Bishop Juan Ignacio Liébana of Chascomús has encouraged young people to enter politics with honesty, humility, and a strong commitment to the common good. In a message addressed to youth, the bishop described politics as “one of the noblest tasks” and a form of charity at its highest level.

He explained that politics is about serving people, promoting justice, and caring especially for the most vulnerable. He said those entering public life must be people of integrity who do not misuse the hopes and dreams of others.

The bishop outlined important qualities for future leaders. He said they should live simple lives, stay rooted in spiritual values, and regularly reflect on their actions. He advised politicians to remember their promises and examine their conscience often to remain faithful to their mission.

He also stressed the importance of humility, warning leaders not to become proud or self-centered. Instead, they should be ready to admit mistakes, ask for forgiveness, and focus on serving others rather than personal gain.

The bishop encouraged politicians to maintain balance in life by spending time with family, enjoying simple moments, and staying close to ordinary people. He warned against the attraction of luxury and power, which can distance leaders from reality.

He also highlighted the need for honest companions and wise advisors who can guide and correct leaders when needed. Finally, he reminded young people that politics is not for money or fame, but a true vocation of service dedicated to building a better society.

The Cuban government granted pardons to over 2,000 prisoners – including young people, women and people over the age of 60 – in light of Holy Week.

The Cuban government announced that it has granted pardons to 2,010 detainees ahead of Easter, after already releasing 14 prisoners less than a month ago.

This is a “humanitarian and sovereign gesture” taking place “within the context of the religious celebrations of Holy Week,” the government stated in an official announcement broadcast on Cuban television.

Although neither the list of detainees nor the reason behind the decision has been provided, the statement specifies that those receiving the pardon have served “a significant part of their sentence” and have “shown good behavior in prison.”

Among the group are “young people, women, people over 60 years of age,” as well as “foreign nationals and Cuban citizens residing abroad,” the document explains.

The Cuban government, under pressure from Washington – also linked to the oil embargo – emphasized that the announced pardon would be “the fifth” granted since 2011. Since then, 11,000 people have reportedly benefited from such measures. (Vatican News)

As the U.S.-Israeli ceasefire appears to hold in Iran, UNICEF outlines the ongoing danger and impact this war has and will continue to have on children as they “bear the brunt of the conflict.”

In the wake of the two-week cessation of attacks agreement between Israel, the U.S., and Iran, UNICEF is ramping up its aid to help the tens of thousands of children impacted by the conflict. Since the war started, more than 1,100 children have been reported injured or killed in the violence—including 200 killed in Iran, 91 in Lebanon, 4 in Israel, and 1 in Kuwait.

As UNICEF, the UN organization explains, in a statement, how important bringing “hope to Iranian children and families who have endured immense suffering.”  “Even as the skies fall silent again and the attacks come to an end, the impact of the violence on children will have lasting consequences and must not be underestimated,” the UNICEF statement reads.

Every single child who lost their life is remembered by the United Nations Children’s Fund, which expresses deep sorrow for everyone affected—”children who should have felt safe in their homes, their communities, and their classrooms, learning, growing, and dreaming.” UNICEF also shares that they keep the families, communities, and everyone whose lives have been forever changed in their thoughts.

From the start of the conflict, UNICEF has maintained its active mission in Iran, working together with its partners, offering aid to children and families in need of physical and mental health services and psychosocial support.

The organization has deployed pre-positioned medical supplies, mobile health units, primary healthcare tents, and emergency health kits with the goal of regaining access to essential services for communities impacted by the conflict. It also continues to provide vaccines and psychosocial support to children and local groups.

UNICEF reports that children are ‘bearing the brunt of the conflict’ now and going forward. Their lives which were meant to be safe and free have changed into living under constant fear and uncertainty. Access to basic needs is limited. The Iranian Ministry of Health and the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) report that with 442 health facilities damaged around the country,  about 10 million people—including 2.2 million children—have been prevented from receiving essential care.

Pope Leo XIV releases the theme for the 2026 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which focuses on the need for pastoral care for minors on the move.

The Catholic Church’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees will focus this year on minors on the move, recalling the duty to welcome each one of them as the Gospel teaches us. “Even just one of these children” is the theme that Pope Leo XIV has chosen for 112^th day, which will be marked on Sunday, 27 September 2026.

The decision was announced by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. The title is a reference to Matthew 18:5: “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” “With this choice, the Holy Father intends to express the Church’s concern for minors directly involved in migration, recalling the duty to welcome each one of them as the Gospel teaches us. Dicastery also notes that this “is not the first time that the Popes have spoken authoritatively on this issue, but the current migration situation presents new challenges that seriously threaten the rights and dignity of the youngest among us and require urgent and effective responses. Therefore, this is not a matter of discussing numbers or percentages, because ‘even just one’ has the highest value.”

