The Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff has released Pope Leo’s calendar for January and February, with the Pope scheduled to preside at liturgies for the Conversion of St Paul, the Presentation of the Lord, and Ash Wednesday.

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Bishop Hanna Jallouf, Vicar Apostolic of Aleppo, laments escalating clashes between the Syrian army and the Syrian Democratic Forces in Kurdish-majority areas.

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Meeting members of the Diplomatic Corps, Pope Leo XIV warns that human rights and freedoms are under strain as diplomacy gives way to the logic of power and war.

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Beginning on 6 January, Pope Leo XIV has made use of a new pastoral staff which, as explained by the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, “stands in continuity” with those used by his predecessors, uniting the mission of proclaiming the mystery of Christ on the Cross with the glorious manifestation of the Resurrection.

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Jan 8, 2026 / 19:18 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV will be hosting a second consistory of cardinals at the end of June and wants to hold such meetings annually.

The Vatican made the announcement Thursday evening at the conclusion of the Holy Father’s first extraordinary consistory of cardinals that lasted two days. The next such meeting is expected to be held on June 27–28, the vigil of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope would like to hold annual meetings lasting three to four days, allowing more time for discussion on various topics of importance and for free interventions by the members of the Sacred College of Cardinals.

Cardinal Stephen Brislin of Johannesburg, South Africa, told reporters at a closing Vatican briefing that he and the other cardinals found this consistory a “very enriching and very deepening experience.” He said they also appreciated that it also gave the opportunity for the cardinals to “get to know each other and to listen to each other.” The fact that the pope wishes to hold more meetings, he added, shows that the pope, too, “found it very important” and helpful. 

The cardinal said some doubts were expressed when they were told they would be split into small groups, and “certainly a concern” was that there would be insufficient opportunity for them “to express themselves and to listen to others.” Still, he said he thought the way the groups were constructed, having been split into two blocks, was “very helpful” and “gave the opportunity for every cardinal to speak,” even if it wasn’t heard by the whole assembly. 

The liturgy was briefly mentioned, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, archbishop emeritus of Durban, South Africa, told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner. But he said the Traditional Latin Mass and “particulars like that” were not discussed. “I think the whole thing was how do we get the whole Church onto the same level at evangelizing, I think that was the main point,” he said.” Hope was expressed by various cardinals that other topics not discussed would be covered at forthcoming consistories. 

Little information emerged both during and after the consistory as cardinals told reporters that Pope Leo had instructed them to keep the proceedings confidential. Nevertheless, Brislin, who was joined by Filippino Cardinal Pablo David and Colombian Cardinal Luis José Rueda Aparicio at Thursday’s press briefing, spoke relatively freely.

Jan 8, 2026 / 18:10 pm (CNA).

Arturo McFields, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), stated that, following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, “winds of hope are blowing” for Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba.

“At this moment, it’s impossible not to share the joy of the Venezuelan people, the hope for a new day, although it’s complex because democracy is not easy, but hope has strongly resurged among Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Cubans, the hope that no dictatorship is eternal, and today that hope is more alive than ever,” the exiled former diplomat told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, on Jan. 6.

“We are seeing right now, in real time, how the powerful figures who thought they were gods or demigods are now brought to their knees and dressed in prison uniforms,” McFields said in reference to Maduro’s appearance this week in New York, where he pleaded not guilty.

Maduro has been accused of narcoterrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.

After stating that the most important thing for a people is their faith in God, the former ambassador emphasized that “all these earthly gods, these Baals, are transient, and we are seeing this in real time. That is a very important message, a very important message of hope for the people of Nicaragua as well, because we know that one day we will see justice, not only divine justice, but in some way even earthly justice.”

Dictatorships are not eternal

“A very important message to consider is that dictatorships are not eternal: We have the dictatorship of the socialist bloc, which lasted more than 70 years. Then we have Syria, more than 50 years. Then we have the dictatorship of Evo Morales [in Bolivia] and the socialist movement, more than 20 years. And each and every one of them eventually fell, and now we are seeing the collapse in Venezuela of more than 26 years of 21st-century socialism, Chavismo, and Maduroism,” McFields continued.

The former ambassador was referring to the socialist political and economic policies of former presidents Hugo Chávez and his successor Maduro.

