Pope Leo XIV addresses thousands of Church and civil lawyers, judges, and others who work in the legal environment during the Jubilee of Workers of Justice, part of the yearlong Jubilee of Hope, in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 20, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Sep 20, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).
Forgiveness is fundamental to the virtue of justice, Pope Leo XIV said to thousands of legal professionals gathered in Rome for the Jubilee of Workers of Justice on Saturday.
“It is the power of forgiveness, which is proper to the commandment of love, that emerges as a constitutive element of a justice capable of combining the supernatural with the human,” the pope said in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 20.
Leo, who has a doctorate in Church law, explained that the evangelical virtue of justice is not a distraction from human justice, but “questions and redesigns it: It provokes it to go even further, because it pushes it towards the search for reconciliation.”
“Evil, in fact, must not only be punished, but also repaired, and to this end, a profound gaze toward the good of individuals and the common good is necessary,” he urged Church and civil lawyers, judges, and others who work in the legal environment.
“This is an arduous task, but not impossible for those who, aware that they are performing a more demanding service than others, are committed to leading an irreproachable life,” the pope added.
Pope Leo XIV addresses thousands of legal professionals gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Jubilee of Workers of Justice on Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media.
An estimated 20,000 people from 100 countries took part in the Jubilee of Workers of Justice, part of the yearlong Jubilee of Hope, including a large number of pilgrims from the United States and Canada. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was also in attendance.
Joshua McCaig, a lawyer and founding president of the Catholic Bar Association, traveled to Rome for the jubilee with a delegation of over 50 legal professionals from the U.S.
He told EWTN News he hopes the event “will be an opportunity for us all to reflect on what more we can do for the common good.”
“The Catholic Church brings resources, brings hope, brings community, brings values that are instilled in the teachings of Jesus Christ to help all individuals — but also those in the legal profession — further develop an understanding of how this world should be and the role we should play in it,” he said.
Before the audience with the pope, Archbishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, gave a lecture on the theme of “Iustitia Imago Dei: the operator of justice, instrument of hope.”
“Those who administer justice in the Church must also be pastors. … They must respect justice, but they are pastors who must also watch over the good of souls,” Arrieta told EWTN News this week.
In his message, Pope Leo emphasized that the function of justice “is indispensable both for the orderly development of society and as a cardinal virtue that inspires and guides the conscience of every man and woman.”
“Striving for justice, therefore, requires being able to love it as a reality that can only be achieved through constant attention, radical disinterest, and assiduous discernment,” he said.
He noted that the Jubilee of Workers of Justice is a chance to also reflect on an overlooked aspect of justice, the reality that many countries and people “hunger and thirst for justice” because their living conditions are gravely unjust and inhuman.
The pontiff cited St. Augustine, calling the saint’s words “timeless truths” to apply to the current international situation.
“’Without justice,’” the pope quoted, “’the state cannot be administered; it is impossible to have law in a state where there is no true justice. An act performed according to law is certainly performed according to justice, and it is impossible to perform an act according to law that is performed against justice […] A state where there is no justice is not a state. Justice is, in fact, the virtue that distributes to each his due. Therefore, it is not human justice that takes man away from the true God.’”
“May the challenging words of St. Augustine inspire each of us to always express the exercise of justice in the service of the people to the best of our ability, with our gaze turned to God, so as to fully respect justice, law, and the dignity of persons,” Leo said.
Matteo Ciofi, EWTN News Nightly Vatican producer, and Victoria Cardiel, Vatican Correspondent for ACI Prensa/EWTN News, contributed to this report.
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Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Wednesday, June 25, 2025 / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Aug 16, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).
Saturday, Aug. 16, marks Pope Leo XIV’s 100th day as pope. Since his May 8 election as the first pope born and raised in the United States, the 69-year-old Chicago native has already left his mark on a jubilee year filled with papal liturgies and a surge in pilgrim enthusiasm.
Here are some of the highlights of the first 100 days of the new Holy Father:
Papal jubilee: Pope Leo offers 16 public Masses in 14 weeks
Pope Leo XIV began his papacy in the heart of the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, and he made the most of this opportunity to interact with Catholic pilgrims from across the globe by offering many Masses with the public.
Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass for the Jubilee of Sport on June 15, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
Leo XIV offered 16 large public Masses in just 14 weeks — an average of more than one per week — including seven Masses in June alone. The pace marks a significant shift from the final years of Pope Francis’ pontificate when the aging pope was unable to offer Mass himself at the altar. Francis was present at only four Masses with the public in the same time period last year.
The papal Masses have drawn large crowds and significant attention, beginning with his first inaugural Mass, which brought 200 foreign delegations — including heads of state and royalty — to the Vatican. Since then, Leo has celebrated liturgies for the jubilees of Families, Priests, and Youth as well as on major solemnities and feasts including Pentecost, Corpus Christi, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy Trinity, Sts. Peter and Paul, and Mary, Mother of the Church.
Leo XIV is the first pope elected during a jubilee year since 1700.
Pope Leo XIV on the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul in Rome, June 29, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media
A singing pope
One of Pope Leo’s most unexpected moments came during his first Regina Caeli address, when he stunned a crowd of 200,000 in St. Peter’s Square by singing the Marian hymn rather than reciting it in Latin like his recent predecessors. Since then, he has continued chanting during liturgies and leading crowds in sung versions of the Our Father in Latin.
The move inspired the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music to launch “Let’s Sing with the Pope,” an online series aimed at making Gregorian chant more accessible.
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First American pope on White Sox stadium jumbotron
In June, the first pope born and raised in the United States appeared on the jumbotron at a gathering of American Catholics at Chicago’s Rate Field — home of his beloved White Sox. In a video message delivered entirely in English, Pope Leo urged young people to be “beacons of hope” and invited all to see that “God is reaching out to you, calling you, inviting you to know his son, Jesus Christ.”
It was the pope’s first direct address to his hometown since his election and one of the earliest papal speeches given entirely in English.
Pope Leo XIV addresses Catholic faithful on the scoreboard at Rate Field, home to the Chicago White Sox, during a celebration and Mass to honor his election as pope on June 14, 2025, in Chicago. Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images
The new pope’s love of sports has led to some memorable moments. He blessed 159 cyclists as they passed through Vatican City in the final leg of the Giro d’Italia.
A self-described “amateur tennis player,” Pope Leo XIV joked with tennis star Jannik Sinner, ranked the world’s No. 1, whether his white cassock would meet Wimbledon’s requirement for all white attire.
Pope Leo XIV meets with Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner on May 14, 2025, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
The pope has also been gifted White Sox and Bears jerseys and has signed baseballs for enthusiastic pilgrims.
A voice for peace in Gaza and Ukraine
Pope Leo XIV’s first words were “Peace be with you all,” recalling the first greeting of the risen Christ recorded in Scripture. As wars continued and at times intensified during Pope Leo’s first months, the pope has continued to be a voice for peace.
In June, after U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Pope Leo urged world leaders “to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss.” Following an Israeli strike that killed three people at Gaza’s only Catholic church in July, he appealed for “a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and full respect for humanitarian law.”
“Today more than ever, humanity cries out and pleads for peace,” the pope said during an Angelus from the window of the Apostolic Palace.
Leo also met with bishops and pilgrims from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Castel Gandolfo in July, where the two discussed the urgency of “just and lasting paths of peace,” according to the Vatican.
Pope Leo XIV greets Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Castel Gandolfo on July 9, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media
Leo carries the Eucharist through the streets of Rome
Pope Leo personally carried the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Rome during a Corpus Christi procession from the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
“Together, as shepherds and flock, we will feed on the Blessed Sacrament, adore him, and carry him through the streets,” he said. “In doing so, we will present him before the eyes, the consciences, and the hearts of the people.”
More than 20,000 people turned out for Leo XIV’s first Eucharistic procession as pope.
