubilee of Sports

• June 22: Mass in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran and procession to the Basilica of St. Mary Major with Eucharistic benediction for the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

• June 27: Mass in St. Peter’s Square for the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Jubilee of Priests
  

• June 29: Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, with the blessing of the palliums for the new metropolitan archbishops

Students pose after being called to “Petra House” at JSerra Catholic High School in Orange County, California, April 28, 2025. / Credit: JSerra Catholic High School

CNA Staff, May 21, 2025 / 10:05 am (CNA).

A Catholic school in Southern California is preparing to launch a “house system” that it says will help students connect with one another and foster leadership among young Catholics preparing to go out into the world. 

JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano said in a press release that the house arrangement will “foster community, provide mentorship, and cultivate leadership rooted in Gospel values.”

The six houses into which students can be grouped — Alta, Carmel, Monterey, San Onofre, Petra, and Ventura — are “each named after places significant to the life of St. Junipero Serra.”

The school said the new program “comes at a critical time as young people are experiencing greater social disconnection and mental health challenges than ever before.” It cited studies indicating that young people are experiencing extreme social disconnection with their peers, engaging in “70% less social interaction with their friends” compared with two decades ago. 

“This new house system is more than just a way to build school spirit, it’s a transformative approach to helping our students grow as leaders and deepen their faith,” Eric Stroupe, the principal of JSerra, said in the release. 

‘We really want God to do something miraculous’

Brian Ong, the house director for JSerra, told CNA in an interview that the school has developed the house system — and its approach to education more generally — with the mindset of “fields, not factories.” 

“The Bible often uses metaphors from the field,” he pointed out. “We’re trying to cultivate the seeds we feel God has planted. We really want God to do something miraculous.”

The school, founded in 2003, had been debating launching the house system for several years starting in 2021, Ong said. He pointed out that numerous other schools in the area have house systems of their own, though JSerra wanted to develop a unique approach to the practice. 

“Last year we decided that this was something God was leading us to do,” he said. 

One goal of the house system, Ong said, is to help the large student body feel more connected to those with whom they might not normally interact.

“We have approximately 1,300 students at JSerra,” he said. “When you ask students how many people they really know, it’s usually less than 50. Even if you double that, there’s still 1,200 students you don’t know.” 

“You don’t interact [with others] because you don’t play the same sport, or do the same extracurricular activity, or they’re in the business magnet and you’re in the law magnet,” Ong acknowledged. With the house system, “we’re trying to intentionally have them interact with each other if they wouldn’t normally.”

There is a significant mentorship component to the program as well. 

“We want every student at JSerra to have a mentor,” he said. Students will meet in their “dens” three times per week for 30 minutes each time, speaking to older mentors and “ensuring that freshmen and sophomores experience friendship, encouragement, and support,” according to the school. 

Houses will also allow students a chance to excel in leadership, he said, with opportunities for students to serve as presidents, curriculum directors, and other roles to teach them real-life skills. 

Ong said the school has already hosted a “calling day” in which students were “called” into their respective houses. “Next school year it will really take off,” he said. 

The parental response has been “overwhelmingly positive” as the program has launched, Ong said. 

Other Catholic institutions have implemented similar programs. Franciscan University of Steubenville’s “faith households,” for instance, bring students together “to help members grow in mind, body, and spirit through prayer, mutual support, and accountability in the ongoing conversion process exemplified in the life of St. Francis.”

The university allows students to join one of several dozen single-sex households together with others who “seek to do the will of the Father in their lives.” Joining a household is not a requirement, but according to Gregg Miliote, director of media relations at Franciscan University, the vast majority of students do join one. There are currently 49 different households at Franciscan University.

At JSerra, meanwhile, student houses “will earn points through competitions, service projects, and school spirit initiatives, culminating in the awarding of the JSerra Cup to the top-performing house at the year’s end.”

Ong said the system “immerses students in very practical and hands-on ways into a culture that allows them to internalize the core Christian values we idealize as a school.” The program “multiplies their opportunities for exercising the virtues that are at the heart of our mission,” he said.