Great empires like the Roman one, McFields pointed out, “or great dictatorships, fall, and some are more complex, like the socialist dictatorship or the dictatorship in Syria, or the Roman Empire itself, which fell. So, if all those great regimes fell, how could a simpler and less sophisticated regime like Nicaragua’s not fall?”

International law must change to confront ‘criminal dictatorships’

“Under international law, it’s not legal to invade a country, nor is what Maduro was doing legal,” Nicaraguan researcher Martha Patricia Molina, author of the report “Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church,” told ACI Prensa. Her latest report documented that more than 16,500 religious processions were banned by the dictatorship and nearly 1,000 attacks were carried out against Catholics.

“The domestic law of several countries establishes that when someone needs help because they are in imminent danger, you can enter a house without authorization to save the person who needs help. In international law, it’s not like that,” the author continued, addressing those who criticize the Jan. 3 U.S. military intervention during which Maduro was captured in Caracas.

“I believe that international laws are not suited to the criminal dictatorships of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua but rather to countries that respect the rule of law. Current international laws must change and adapt to reality to allow this type of intervention against perpetrators of crimes against humanity,” she emphasized.

In her opinion, an intervention in Nicaragua, like the one the United States carried out in Venezuela, would not happen because “we are not a country of interest to the international community.”

Tyrants feign courage but live in fear

“The one who is most afraid is the most powerful. Tyrants feign courage and present themselves as high and mighty and aggressive, but they live constantly threatened by fear and turn others, even those in their own inner circle, into rivals or enemies to be eliminated. And they don’t hesitate to do so when they see their power threatened,” said Silvio Báez, the exiled auxiliary bishop of Managua, Nicaragua, in his Sunday, Jan. 4, homily for the Mass for the Epiphany of the Lord.

Speaking about the capture of Maduro, but without mentioning him by name, the bishop emphasized that “this is the world of the powerful and of tyrants. [King] Herod and his court personify the dark world of power, where everything is justified and anything goes: calculation, cynicism, lies, cruelty, contempt for life. However, and you will agree with me, ancient history, let’s think of Herod, and recent history, let’s think about what happened yesterday, teaches us that all tyrants pass away, all of them, and end up condemned by God and by history.”

Regarding the Three Wise Men who came to adore the newborn baby Jesus, the Nicaraguan prelate said this act of adoration “transforms us and gives us strength, because only God is to be worshipped; it gives us the strength never to kneel down or be subservient to any idol or power of this world.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus returned to Nazareth and went to the Synagogue in observance of the Sabbath. There he preached the on the words of the prophet Isaiah, saying, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your...

Jan 8, 2026 / 17:40 pm (CNA).

The Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication has launched a new prayer campaign in which Pope Leo XIV invites Catholics to pray with him for the great challenges facing the world.

The “Pray with the Pope” initiative is part of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which, during the pontificate of Pope Francis, launched the project known as “The Pope’s Video,” through which the faithful were invited each month to unite in prayer for a specific intention.

Continuing this mission, the new campaign not only invites people to pray but also offers a specific prayer from Leo XIV, who will present his monthly intention from a renewed perspective, encouraging an intimate and serene experience with Christ.

Transforming life from within

According to Jesuit Father Cristobal Fones, international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, who presented the initiative Jan. 7 in Rome alongside Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, the initiative proposes “a shared inner experience that aspires to transform life from within.”

The focus of this new phase, as the Jesuit priest explained, “will be more centered on supporting a spiritual experience, which often becomes difficult amidst our busy and noise-filled daily lives.”

“The pope is very aware of this and wants to help us, inviting us to pray together for others,” he added. The “update” of the initiative, according to Fones, stems “from the profound need we have to slow down in order to achieve greater depth in our decisions and relationships.”

With a simple and accessible format, “Pray with the Pope” aims to allow anyone, wherever they are, to join in the Holy Father’s prayer intention, which this year 2026 begins with the invitation to “learn to pray with the most definitive Word, which is not our own, so full of empty promises, but Jesus Christ.”

In this month’s video, Pope Leo XIV is seen silently reading a passage from the Bible in the presence of the Lord, and then he recites a short prayer:

“Lord Jesus, living word of the Father, in you we find the light that guides our steps.

“We know that the human heart lives restless, hungry for meaning, and only your Gospel can give it peace and fullness.

“Teach us to listen to you each day in the Scriptures, to let ourselves be challenged by your voice, and to discern our decisions from the closeness to your heart.

