WASHINGTON - “With great joy we celebrate October as Respect Life Month amid the Church’s Jubilee Year of Hope,” announced Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, in a statement.

“The daily headlines remind us of how desperately our world is thirsting for the hope that only God can provide…. the gift of human life exists as a sign of hope to our world today, defying the powers of darkness and the culture of death. It is of the utmost importance that we work to ensure that every life, in every stage and circumstance, is protected in law.

“This Jubilee Year we are challenged to be agents of hope to those whose hearts are burdened by trial, difficulty, or suffering, offering them the hope that comes from Christ Jesus alone,” Bishop Thomas said. 

Read Bishop Thomas’s full statement here. Since 1973, the Catholic Church in the United States has observed October as “Respect Life Month.”

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Clerical sexual abuse continues to be "a real crisis," one that the Catholic Church still must learn to deal with, particularly in improving the way it helps survivors while also ensuring the rights of the accused are respected, Pope Leo XIV said.

"It would be naive for myself or for anyone" to think that dismissing the offender and giving the victim a financial settlement completely solves a case, "as if those wounds are just going to go away because of that," the pope said in an interview for a book by Elise Allen, a journalist.

For Allen's biography, "Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the XXI Century," Pope Leo spoke about a range of issues, including the abuse crisis, U.S. President Donald Trump, the war in Gaza, Vatican policy toward China, the church's openness to LGBTQ Catholics, the role of women in the church, and the celebration of the pre-Vatican II Mass in Latin.

Excerpts of Allen's July 30 interview, her second interview with the pope, were published Sept. 14, but the full transcript was released Sept. 18 in conjunction with the publication of the Spanish edition of the book by Penguin Peru.

Pope Leo said that while the church has enacted tougher laws and policies to prevent and punish abuse, it cannot say that the crisis is over.

"This will continue to take time because victims must be treated with great respect and with an understanding that those who have suffered very deep wounds because of abuse sometimes carry those wounds for their entire life," he said.

At the same time, he said, there is the "complicating factor" of ensuring that the rights of the accused are respected.

"Statistics show that well over 90% of people who come forward and make accusations, they are authentically victims. They are telling the truth. They are not making this up," he said. "But there have also been proven cases of some kind of false accusation. There have been priests whose lives have been destroyed because of that."

And even when the accusation is well founded, the pope said, the accused has a right to a presumption of innocence and due process.

"But even saying that at times is cause of greater pain for the victims," Pope Leo acknowledged. 

On the topic of President Trump, Pope Leo said he had not met the president nor spoken to him, although his brother Louis has and "has been very outspoken about his political views."

Trump "at times has made clear" his concern about questions of human dignity and promoting peace, the pope said. "In those efforts I would want to support him."

"The United States is a power player on the world level, we have to recognize that," he said, but "sometimes decisions are made more based on economics than on human dignity," such as the current immigration policy, and the church will continue to challenge that approach.

Pope Leo declined to get into "some of the things that have been said about the episcopacy in the United States and the relationship between church and politics." However, he said, "the fact that I am American means, among other things, people can't say, like they did about Francis, 'He doesn't understand the United States; he just doesn't see what's going on.'"

Regarding the war in Gaza, Pope Leo told Allen that "the word genocide is being thrown around more and more. Officially, the Holy See does not believe that we can make any declaration at this time about that. There's a very technical definition about what genocide might be, but more and more people are raising the issue, including two human rights groups in Israel."

On China, and most of the other issues the pope discussed in the interview, he said he would follow the basic path laid out by Pope Francis.

"I in no way pretend to be wiser or more experienced than all those who have come before me," Pope Leo said. 

However, before becoming pope he made several visits to China, and Pope Leo said he is "in ongoing dialogue with a number of people, Chinese, on both sides of some of the issues," particularly concerning cooperating with the government so the church can operate openly while showing respect for Chinese Catholics who have undergone oppression for their refusal to join the government-controlled church.

The pope said he also intends to continue Pope Francis' welcoming approach to LGBTQ Catholics while not changing church teaching, especially the Catholic vision of marriage as being between one man and one woman committed to each other for life and open to having children.

"What I'm trying to say is what Francis said very clearly when he would say, 'todos, todos, todos.' Everyone's invited in, but I don't invite a person in because they are or are not of any specific identity. I invite a person in because they are a son or daughter of God," he said.

He said he also would "continue in the footsteps of (Pope) Francis" by appointing women to leadership roles in the church, "recognizing the gifts that women have that can contribute to the life of the church."

Studying the question of ordaining women to the diaconate will continue, he said, but he did not expect church policy to change any time soon, especially since the permanent diaconate is still not valued throughout the church. "Why would we talk about ordaining women to the diaconate if the diaconate itself is not yet properly understood and properly developed and promoted within the church?" he asked.

On continuing requests for greater access to celebrations of the pre-Vatican II Mass, Pope Leo said the Mass has been caught up in "a process of polarization -- people have used the liturgy as an excuse for advancing other topics. It's become a political tool, and that's very unfortunate."
 