At his first general audience in St. Peter's Square on May 21, 2025, Pope Leo XIV appeals for peace and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, where, he said, children and elderly are suffering. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, May 21, 2025 / 08:05 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV in the first general audience of his pontificate on Wednesday appealed for an end to hostilities in Gaza and for the entrance of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

Speaking before tens of thousands of attendees on an overcast day in St. Peter’s Square, the new pope ended his remarks by calling the situation in the Gaza Strip “increasingly worrying and painful.”

“I renew my heartfelt appeal to allow the entry of decent humanitarian aid and to end the hostilities whose heartbreaking price is paid by children, the elderly, and the sick,” he added.

The pope’s appeal comes as the numbers of dead and injured in the Gaza Strip continue to rise under Israel’s attacks. According to reports, while some humanitarian aid has been allowed to enter Gaza, it has not yet been released for distribution.

One month to the day since Francis’ death, Pope Leo also recalled with gratitude the “beloved Pope Francis, who just a month ago returned to the house of the Father.”

Leo closely followed his written remarks, only adding the comment on Gaza, during the May 21 public audience, which he began by taking a turn around the square in the popemobile to cheers, banners, and waving flags. Some people stood on their chairs to try to catch a glimpse of the new pope, who paused often to bless babies of all ages held out to him in outstretched arms.

The inaugural catechesis of the first U.S.-born pope picked up the theme begun by Francis for the 2025 Jubilee Year: “Jesus Christ Our Hope.”

Reflecting on the parable of the sower, Leo noted the unusual behavior of the sower in the story, who “does not care where the seed falls. He throws the seeds even where it is unlikely they will bear fruit: on the path, on the rocks, among the thorns.”

“The way in which this ‘wasteful’ sower throws the seed is an image of the way God loves us,” he said, echoing a part of his first message from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica after his election on May 8, that God “loves us all unconditionally.”

“First and foremost in this parable Jesus tells us that God throws the seed of his word on all kinds of soil, that is, in any situation of ours,” Leo underlined. 

He continued: “God is confident and hopes that sooner or later the seed will blossom. This is how he loves us: He does not wait for us to become the best soil, but he always generously gives us his word. Perhaps by seeing that he trusts us, the desire to be better soil will be kindled in us. This is hope, founded on the rock of God’s generosity and mercy.”

The theme of personal transformation was also repeated later in the catechesis, when Leo said: “Jesus is the word, he is the seed. And the seed, to bear fruit, must die. Thus, this parable tells us that God is ready to ‘waste away’ for us and that Jesus is willing to die in order to transform our life.”

Husband and father Chuma Asuzu from Canada came to the square early in the morning with his family to attend the pope’s first general audience.

“It was good and I think it was interesting how he explained the seeds and how it’s the word of God,” Asuzu shared with CNA. “I really appreciate it.”

“He made the point to drive around a lot because it was his first audience and he looked emotional at the beginning,” he added.

Instead of taking an example from literature or philosophy, as Pope Francis often did, Pope Leo used Vincent Van Gogh’s painting “The Sower at Sunset” to prompt a meditation on hope.

“That image of the sower in the blazing sun also speaks to me of the farmer’s toil,” he said. “And it strikes me that, behind the sower, Van Gogh depicted the grain already ripe. It seems to me an image of hope: One way or another, the seed has borne fruit. We are not sure how, but it has.”

“At the center of the scene, however, is not the sower, who stands to the side; instead, the whole painting is dominated by the image of the sun, perhaps to remind us that it is God who moves history, even if he sometimes seems absent or distant,” the pope noted. “It is the sun that warms the clods of earth and makes the seed ripen.”

The pontiff’s final thought was to remind those present to ask the Lord for the grace to welcome the seed of his word: “And if we realize we are not a fruitful soil, let us not be discouraged, but let us ask him to work on us more to make us become a better terrain.”

Leo closed the audience in the customary way, singing the Our Father prayer in Latin and then giving his apostolic blessing.

Among the pilgrims present on Wednesday was Father Rolmart Verano, who is leading a group of jubilee pilgrims from the Diocese of Surigao, Philippines.

“I never thought that one day I will come here [to Rome],” he told CNA. “It is one of my wildest dreams that came true!”

