VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Amid renewed tensions between the Vatican and traditionalist Catholics over the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Leo XIV defended Church reform as a legitimate process that adapts to current needs while remaining rooted in authentic tradition.

During his May 27 general audience in St. Peter’s Square, the pope said authentic renewal of the liturgy is acceptable and encouraged when the Church first engages in careful theological and pastoral study and then makes sure that “any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing." 

"In a particular way, I encourage everyone to respect the texts and norms of the liturgy with openness, humility, trust in God’s greatness and with sincere fidelity to ecclesial communion," he said in his address to English speakers.

His remarks came weeks after the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X announced plans to move forward with ordaining new bishops without papal approval, despite warnings from the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith that such an act would be schismatic and carry automatic excommunication for the members involved in performing and receiving the consecrations.

In a May 13 statement published by the dicastery's prefect, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández warned that "this action will constitute ‘a schismatic act’" and that "formal adherence to the schism constitutes a grave offense against God and entails the excommunication established by the law of the Church."

Founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the Society of St. Pius X has long opposed several teachings and reforms associated with Vatican II, particularly regarding the liturgy, ecumenism and religious liberty. Earlier this year, the group announced plans to consecrate bishops without papal authorization July 1, a move that would deepen its rupture with Rome.

In February, SSPX Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani, who resides at the society's headquarters in Switzerland, met with Cardinal Fernández, but the society later reaffirmed its intention to proceed with the consecrations.

Addressing French-speaking visitors during the general audience -, the pope prayed  that "a liturgical renewal, faithful to the authentic tradition, may consolidate ecclesial communion and the full participation of the faithful."

Throughout his general audience catechesis, Pope Leo repeatedly framed liturgical reform as part of the Church’s living tradition rather than a break from the past.

Quoting Pope Pius XII and the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, "Sacrosanctum Concilium," the pope said the Church "grows, matures, develops" while safeguarding the integrity of doctrine. He also reiterated the council’s call to preserve "sound tradition" while remaining open to "legitimate progress."

The pope said changes within the liturgy had taken place throughout the Church’s history in order to help the faithful participate more fully in the Paschal mystery and to allow the Church’s worship to become embodied within different cultures throughout history.

"Today, this energy must be renewed in continuity with the authentic and living Catholic tradition, that is, in accordance with a dynamic aimed at introducing believers to the fullness of the truth," he said.

Citing Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Leo said tradition and progress should not be viewed as opposites, recalling Benedict’s image of tradition as "a river" that carries its source within itself while continuing to flow forward.

At the same time, the pope stressed that any reform within the Church must be approached carefully and with ecclesial authority. Referencing "Sacrosanctum Concilium," he said reforms should only occur when "the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them" and after "careful theological, historical and pastoral" study.

"I therefore urge all those called to prepare the celebration of the divine mysteries, in particular

priests who exercise the ministry of liturgical presidency, to always uphold that respect for the texts and regulations of the liturgy which springs from an inner attitude of openness and trust in God, manifesting humility before His greatness and sincere fidelity to ecclesial communion," he said.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection has released the 2025 Annual Report – Findings and Recommendations on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The report is based on the audit findings of StoneBridge Business Partners, a consulting firm which provides forensic, internal, and compliance audit services. A survey regarding allegations of abuse of minors and costs that is annually conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University is also included as a part of the report. 

This is the twenty-third such report since 2002 when the U.S. bishops established and adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, a comprehensive framework of procedures to address allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy and establish protocols to protect children and young people.

The 2025 report covers July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025. During that period, 1,070 allegations were reported by 973 victims-survivors of child sexual abuse by clergy throughout 194 Catholic dioceses and eparchies that reported information. This is an increase of 168 allegations reported in the previous audit year. Allegations received as a result of lawsuits, compensation programs, and bankruptcies, make up approximately 60% of allegations during 2025. Out of the 1,070 allegations, a total of 727, or 68%, were brought to the attention of the diocesan/eparchial representatives through an attorney, making this the principal reporting method during the 2025 audit period. Allegations made by spouses, relatives, or other representatives such as other dioceses/eparchies, religious orders, clergy members, or law enforcement officials on behalf of the victim-survivor were additional methods of reporting, totaling 112 allegations. The remaining 231 allegations were made by self-disclosure.

During the current audit period, dioceses/eparchies provided outreach and support services to 150 victim-survivors and their families who reported during this audit period. Continued support was provided to 1,331 victim-survivors and their families who reported abuse in prior audit periods. The report notes the ongoing work of the Catholic Church in continuing the call to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults. In 2025, the Church conducted 2,320,143 background checks on clergy, employees, and volunteers. Additionally, in 2025, there were 2,328,545 adults and 2,803,250 children and youth trained in how to identify the warning signs of abuse and how to report those signs.

For the 2024 audit year, 194 of 196 dioceses/eparchies fully participated in the 2025 data collection process and two dioceses did not participate. StoneBridge physically visited 36 dioceses/eparchies and utilized remote technologies to perform 25 additional remote visits to dioceses and eparchies, for a total of 61on-site audit visits and collected data from an additional 133 others. Of the 61 dioceses/eparchies that participated in the on-site audits that took place between March and December 2025, there was one finding of non-compliance with certain aspects of the Charter involving one location. Compliance with the Charter was determined based on implementation efforts from the date of the last audit visit through 2025.

