Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful at the gates of Castel Gandolfo on Aug. 19, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media
ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 20, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).
Speaking to reporters at Castel Gandolfo on Aug. 19, Pope Leo XIV expressed hope for an end to the war in Ukraine but noted that hard work and prayer are needed so that the peace negotiations may bear fruit.
According to Vatican News, before returning to the Vatican after his morning visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Mentorella, Mother of Graces, the pontiff spoke with journalists waiting outside the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo about the conflict in the heart of Europe: “There is hope, but we still need to work hard, pray hard, and truly seek the way forward to find peace.”
Leo XIV made these comments just after 9 p.m. local time after greeting hundreds of pilgrims gathered in the street, some of whom were able to speak briefly with the pontiff.
First 100 days, ‘a blessing from God’
Asked about his first 100 days as bishop of Rome and successor to St. Peter, the pontiff simply said that they have been “a blessing from God.”
“I receive so much, I believe deeply in the Lord’s grace, and I am very grateful for the welcome I have received. I thank you all,” he said before leaving for the Vatican.
Before that, Pope Leo XIV did not miss the opportunity to express his gratitude for the opportunity to enjoy Castel Gandolfo, where he hopes to return soon: “Being here is a blessing; I am very happy with the welcome I have received from the people.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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Pope Francis meets with French Catholic entrepreneurs at the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, Jan. 7, 2022. / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Jan 7, 2022 / 07:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Friday offered advice to business leaders who want to live out the Gospel in the workplace, where he said “the Church needs your witness.”
In a meeting at the Vatican with French Catholic entrepreneurs on Jan. 7, the pope said that he wanted to share some teachings to help “carry out your role as leaders according to the heart of God.”
Vatican Media.
“I realize how demanding and difficult it can be to implement the Gospel in a competitive professional world,” Pope Francis said.
“Nonetheless, I invite you to keep your gaze fixed on Jesus Christ through your prayer life and the offering of your daily work. He had the experience on the cross of loving to the end, of fulfilling his mission to the point of giving his life.”
Vatican Media.
The pope said that Christian business leaders had their own crosses to bear, but encouraged them to endure them with the grace and confidence of knowing that Jesus has “promised to accompany us ‘to the end of the world’ (Matthew 28:20).”
“Do not hesitate to invoke the Holy Spirit to guide your choices,” Francis added.
Vatican Media.
The pope met with entrepreneurs participating in a conference entitled, “The Journey of the Common Good,” which brought 200 people together in Rome for discussions on “how to transform your company to put it at the service of the Common Good.”
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, papal preacher Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, and French bishops’ conference president Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort attended the conference, along with a number of other French bishops, including Bishop Dominique Rey of Fréjus-Toulon.
Vatican Media.
Pope Francis outlined pairs of concepts that he said appeared to be in tension but can help bring unity to the life of a Christian. One example he gave was “authority and service.”
“Exercising authority as a service requires sharing it. Here too, Jesus is our teacher, when he sends his disciples on mission endowing them with his own authority,” he said.
Vatican Media.
“You are invited to put into practice the subsidiarity which enhances the autonomy and the capacity for initiative of all, especially of the least. … Thus, the Christian executive is called to carefully consider the place allotted to all people in his company, including those whose duties may appear to be of minor importance, because each is important in God’s eyes.”
The pope also encouraged Christian executives to be close to their employees, “to take an interest in their lives, to become aware of their difficulties, sufferings, anxieties, but also their joys, projects, hopes.”
“The mission of the Christian leader resembles, in many respects, that of the shepherd, of whom Jesus is the model, and who knows how to go before the flock to show the way, knows how to stand in the middle to see what is happening there, and also knows how to stay behind, to make sure no one loses contact,” he said.
Vatican Media.
“I have often urged priests and bishops to have ‘the smell of sheep,’ to immerse themselves in the reality of those entrusted to them, to get to know them, to be close to them. I believe this advice also applies to you.”
Vatican Media.
Last April, Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtue of Venerable Enrique Shaw, an Argentine businessman with a cause for sainthood.
Shaw was born in Paris, France, in 1921, and emigrated to Argentina, where he established himself as a businessman of outstanding integrity. He founded the Christian Association of Business Executives in 1952 and sought to apply Catholic social teaching in the workplace.
The businessman had nine children, including one who became a priest. He wrote numerous books and articles, and established a pension fund and a healthcare plan to provide 3,400 workers with financial support in the case of illness, and loans for important life events such as marriage, birth, and death.
Vatican Media.
Pope Francis oversaw the diocesan phase of Shaw’s cause while he was serving as archbishop of the Argentine capital.
Vatican Media.
“I find it very beautiful and courageous that, in today’s world often marked by individualism, indifference and even the marginalization of the most vulnerable people, some entrepreneurs and business leaders have at heart the service of everyone and not just private interests or inner circles,” Pope Francis told the entrepreneurs.
Father Enrique “Kike” Figaredo on Oct. 23, 2024, presents Pope Francis with a wheelchair made by land mine survivors in Cambodia. / Credit: Courtesy of Father Kike Figaredo
Vatican City, Oct 25, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Jesuit priest and apostoli… […]
Vatican City, Oct 14, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis called for the laity to “take a step forward” in carrying out the Church’s mission of evangelization in a preface to a book written by an Italian bishop.
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