“The striking point of Pope Leo XIV’s general audience is when he said that the word of God should take root in each one of our hearts,” he said. “It should serve as a guide for our daily lives no matter that it be ordinary or difficult circumstances.”

As one of 40 members of a pilgrim group from the Diocese of Mumbai, India, Sandesh Almeida said he was immediately impressed by the kindness shown by the new pontiff at the audience. 

“Peace is a good message from him,” he said. “Now with India and Pakistan … we should go for peace and the pope is mostly focusing on peace.”

The Catholic Church in South Korea is one of the few voices promoting reconciliation between the two countries. / Credit: Courtesy of South Korean Bishops’ Conference

ACI Prensa Staff, May 21, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Eight decades after the partition of the Korean peninsula, the Catholic Church in South Korea remains one of the few actors that, with perseverance and faith, keeps alive the hope for reconciliation between the two Koreas.

“Hatred and suspicion can never be a solution,” Bishop Simon Kim Jong-Gang, president of the Korean Reconciliation Commission, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

Last month, the Korean bishop led a pilgrimage to Kyodong Island on the border with North Korea in a gesture that highlighted the Church’s commitment to reconciliation between the two countries. The bishops walked along the three-mile barbed-wire fence on the island that has divided the two countries since the Korean War (1950–1953) and prayed that the two countries would put their differences behind them.

For 80 years, soldiers on both sides of the demarcation line at the Panmunjom Peace Village in the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas have stood guard face to face, armed and under the pressure that any minor incident could trigger a new war. In 2018, as part of agreements between the two countries to build mutual trust, the Joint Security Area was cleared of firearms and military posts.

But this openness was short-lived. In early 2020, North Korea closed its borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic and again ordered its soldiers to shoot at any movement across the border.

Kim noted that there are no exchanges between South and North Korea. “It’s impossible to meet people, exchange letters or phone calls, or even send emails between the two sides of Korea.”

Indeed, since the failure of the diplomatic process that attempted to reestablish communications between North Korea and the United States in 2019 and the closure of borders due to the pandemic, isolation has become total.

Five years without any exchanges

“In the past five years, South Korea and North Korea have not had any official exchanges, either at the governmental or civil level,” the bishop lamented. Before that, “there were some meetings and some correspondence, but lately there has been no news.”

In any case, he said that at this historic moment North Korea “is preparing to reopen to the international community.”

“There are rumors that embassies and international organizations are preparing to return to Pyongyang and that some areas are attracting foreign tourists,” he noted.

During the pilgrimage, the bishop said he could “easily see the other side.”

“I always experience the same feeling when walking along the barbed-wire fence. The South and the North are really close,” he explained.

This walk for peace gave him a certain sense of closeness. “If someone on the other side had shouted, I would have been able to hear it. I hope that trust between the South and the North will be restored as soon as possible,” he remarked.

Thousands of families torn apart and divided

One of the most moving moments of the day was the meeting with an elderly man who fled North Korea during the Korean War and now lives in Seoul. Today, he is 90 years old, but his age doesn’t prevent him from returning to Kyodong Island nearly every week.

“He came to the island fleeing the Korean War and lived there for many years. He didn’t want to leave his homeland,” Kim recounted. “He visits Kyodong Do almost once a week, although the round trip by public transport takes him between four and five hours.”

His story exemplifies the rift left by the division, with thousands of families unable to see one another for years. “For 80 years, North and South have lived with mutual distrust and hatred. This hatred and distrust still have a great impact on our society,” the bishop lamented.

A persecuted Church

During the Korean War, communist troops persecuted missionaries, foreign religious, and Korean Christians, pursuing them to the south. In North Korea, all monasteries and churches were destroyed. Monks and priests who could not flee were sentenced to death.

Today, the Church in North Korea has neither clergy nor religious services. However, according to official data, there are approximately 4,000 North Korean Catholics belonging to the Korean Catholic Association, controlled by the communist regime. This association, which does not recognize the pope’s role in appointing bishops, has only one church in the country, in Changchun, which is considered window dressing by the regime.

The Korean bishop hopes to one day be able to communicate with “the Catholic community in North Korea and also receive news from them.”

In this regard, he noted that the Catholic Church in South Korea is one of the few voices trying to build bridges despite the hostility.