CARA completed their data collection for the 2025 annual survey in January 2026. All but five of the 196 dioceses and eparchies of the USCCB completed the survey, for a response rate of 97%. The findings indicate that among 89 alleged perpetrators that were classified, nine-tenths of the alleged offenders identified between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, are deceased, already removed from ministry, already laicized, or missing (89%). Another 10 priests or deacons identified during fiscal year 2025 were permanently removed from ministry during that time (11%). There were no offenders that were temporarily removed from ministry pending investigation of the allegations. Nor were there any alleged offenders that remained in active ministry during that fiscal year pending the investigation. 

For the 2025 audit period, there was one finding of non-compliance with certain articles of the Charter involving one diocese: The Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux was found to be non-compliant with Article 2 due to the Diocesan Review Board not meeting since October 17, 2023. Subsequent to the audit period, the Diocese convened a meeting of the Diocesan Review Board, bringing the Diocese into compliance with Article 2 of the Charter. The following dioceses/eparchies did not participate in either the on-site audit or data collection process, thus no information on these locations could be included in this report: Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma of the Ruthenians (OH) and Our Lady of Deliverance Syriac Catholic Eparchy in the USA.

The USCCB’s Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People and the National Review Board continue to emphasize that the audit and continued application of zero-tolerance policies are two important tools in the Catholic Church’s broader commitment to create a culture of protection and healing that exceeds the requirements of the Charter. 

This most recent annual report, and all previously published annual reports, may be found on the USCCB website: https://www.usccb.org/offices/child-and-youth-protection/audits. Additional information on diocesan requirements for the protection of children and young people may be found here. 

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Israeli air attacks kill at least two people in southern Lebanon’s Tyre district as it expandes its operations across the war-battered country. The attacks come in the wake of intense bombing on Tuesday as the IDF pounds Lebanon with more than 120 air strikes.

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Pope Leo XIV signs a chirograph creating a new steering commission to relaunch the House for the Relief of Suffering Foundation, established in the Italian city of San Giovanni Rotondo by Saint Pio of Pietrelcina.

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Ahead of Pope Leo XIV's Apostolic Journey to Spain in June, Pope Leo XIV receives the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, in the Vatican.

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During his Wednesday General Audience, Pope Leo XIV appeals for peace following the latest Russian attacks on Ukraine, stressing that war does not solve problems; it worsens them, for “wherever missiles and drones fall, hopes also collapse; homes and places of worship are destroyed, and innocent lives are shattered.”

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During his weekly General Audience, Pope Leo XIV reflects on Vatican II's 1963 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, and emphasizes the importance of liturgical progress that also preserves sound tradition.

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Speaking to journalists outside Castel Gandolfo on Tuesday evening, Pope Leo renews his appeal for humanitarian assistance in Gaza, warns against the use of artificial intelligence in warfare that disregards human life, and highlights ongoing dialogue with AI company Anthropic.

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Nigerian Catholic priest Fr. Oliver Ikenna Nwagbara, a member of the Congregation of Christ the Emmanuel (CCE) and Assistant Pastor at Good Shepherd Parish in the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth, Canada, is often called the "Digital Pastor." He shares his insights on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In his first encyclical, Pope Leo XIV used a sweeping reflection on artificial intelligence to question whether the Catholic Church's centuries-old just war framework remains valid in modern warfare and to ask pardon for the church's role in slavery.

The pope's 82-page encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas" ("Magnificent Humanity"), primarily focuses on the ethical development of artificial intelligence and the dangers posed by autonomous weapons, concentrated technological power and the erosion of human dignity. But within the document, Pope Leo also makes several broader interventions on war, violence and historical injustice.

In discussing such topics, he questioned the Catholic teaching of just war theory in modern warfare and wrote about slavery in an unprecedented way. 

The just war theory, largely created through the writings of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, has been accepted for centuries throughout Catholic teaching, to determine whether warfare could be morally justified under strict conditions. It states that a nation must try its best to avoid violence by considering the human cost, just cause and an effort to engage in diplomatic negotiations. It has recently been used by the Trump administration to justify the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. 

But Pope Leo wrote the theory has become increasingly insufficient in an age shaped by advanced weaponry and artificial intelligence and "is now outdated." 

"Humanity possesses far more effective and capable tools for promoting human life and resolving conflicts, such as dialogue, diplomacy and forgiveness," he wrote. "The use of force, violence and weapons reflects a relational poverty that always has disastrous consequences for civilian populations."

The pope also introduced additional criteria he said should be considered before warfare, including ensuring a clear chain of responsibility when automated technologies are used in combat, establishing a "moral timeframe for making judgments” in an era when artificial intelligence can accelerate military decisions, and safeguarding civilians.

Elsewhere in the encyclical, Pope Leo addressed the Catholic Church's participation in the "scourge of slavery," in broader terms than many of his predecessors. Previous popes have apologized for more specific instances like Christian involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, but Pope Leo appeared to frame the Church's responsibility more institutionally.

