Pope Leo XIV baptizes a child in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, January 11, 2026. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jan 11, 2026 / 09:00 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV baptized 20 infants, the children of Vatican… […]
Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for the recitation of the Angelus on Jan. 11, 2026. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jan 11, 2026 / 08:25 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday lamented escalating violence in Iran and Syria and renewed his appeal for peace in Ukraine, while also offering a special blessing for children receiving baptism and praying for those born into “difficult circumstances.”
Speaking after the Angelus on Jan. 11, the pope said: “My thoughts turn to the situation currently unfolding in the Middle East, especially in Iran and Syria, where ongoing tensions continue to claim many lives.” He added: “I hope and pray that dialogue and peace may be patiently nurtured in pursuit of the common good of the whole of society.”
The pope’s remarks came amid unrest in Tehran, where anti-government protests that began about two weeks ago have left more than 70 people dead, according to human rights organizations.
He also pointed to renewed fighting in Syria, where international media reports say clashes have erupted in Aleppo between the interim government’s army and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces over control of neighborhoods in the city center. At least 14 civilians have been killed, with dozens injured and tens of thousands displaced, according to those reports.
Turning to the war in Ukraine, Leo warned of the mounting toll of Russian strikes as winter intensifies.
“In Ukraine, new attacks – particularly severe ones aimed at energy infrastructure as the cold weather grows harsher – are taking a heavy toll on the civilian population,” he said. “I pray for those who suffer and renew my appeal for an end to the violence and for renewed efforts to achieve peace.”
Recent attacks have left more than one million homes without water or heat in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.
Earlier in the day, the pope celebrated Mass for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord and baptized 20 newborns, the children of Vatican employees, in the Sistine Chapel. After the Angelus, he said he wanted to extend his blessing “to all children who have received or will receive Baptism during these days – in Rome and throughout the world – entrusting them to the maternal care of the Virgin Mary.”
He added: “In a particular way, I pray for children born into difficult circumstances, whether due to health conditions or external dangers. May the grace of Baptism, which unites them to the Paschal Mystery of Christ, bear fruit in their lives and in the lives of their families.”
During his Angelus reflection, Leo spoke about the meaning of Christ’s baptism and how the sacrament of baptism makes believers “children of God through the power of his Spirit of life,” encouraging the faithful to remember “the great gift we have received” and to bear witness to it “with joy and authenticity.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun speaks at the Asianews Conference at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, Nov. 18, 2014. – Bohumil Petrik/CNA.
Jan 10, 2026 / 11:30 am (CNA).
Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun delivered a forceful critique of syn… […]
Pope Leo XIV addresses ambassadors and other diplomatic representatives to the Holy See in the Apostolic Palace on Jan. 9, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media
Jan 9, 2026 / 10:17 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV condemned the weakening of international multila… […]
Official image of the “Pray with the Pope” campaign for January 2026. | Credit: World Prayer Network
Jan 8, 2026 / 17:40 pm (CNA).
The Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication has launched a new prayer campaign in which Pope Leo XIV invites Cathol… […]
Pope Leo XIV arrives at St. Peter’s Basilica for a Mass with cardinals on Jan. 8, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media
Jan 8, 2026 / 17:04 pm (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV on Thursday called on cardinals to experience the extraordinary consistory as a time of s… […]
Pope Leo XIV addresses cardinals during the extraordinary consistory on Jan. 7, 2026, in Vatican City. | Credit: Vatican Media
Jan 8, 2026 / 10:52 am (CNA).
ROME — Some cardinals and faithful who have a devotion to the traditional Roman rite have expressed concern that the liturgy appears to be sidelined in the extraordinary consistory currently underway at the Vatican after the cardinals voted to give priority to other issues on the agenda.
In his opening address to the consistory yesterday, Pope Leo XIV reaffirmed to the cardinal participants that they will have the opportunity to “engage in a communal reflection” on four themes already preannounced to be on the meeting’s agenda.
Those topics, he said, were Pope Francis’ 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, “that is, the mission of the Church in today’s world”; Praedicate Evangelium, the late pope’s apostolic constitution reforming the Roman Curia; the Synod and synodality “as both an instrument and a style of cooperation”; and the liturgy, “the source and summit of the Christian life.”
But Leo added that “due to time constraints, and in order to encourage a genuinely in-depth analysis, only two of them will be discussed specifically.”
The cardinals were then asked to make clear which two of the four they would want to be specifically debated and, according to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, “a large majority” decided the topics would be “evangelization and the Church’s missionary activity drawn from rereading Evangelii Gaudium,” and “the Synod and synodality.”
Bruni told reporters at a press briefing Wednesday evening that the 170 cardinals taking part were divided into 20 groups, which were then divided into two blocks. Eleven groups consisted of cardinals in Rome including curial cardinals and those who have concluded their service and are no longer electors. The remaining nine groups were cardinal electors of local Churches (archbishops and bishops of dioceses), cardinal electors who are nuncios and cardinal electors who have concluded their service but remain electors due to being under the age of 80.