Pope Leo XIV leads a Eucharistic procession in Rome on June 22, 2025, for the feast of Corpus Christi. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/EWTN
Return to Castel Gandolfo
Pope Leo revived the papal tradition of spending summer days at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo. During his two-week stay in July, he led public Masses in local parishes, greeted pilgrims as he led the Angelus prayer in Liberty Square, and received visiting dignitaries. His stay marks the first papal summer retreat in the lakeside town since the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI.
The sun burst through raindrops right as Pope Leo XIV appeared in front of the apostolic palace of Castel Gandolfo to give the Angelus address on July 13, 2025. Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
Pope Leo introduces the world to great quotes by St. Augustine
A member of the Augustinian order, Pope Leo has quoted St. Augustine in nearly every one of his homilies as pope. In his first public words on May 8, he said: “I am an Augustinian, a son of St. Augustine, who once said, ‘With you I am a Christian, and for you I am a bishop.’”
Addressing 1 million young people at the Jubilee of Youth in August, he quoted Augustine’s “Confessions”: “You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness… I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more.”
Pope Leo XIV greets crowds at the Jubilee of Youth on Aug. 3, 2025, at Tor Vergata in Rome. Credit: Vatican Media
A focus on artificial intelligence
Pope Leo has frequently spoken about artificial intelligence (AI), which is already shaping up to be a topic of interest in his pontificate with many hoping that he will address it in an encyclical.
Early on in his pontificate, Leo drew parallels between his namesake Pope Leo XIII, who responded to the industrial revolution with Rerum Novarum, and today’s digital revolution, explaining that the rise of AI poses “new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor.”
“Humanity is at a crossroads, facing the immense potential generated by the digital revolution driven by artificial intelligence,” he warned in a message to the Geneva-based AI for Good Summit. “The impact of this revolution is far-reaching, transforming areas such as education, work, art, health care, governance, the military, and communication.”
Pope Leo XIV smiles during his Wednesday general audience on Aug. 13, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
The Vatican website received a revamp shortly after Leo’s election, and insiders noted Leo’s relatively tech-savvy background, including a personal Twitter account prior to his papacy.
The pope also expressed concern in a speech to another AI conference about the negative effects that AI can have on the “intellectual and neurological development” of rising generations and the “loss of the sense of the human” that societies are experiencing.
Leo declares a new doctor of the Church
In one of his most significant theological gestures, Pope Leo named St. John Henry Newman, a 19th-century English convert from Anglicanism, a doctor of the Church — a rare title given to just 37 other saints. The title is granted in recognition of an already canonized saint’s significant contribution to advancing the Church’s knowledge of doctrine, theology, or spirituality.
Pope Leo XIV greets hundreds of thousands of youth and pilgrims ahead of a vigil at Tor Vergata, Rome, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. Credit: Mateusz Opila
Leo also approved the upcoming canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati in September as the first saints of his pontificate. He greenlit seven additional causes for canonization, including that of Blessed Bartolo Longo, a former satanist turned founder of the Marian shrine in Pompeii.
Carrying the cross before a million young people at the Jubilee of Youth
Pope Leo addressed the largest crowd of his papacy to date at the Jubilee of Youth, where an estimated 1 million young adults camped out in fields in Tor Vergata, southeast of Rome.
He surprised them by walking through the crowd to the stage, personally carrying the jubilee cross. During the evening vigil, he answered youth questions in English, Italian, and Spanish, offering reflections on loneliness, discernment, and friendship with Christ.
Pope Leo XIV leads young people from around the world in a procession, carrying the Jubilee Year Cross during the Jubilee of Youth this evening in Tor Vergata, on the outskirts of Rome. pic.twitter.com/XPjOnQg9p9
After Eucharistic adoration, chants of “Papa Leone!” echoed long into the night. Leo stayed past 10 p.m. — well beyond the scheduled end.
Earlier in the week, he made a surprise appearance at the opening Mass, joyfully proclaiming in English: “Jesus tells us: You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world!” and the crowd erupted in cheers.
Adoration to the Blessed Sacrament. / Sidney de Almeida/Shutterstock
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Radical disinterest in tandem with assiduous discernment will inevitably arrive at human sentiment rather than Justice understood as a legal virtue.
Justice and peace are two sides of the same coin.