“I know it’s difficult to easily change this mistrust toward North Korea, as it’s a feeling that has persisted for 80 years. But the Church teaches us that we cannot build new relationships with hatred and mistrust,” Kim said.

Small steps toward reconciliation

In recent years, the Catholic Church has organized international forums and meetings. For example, in 2022, the Commission for National Reconciliation of the Korean Bishops’ Conference, together with American institutions, organized a conference in Washington, D.C., titled “The Role of Religion for Peace on the Korean Peninsula.” 

“This event was attended by bishops from Korea and the United States, government and legislative officials from both countries, and academics from think tanks. The Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the United States also attended, expressing his solidarity for peace on the Korean Peninsula,” the bishop explained.

Added to this are the peace forums held in 2023 with dioceses from Japan and the United States, and the entry, in 2024, of several Korean, Japanese, and American dioceses into the Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons (PWNW) network. 

For Kim, these initiatives are also a call to peace: “It is the duty of Christians throughout the world who know and practice the peace of Christ to constantly criticize and warn political leaders who promote military security based on nuclear weapons, so that they may awaken from their illusion.”

Kim acknowledged that reunification lacks enthusiasm among young South Koreans, who are experiencing other pressing needs.

“It’s a global phenomenon, but in Korea, too, we’re seeing a decline in quality jobs. Even if you study for many years, it’s not easy to find a good job. Housing prices have risen considerably, making it difficult to buy a home,” he explained.

Younger generations in South Korea fear that “if exchanges between North and South Korea increase, South Korea will have to help the North financially. That’s why some young people oppose that. I completely understand.”

In any case, the bishop insists that if the internal conflicts caused by division are not resolved, “social stability, political integration, and economic development will always be limited.”

“Christ’s teaching is to live as brothers and sisters. When we work together courageously to create a path toward peace, the lives of our descendants can improve,” he concluded.

World Youth Day 2027 is to be held in Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

With Speaker of the House Mike Johnson by his side, President Donald Trump speaks to the press following a House Republican meeting at the U.S. Capitol on May 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 21, 2025 / 05:15 am (CNA).

President Donald Trump met Louis Prevost, the oldest brother of Pope Leo XIV, at the White House on Tuesday, according to the president’s special assistant, Margo Martin.

While speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill earlier the same day, Trump said he likes Pope Leo XIV and was looking forward to meeting with the pope’s brother.

“I like the pope and I like the pope’s brother,” Trump told reporters after meeting with House Republicans in an attempt to rally support behind a budget reconciliation bill.

Trump noted that the pope’s brother Louis “is a major MAGA fan,” alluding to the “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.

“I look forward to getting him to the White House,” Trump said. “I want to shake his hand. I want to give him a big hug.”

According to a photo posted to X by Martin late on Tuesday night, Trump and Vice President JD Vance met Louis Prevost and his wife, Deborah, in the Oval Office.

Louis Prevost, a Florida resident, U.S. Navy veteran, and older brother to Leo, sat beside Second Lady Usha Vance at Pope Leo’s inaugural Mass on Sunday, May 18. He also joined Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio when the U.S. delegation met with Leo on Monday, May 19.

After Leo was elected, becoming the first U.S.-born pope, Louis Prevost did several media interviews expressing his happiness for his brother and confidence in his leadership. Later, some media outlets found social media posts by Louis that also evidenced strong support for Trump and criticism of Democrats.

In an interview on “Piers Morgan Uncensored” on May 12, Prevost responded to criticism he received in response to some of his derogatory comments about Democrats.

“I posted it and I wouldn’t have posted it if I didn’t kind of believe it,” Prevost said. “However, I had no idea that what was coming [Leo becoming pope] was coming this soon and I can tell you, since then, I’ve been very quiet, biting my tongue.”

“I don’t want to create waves that don’t need to be there because I’m a MAGA type and I have my beliefs,” he said. “I don’t need to create heat for [Leo]. He’s going to have enough to handle as it is without the press going ‘the pope’s brother says this.’ He doesn’t need that.”

When the U.S. delegation met with Leo, Vance handed Pope Leo a letter from Trump that invited the pontiff to the United States for a meeting at the White House. Leo said he would make the visit “at some point.”