Bruni said that “for reasons of time,” the cardinal secretaries of the second block had the job of reporting back the decision of the cardinals. “They had three minutes to explain the work done within the groups and the reasons that led to the choice of the two themes.”
The Holy Father had made clear in his opening address that it was his preference to hear back from the second block as he does not usually receive advice from those cardinals. “It is naturally easier for me to seek counsel from those who work in the Curia and live in Rome,” he said.
But the decision not to make the liturgy a key theme was disappointing to some cardinals and traditional faithful.
The liturgy has long been a particularly sensitive issue, and especially to traditional-minded Catholics following recent sweeping restrictions on the older form of the Latin rite during Pope Francis’ pontificate. These faithful experienced the restrictions not as a mere disciplinary change but as a judgment on their fidelity, spirituality, and ecclesial belonging, which many have described as deeply wounding and divisive.
The popular Italian traditional website “Messa in Latino“ wrote Jan. 7 that it had contacted some anonymous but important cardinals who all said they were “discouraged and disappointed” about the relegation of the liturgy as a discussion topic.
In comments to the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, on Jan. 8, the website’s editor Luigi Casalini asked: “To whom did the pope delegate this choice, and according to what criteria were these cardinals of the nine local Churches selected in order to remove — in effect — two topics?” He also wondered “why cardinals sensitive to the issue” appear to have “made no attempt to lobby” for the liturgy to be included as a core topic of discussion, “even before the consistory.”
The consistory, he added, “appears to be in perfect continuity with the synods and the thought of Francis” — a reference to how recent synods were silent on the traditional liturgy.
Speaking to journalists Wednesday, Bruni tried to offer some reassurance. “The other two themes will still be addressed in some way, because mission does not exclude the liturgy,” he said. “On the contrary, in many ways it does not mean exclusion. It means that they will still be addressed within the others or in some other way.”
He added: “As the pope said and as he noted in both his opening and closing speeches [on Wednesday], the themes cannot be separated from each other, because in mission and evangelization there is liturgy.”
Casalini said he was looking ahead to the two free discussions today to see “whether the topic of the liturgy will be taken up again.”
This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.
The concluding high Mass for the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage, an annual three-day pilgrimage for devotees of the Traditional Latin Mass, on Oct. 29, 2023, celebrated by Bishop Guido Pozzo at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity of the Pilgrims… […]
Pope Leo XIV gives the first general audience of 2026 in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Jan. 7, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media
Jan 7, 2026 / 09:37 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV began a series of reflections on the Second Vatican Council at his first general audience of 2026 on Wednesday.
The public audience, held indoors in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall due to low temperatures, took place shortly before the start of Leo’s first consultation with cardinals, called a consistory, convened for Jan. 7–8.
The pope noted that though the Second Vatican Council took place just over 60 years ago, its generation of bishops, theologians, and lay Catholics is no longer alive — necessitating a renewed study of its teachings.
“While we hear the call not to let [the council’s] prophecy fade, and to continue to seek ways and means to implement its insights, it will be important to get to know it again closely, and to do so not through ‘hearsay’ or interpretations that have been given, but by rereading its documents and reflecting on their content,” the pope said on the morning of Jan. 7.
He affirmed that the magisterium of Vatican II “still constitutes the guiding star of the Church’s journey today.”
“As the years have passed, the conciliar documents have lost none of their timeliness; indeed, their teachings are proving particularly relevant to the new situation of the Church and the current globalized society,” he said, quoting Pope Benedict XVI.
The Holy Father also recalled the original impulse of this great ecclesial event, convened by St. John XXIII, which paved “the way for a new ecclesial season” following a “rich biblical, theological, and liturgical reflection spanning the 20th century.”
Leo reviewed some of the council’s principal fruits, including that it “rediscovered the face of God as the Father who, in Christ, calls us to be his children.”
It also led, he said, to a renewed understanding of the Church “as a mystery of communion and sacrament of unity between God and his people,” and it initiated an important “liturgical reform” by placing the mystery of salvation and the active and conscious participation of the entire people of God at its center.
“It helped us to open up to the world and to embrace the changes and challenges of the modern age in dialogue and co-responsibility, as a Church that wishes to open her arms to humanity,” he explained.
Quoting St. Paul VI, he stated that the Church embarked on a new path in order “to seek the truth by way of ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and dialogue with people of goodwill.”
That same spirit, he added, “must characterize our spiritual life and the pastoral action of the Church, because we have yet to achieve ecclesial reform more fully in a ministerial sense and, in the face of today’s challenges, we are called to continue to be vigilant interpreters of the signs of the times, joyful proclaimers of the Gospel, courageous witnesses of justice and peace.”
“As we approach the documents of Vatican Council II and rediscover their prophetic and contemporary relevance, we welcome the rich tradition of the life of the Church and, at the same time, we question ourselves about the present and renew our joy in running towards the world to bring it the Gospel of the kingdom of God, a kingdom of love, justice, and peace,” he said.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Rochester, New York. | Credit: DanielPenfield via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Jan 7, 2026 / 09:07 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday named New York Auxiliary Bishop John S. Bonnici to lead the Diocese of Rochester, … […]
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