Pope Leo will release a message a few weeks ahead of the World Day.

The origins of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees can be traced to 1914, a few months before the outbreak of World War I. Touched by the drama of millions of Italians who had migrated abroad since the beginning of the 20th century, Pope Pius X called on all Christians to pray for migrants.

A few months later, his successor Pope Benedict XV instituted the Day of the Migrant to spiritually and economically support pastoral work for Italian emigrants. In 1952, Migrant Day took on a broader and more international connotation, and Churches around the world were called upon to choose a date to celebrate the day during the liturgical year.

St. John Paul II was the first pontiff to issue, each year since 1985, a message drawing attention to some of the specific realities and difficulties of people on the move, calling the Church to action. In 2004, the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People extended the day to refugees, calling it the World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

At the behest of St. John Paul II, since 2005, the World Day of Migrants and Refugees has been celebrated by the Universal Church on the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany.

On the 104th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, January 14, 2018, Pope Francis announced that the day would be marked henceforth on the last Sunday of September. (Vatican News)

Addressing journalists in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo XIV asks “all people of goodwill to always search for peace and to reject war,” calls for a return to the negotiating table to pursue peaceful solutions, and notes that attacks on civilian infrastructure are against international law.

“Search always for peace and reject war.” Pope Leo XIV renewed that appeal for peace in a brief statement on Tuesday evening to a group of journalists waiting for him outside Villa Barberini, the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo. Against the backdrop of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and the U.S. President’s threat to destroy “the whole Iranian civilisation” on Tuesday night if Tehran does not comply with a deadline set by the White House to reach a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the Pope said he wished simply to say, once again, “asking all people of goodwill to always search for peace and not violence, to reject war—especially a war which many people have said is unjust, which is continuing to escalate and which is not resolving anything.”

“Today, as we all know, there has also been this threat against the entire people of Iran. And this is truly unacceptable! There are certainly issues of international law here, but even more, it is a moral question concerning the good of the people as a whole, in its entirety.”

The Pope did not neglect to shine the light on the wide-reaching consequences of the conflict and said, “We have a worldwide economic crisis, an energy crisis, and a situation in the Middle East of great instability, which is only provoking more hatred throughout the world.”

Thus, Pope Leo urged, “Come back to the table. Let’s talk. Let’s look for solutions in a peaceful way.”

The Pope went on to remember all those who are being unfairly harmed in the conflict.”Let’s remember, especially, the innocent: children, the elderly, the sick, so many people who have already become, or will become, victims of this continued warfare—and to remind all that attacks on civilian infrastructure are against international law, and that they are also a sign of the hatred, division, and destruction that the human being is capable of.”

The Pope reiterated that “we all want to work for peace. People want peace,” as he called on all people to do their part.

“I would invite the citizens of all the countries involved,” Pope Leo concluded, “to contact the authorities—political leaders, congressmen—to ask them, to tell them, to work for peace and to reject war and violence. Thank you very much.”

Thank you for reading our article. You can keep up-to-date by subscribing to our daily newsletter. 
(By Deborah Castellano Lubov, Vatican News)

Pope Leo XIV meets with a delegation of Italian Olympic and Paralympic athletes who competed at the Milan-Cortina Games, and upholds the value of sport as a place of encounter and self-mastery.

Following the close of the Milan-Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in mid-March, Pope Leo XIV met with the Italian athletes who participated in the world’s premiere sporting event. In his address, the Pope said the competition spread a “noble human, cultural, and spiritual message” throughout the world.

“Sport, when it is lived authentically, does not remain merely a performance,” he said. “It is a form of language, a story made of gestures, effort, waiting, falls, and new beginnings. “Athletes showcased their well-trained bodies but also their stories of sacrifice, discipline, and perseverance.

“In the Paralympic competitions in particular “we observed how limitation can become a place of revelation: not something that hinders the person, but something that can be transformed, even transfigured, into rediscovered qualities.” Pope Leo praised the athletes’ solidarity with the many men and women of their families and teams who supported their sporting journey.

Sport, helps mature character and requires a firm spirituality, as athletes learn to know their body without idolizing it and to govern their emotions. “Training the mind together with the limbs, sport is authentic when it remains human, that is, when it remains faithful to its first vocation: to be a school of life and of talent,” Sport teaches us that true success is measured in the quality of our relationships, mutual esteem, and shared joy.