"It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord," he wrote. "For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon."

The pope's comments immediately drew attention because both subjects,  just war theory and institutional responsibility for slavery, are novel approaches. Anna Rowlands, professor of political theology and Catholic social doctrine at Durham University in England, spoke with Catholic News Service about the significance of the pope's statements and how they fit within the broader themes of "Magnifica Humanitas."

This interview has been edited for clarity and length:

CNS: So talking about the fact that this first encyclical is addressing a lot of the issues that he's brought up throughout his papacy, something that really struck us was his just war theory and how he said that it was outdated. I wanted to get your thoughts on that. If it is outdated, is there going to be a new theory that replaces it? Do you see tenants of that throughout this encyclical?

Rowlands: So, actually, Pope Leo is joining a conversation that's been going on for some time through recent encyclicals and wider documents of the Church about exactly how we keep the dynamism of the Church's commitment to peace as the only true end goal in sight. So the just war tradition was developed obviously from the early Church, from the first centuries, including Augustine's very significant contribution to that, St. Thomas Aquinas' contribution, and then into the modern era, that tradition was developed in order to try to work out how you can keep peace to the world and a sense that you could build sustainable, stable human communities that were committed to justice. 

So the question is, how much does the just war theory -- which is a theory, it's a way of thinking together about how you achieve those ends -- how fit is it as a framework, as a kind of moral architecture for thinking about the world that we're in now. 

And in recent papacies, not simply Pope Leo at this moment, but in recent papacies, there's been an attempt to reevaluate the usefulness of that theory to the modern moment. Without rejecting the theory outright, the evaluation has been: sometimes it can be too easy to deploy the just war theory in the world we live in now, too quickly to defend violence and intervention and force, rather than to pause back from it. 

So the question is, can just war theory sometimes be pushed towards justifying violence where we might want to see peace? So it's not that the Church has refused that tradition, and we saw Pope Leo do this very recently, he drew from the just war tradition in relation to Iran and the conflict of Iran, to say you need to remember this doesn't meet the criteria of just war theory. That's what many of the American bishops, the U.S. bishops, are also saying. So we still deploy that. You can see its usefulness and importance there. 

But what the encyclical is doing is saying, but don't rely on that alone, and we need to continue this live discernment about the performance, the moral performance of just war theory. How much does it help us reach the true ends, which are a just peace for all within a global order and also within nations. And so in this moment, the encyclical is pushing us to say, you can't use just war theory as a legitimate way to rush towards aggression and violence. And we need to find almost just war theory plus in order to enable us to really reach the ends of just peace. And remember, that's the focus. It's not just is there a textbook consideration that allows us to legitimate domination. 

And what's really important here is he's evaluating adjustable theory in a tech era. Because everything in this document is looking at what does it mean to live in a time, an era, a moment where tech -- we're sitting here mic'd up, now you're in front of a laptop -- we're totally tech-mediated in the conversation. 

What does that do to warfare? And he's very clear that it pushes to impersonalization, it pushes to a rapidification, a speeding up of decisions. And it seems to mean that we have a much less embodied understanding of what any use of violence, even if it might be in self defense, legitimate, what that really entails and how you create reflective intervals, true transparency and accountability. So if you read the bit of the document that comes after his critical critique of just war theory, he sets out some of the conditions, he calls them criteria for judgment that help us think what would we do now given the context of modern warfare that we're in now? So he wants us to morally evaluate performance and theory, almost look beyond it into a framework that includes it, but takes us beyond. And he gives us some new criteria for a very tech driven era of warfare.

CNS: Something else that we found very interesting was -- I think this was kind of one of the rare moments where we saw him ask for forgiveness for the Church's long tolerance of slavery. Can you tell me a little bit about what you thought about that, and do you think that it was time? Do you think that it really is going to be impactful?

Rowlands: Yeah. So when I first read those paragraphs in the document, I was really struck by them. And I was struck by them for two reasons from two different perspectives. One is that the apologies that we have for slaves from the Church before, from John Paul II's time onwards, including Pope Francis, have by and large been an expression of the deepest of sorrow and regret for the involvement of individual Christians in legitimating what is always illegitimately ownership and subjugation of a another human being. What this text does is move us slightly more in the direction of talking about the Church and the language of the Church, not merely individual Christians. 

So there's much more of a sense of a collective ownership of what is done in the name of the Church. There's a kind of movement of language frame there which I think is about bringing the question of slavery and the legacy of slavery into a collective space of accountability, responsibility and discernment.

That links to the second part that struck me really centrally, which is it's not just a sort of sudden moment of sort of a apologizing for slavery, it's in the context of thinking about contemporary slavery now and the fact that in a tech era where there are new forms of subjugation and slavery, and Dr. (Leocadie) Lushombo talked in her intervention today about those new forms of slavery in the digital era, the extracted industries, the mining, the trafficking of people and so forth. He's basically saying to us, we don't want to be in another moment of history in 100 years where we are finding that we are apologizing once again because we didn't deal with the slavery of our own era now. So he's saying, if I'm going to say that with authority, which I've mastered urgency now, I must also deal with the historical past.