WASHINGTON - The National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue (NCMD) met on Sept 8-9 to continue its multi-year study entitled, “Journeying Together.” The dialogue is staffed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. This year’s session featured presentations by Sr. Marianne Farina, CSC and Dr. Anas Malik on the ecological crisis in conjunction with the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical letter on ecology, Laudato si’ and the publication of Al Mizan, the foremost Muslim statement on the environment. 

The NCMD hosted an event at The Catholic University of America with keynotes by the Most Reverend John Stowe, OFM, Conv., Bishop of Lexington, and Imam Saffet Catovic, current Muslim Chaplain at Drew University and a member of the international writing team of Al Mizan. 

Reflecting on the purpose and importance of the NCMD, Catholic Co-Chairman of NCMD, Most Reverend Elias Lorenzo, OSB, Auxiliary Bishop of Newark, stated: “The NCMD strives to foster greater understanding, mutual esteem, lasting friendship and cooperation for the promotion of greater solidarity with the human family. We pursue these goals through collaborative study, the production of educational materials, and the coordination of public events to raise awareness and provide opportunities for mutual engagement.” Similarly echoing the need for continued engagement to uphold solidarity, the Muslim Co-Chairman of the NCMD, Imam Kareem Irfan, Esq., stated: “We convened our 2025 NCMD meeting in our nation's capital with a sense of urgent concerns - not just for the environmental crisis confronting the world, and the distressing realities in the Holy Land - but also given the polarized viewpoints and lines of division fracturing our nation.” 

The work of the NCMD will continue its work of interfaith study, reflection and the production of resources on ecology and the environment as well as several new topics, including the relationship between truth and artificial intelligence, faith in a secular culture, and spiritual communion between Catholics and Muslims.

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WASHINGTON – The Catholic Church in the United States will observe National Migration Week from September 22 to 28. This year, as the Universal Church marks its jubilee year, the World Day of Migrants and Refugees will be observed on October 4–5, coinciding with the Jubilee of Migrants.* 

For 45 years, the U.S. Catholic Church has celebrated National Migration Week by reflecting on its history as an immigrant Church and the ways in which the country has been enriched by generations of immigrants, including the many Catholics who have adopted this land as their own. It is also an opportunity to grow in appreciation of the challenges faced by migrants and refugees, both in the United States and beyond, and to express solidarity through prayer, accompaniment, and advocacy. Pope Francis had chosen “Migrants, missionaries of hope” as the theme for this year’s commemoration, underscoring a key hallmark of his pontificate and in recognition of the courage and resilience of migrants and refugees who bear daily witness to hope despite hardship.  

The U.S. bishops have consistently expressed solidarity with immigrants amid the fear and anxiety prompted by current immigration enforcement efforts. The bishops have called for, and continue to press for, “a more humane system of immigration, one that protects our communities while safeguarding the dignity of all.” This includes encouraging bipartisan collaboration among policymakers. 

In his message for this year’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Pope Leo XIV has continued to emphasize the dignity of migrants, saying, “In a world darkened by war and injustice, even when all seems lost, migrants and refugees stand as messengers of hope. Their courage and tenacity bear heroic testimony to a faith that sees beyond what our eyes can see and gives them the strength to defy death on the various contemporary migration routes.” 

National Migration Week invites Catholics across the country to reflect on how hope can shape and inform our collective response to migration. Catholic dioceses, parishes, schools, and organizations nationwide are encouraged to mark this observance with prayer services, educational programs, community outreach, and support for migration-related ministries. The Justice for Immigrants website offers a comprehensive 2025 National Migration Week toolkit, including resources to help communities prepare spiritually and pastorally. 

*Typically, NMW culminates in the World Day of Migrants and Refugees on the last Sunday in September. 

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In this week's news from the Eastern Churches, produced in collaboration with L'Œuvre d'Orient: Pope Leo meets with the Armenian Catholicos, Eastern Christians celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and Ethiopians celebrate Enkutatash.

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Pope Leo XIV makes a brief visit to the Vatican Tribunal's new courtroom in the Apostolic Palace.

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A new biography of Pope Leo, “Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the 21st Century,” contains the full text of the interview granted by the Holy Father to Elise Ann Allen, covering a wide range of topics, including the tragedy of Gaza, the Church’s policy on China, the role of women, the Church’s welcome of those who identify as LGBTQ+, the clerical abuse crisis, the financial situation of the Holy See, artificial intelligence, and fake news.

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Pope Leo XIV appoints Miroslaw Wachowski as new apostolic nuncio to Iraq and elevates him to the rank of Archbishop. Since 2019, the Polish Holy See diplomat had been serving as Undersecretary for Relations with States.

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Pope Leo XIV tells members of four different religious institutes, gathered on the occasion of their Chapters and Assemblies, to continue to read the signs of the times with the gaze of their founders.

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The Holy See’s representative at the United Nations urges societies to value and care for elderly people, calling for healthy intergenerational solidarity and support for the family.

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