Recalling his letter Life in Abundance, released ahead of the Olympic Games on February 6, 2026, Pope Leo said an abundant life achieves harmony between corporeality and interiority. He recalled the ancient tradition of the Olympic truce, saying its value rings true in our time marked by polarization, rivalry, and conflict “By your presence,  you made visible this possibility of peace as a prophecy that is anything but rhetorical: breaking the logic of violence in order to promote that of encounter.”

At the same time, he added, sport carries the temptation to win at all cost, even through doping, or to succumb to market forces that raise athletes to celebrity status or reduces them to an image or number.

Pope Leo thanked the Olympic and Paralympic athletes for their witness that it is possible to compete without hatred, win without humiliating others, and lose without losing one’s sense of self-worth.

“Sport, if lived well,” he said, “becomes a laboratory of reconciled humanity, where diversity is not a threat, but a richness.” Pope Leo XIV noted the presence of the Cross of Athletes, which he said gathers the prayers, expectations, hopes, fears, and sufferings of all athletes under the banner of the Risen Christ.

“I entrust you with a mission,” he said, “to continue ensuring that the human person remains at the centre of sport in all its expressions.”… (By Devin Watkins Vatican News)

On the occasion of the launch of the NASA Artemis II Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, in an interview with Vatican media, affirms that “space must remain a common good, with clear legal norms and a sense of responsibility toward all humanity and future generations.”

Artemis II mission is the second mission of NASA’s Artemis lunar program and the first to carry astronauts. The mission includes a crew of four astronauts who will travel beyond Earth’s orbit to perform a wide flyby of the Moon, without landing. It represents an intermediate step toward Artemis III, the mission aimed at returning astronauts to walk on the lunar surface 53 years after Apollo 17, which concluded on December 14, 1972.

Space has increasingly become a subject of discussion within the United Nations. The number of satellites in orbit has grown exponentially in recent years, highlighting how space has become a constant theme in debates related to geopolitics, security, and international relations.

To explore the significance of space missions, the Caritas in Veritate Foundation, chaired by Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations Institutions in Geneva, has produced and released a video “Outer Space and Humanity at the Crossroads: A New Frontier of the Common Good.” The video offers and synthesizes reflections on the purpose of exploring the universe, bringing into dialogue science, theology, and international law, as well as the principles that should govern humanity’s relationship with it and among human beings in the face of this work of God.

The Mission of the Holy See in Geneva and the Caritas in Veritate Foundation, which works in collaboration with it, are concerned with space, which is God’s creation and obeys His laws. To reach Heaven, a supernatural concept, human beings must behave well also in space, which is instead a geographical concept, belonging to the physical and biological order. Space is not terra nullius; it is not a lawless field of conquest governed by the principle “first come, first served.” This is the origin of the publication’s title Space and Humanity at a Crossroads, and also of the content of the video. Humanity is already making decisions about space, moral decisions that will have long-term impacts and can either build up or destroy humanity.

The official Church cannot remain indifferent because of the above said reason.

Looking at space from an ethical perspective urges us to ask: “Is it right to pursue everything that we are technologically capable of achieving? How should we do it? What kind of reality and order do we want to build?” The ethical and multilateral perspective is precisely what the Foundation’s document… propose.

Space must remain a common good, with clear legal norms that, where necessary, are updated with a sense of responsibility toward all humanity and future generations.

It is the change in perspective experienced by all astronauts in space: the Earth appears small, fragile, without borders or divisions, a symbol of shared belonging and collective responsibility. This image contrasts with the reality of wars, abuses, and violence that emerge when we return to viewing the planet up close. Pope Benedict XVI recalled this in words that remain relevant today, during a dialogue with astronauts aboard the International Space Station: “I think it must be obvious to you how we all live together on one Earth and how absurd it is that we fight and kill each other. “So space too is a common home, with rules to be respected.

The Church’s central message is that we must not turn space into a jungle. It offers humanity a kind of second chance, inviting us to avoid many of the mistakes made on Earth. Space must be explored with responsibility, solidarity, and respect for subsidiarity, for the benefit of present and future generations. We must prevent it from becoming a theatre of uncontrolled competition, or worse, conflict. The first practical step the Holy See urges is respect for the Outer Space Treaty, signed by about 120 states, including all major spacefaring nations. In force for nearly sixty years (since 1967), it clearly establishes that the exploration and use of space must be carried out for the benefit and in the interest of all countries. The treaty defines space as the “province of all humankind.” The Holy See calls for strengthening existing legislation, not abandoning it, to avoid leaving some countries behind and to preserve care for creation, for example, through joint projects to remove space debris… (By Fabio Colagrande and Eugenio Murrali Vatican News)