Vance told Leo “we’ll pray for you” and said: “As you can probably imagine, in the United States the people are extremely excited.”

This story was updated on May 21, 2025, at 5:15 a.m. ET with the information that Trump and Louis Prevost had met.

“Leo XIV: Portrait of the First American Pope,” written by Matthew Bunson, vice president and editorial director at EWTN News, is the first authoritative biographical portrait of Cardinal Robert Prevost, who was elected the new Holy Father on May 8, 2025. / Credit: EWTN Publishing

CNA Staff, May 20, 2025 / 17:58 pm (CNA).

A new biography of Pope Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States, will be available May 21 from EWTN and is now available for preorder. 

“Leo XIV: Portrait of the First American Pope,” written by Matthew Bunson, vice president and editorial director at EWTN News, is the first authoritative biographical portrait of Cardinal Robert Prevost, 69, who was elected the new Holy Father on May 8. 

The book will be officially launched at a May 22 event set to be held at the Vatican’s Campo Santo Teutonico in the Aula Benedict XVI at 5:30 p.m. local time.

The biography provides an “assessment of his three fundamental roles as a successor to the apostles: his sanctifying role as a priest, his governing role as a bishop, and his prophetic role as a teacher and missionary,” EWTN said. 

Michael Warsaw, EWTN’s CEO and chairman of the board, told CNA that he is “excited that EWTN Publishing is releasing this biography of Pope Leo XIV so soon after his election.”

“As the leading Catholic media platform, our aim is to share the Holy Father’s story with the world, starting with his early life, to help people connect with the man now serving as the vicar of Christ,” Warsaw said.

“EWTN is uniquely positioned to publish this biography of the first pope born in the United States and the second pope from the Americas. Like Pope Leo, the EWTN family is global, but our roots are American.”

Bunson, a longtime Vatican journalist and Church expert who has written over 50 books, said he hopes to help to inform readers about the importance of Pope Leo’s membership in the venerable Order of St. Augustine and the fact that he is both a mathematician and canon lawyer, and how those credentials will help him address the Vatican’s financial woes. 

Bunson will also discuss the significance of the choice of the name “Leo” and what that says about the pope’s vision for his pontificate. 

“He has also taken the name Leo XIV in honor of Leo XIII, the great pope from 1878 to 1903, who is like Pope Leo XIV taken up profoundly with the concerns of the encounter between the Church and modernity,” Bunson said May 15, speaking to “EWTN News Nightly.” 

“We had the great industrial revolution at the end of the 19th century; [Leo XIV] is very concerned about the technological and digital revolutions that are taking place right now in the 21st century. So he’s a man very much of his times but somebody who understands the importance of the perennial aspects of Church teaching, to apply them to all the modern situations that we can find ourselves in.”

Additionally, Bunson’s book touches on some of the moral and theological issues currently being debated in the Church and public arena, offering the “informed, balanced, accurate picture of our new Holy Father that the world has been waiting for.”

“We saw that with Pope Benedict XVI [elected] in 2005 and Pope Francis in 2013, many of the things that you read or watch in secular media either weren’t accurate or were sort of a deliberate misrepresentation,” Bunson said.

“So what we want to do with this book is to offer a first portrait of the life, formation, and journey of Robert Francis Prevost from Chicago all the way to Rome, and now, of course, as Pope Leo XIV.”

The future Pope Leo XIV was born on Sept. 14, 1955, in Chicago. He studied at an Augustinian minor seminary in Michigan and later earned a bachelor of science degree in mathematics from Villanova University in Pennsylvania. He joined the Order of St. Augustine, taking solemn vows in 1981, and was ordained to the priesthood in June 1982 after studying theology at the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago.

After being ordained, Leo earned a doctorate in canon law from Rome’s Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (also known as the Angelicum) in 1987. He spent over a decade ministering in South America before being called back to the U.S. to head the Midwest Augustinians and was later elected prior general of the Augustinian order, serving in that role for a dozen years. 

He returned to South America after Pope Francis in 2014 appointed him bishop in Chiclayo, Peru. Francis later called him to Rome in 2023 to head the highly influential Dicastery for Bishops.

The book about Leo’s life is available for preorder on EWTN Religious Catalogue.