“May your word be nourishment in weariness, hope in darkness, and strength in our communities.

“Lord, may your word never be absent from our lips or from our hearts — the word that makes us sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, disciples and missionaries of your kingdom.

“Make us a Church that prays with the word, that builds upon it and shares it with joy, so that in every person the hope of a new world may be born again.

“May our faith grow in the encounter with you through your word, moving us from the heart to reach out to others, to serve the most vulnerable, to forgive, build bridges, and proclaim life. Amen.”

Countering the globalization of indifference

For Fones, this January’s intention will be the basis for the rest of the year’s intentions, which will include children with incurable diseases, the end of war, priests in crisis, respect for human life, and families experiencing the absence of a mother or father, among others.

The priest explained that the initiative also seeks to “highlight important and crucial issues for everyone, opening our hearts to urgent realities and transforming our environment to counteract the globalization of indifference.”

The campaign can be followed on the pope’s prayer website in several languages, and will also be available in audio format through Vatican Radio and partner platforms such as Pray as You Go, RezandoVoy, and Hallow. The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is currently present in more than 90 countries and reaches over 22 million people.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Jan 8, 2026 / 17:04 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday called on cardinals to experience the extraordinary consistory as a time of spiritual discernment in unity and warned against the temptation to put personal interests ahead of the common good.

“We gather not to promote personal or group ‘agendas’ but to entrust our plans and inspirations to a discernment that transcends us — ‘as the heavens are higher than the earth’ — and which comes only from the Lord,” he said in his homily for the Mass he celebrated Jan. 8 in St. Peter’s Basilica with the cardinals present in Rome for this important two-day ecclesial meeting convened to help him make decisions about the future of the Catholic Church.

Leo XIV urged the cardinals to experience the Eucharist as the place where this discernment is purified and transformed, asking them to place all their “hopes and ideas upon the altar.”

Truly listening to the voice of God

“Only in this way will we truly know how to listen to his voice and to welcome it through the gift that we are to one another — which is the very reason we have gathered,” he added.

The pope linked this vision to the spirituality of communion, recalling that Christian love is “Trinitarian” and “relational,” and quoted St. John Paul II, who defined it as “the heart’s contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us.”

This extraordinary consistory — different from the ordinary ones, which are more limited and frequent — was planned to take place immediately after the Jubilee of Hope to “offer support and advice to the Holy Father in the exercise of his high and arduous responsibility of governing the Church,” according to a statement from the Holy See.

St. John Paul II convened six extraordinary consistories during his 26-year pontificate, while Pope Benedict XVI chose to hold consultative meetings with the cardinals on the eve of the ordinary consistories. In total, he held three such meetings during his pontificate.

During the 12 years of his pontificate, Pope Francis held only one extraordinary consistory, on Feb. 20, 2014, which focused primarily on the family and marriage, ahead of the Synod on the Family held that same year.

Unlike his predecessor, who preferred to consult with a smaller council, Leo XIV convened the entire College of Cardinals to assist him in governing the universal Church.

Evangelization and synodality

The cardinals are expected to offer the new pontiff their views on two specific topics: the Synod and synodality, and the mission of evangelization and the missionary character of the Church in light of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. Initially, the meeting topics also included discussions on the liturgy and the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, but lack of time has limited the issues that will be addressed.

The pontiff reflected on the very meaning of the consistory, recalling that the word “consistorium” in Latin refers to the idea of ​​“pausing.”

“Indeed, all of us have ‘paused’ in order to be here. We have set aside our activities for a time, and even canceled important commitments, so as to discern together what the Lord is asking of us for the good of his people,” he emphasized.

Not a group of experts, but a community of faith

In his homily, the Holy Father reminded those present that this gathering is not about a “mere group of experts” but “a community of faith. Only when the gifts that each person brings are offered to the Lord and returned by him, will they bear the greatest fruit according to his providence.”

The pontiff also recalled the words of St. Leo the Great to emphasize the communal dimension of ecclesial service: “In this way,” he said, “‘the hungry are fed, the naked clothed, the sick visited, and no one seeks his or her own interests, but those of others.’”

Referring to the challenges of today’s world, marked by profound inequalities and a widespread “hunger for goodness and peace,” the pope acknowledged the feeling of inadequacy in the face of the mission but encouraged them to face it together, trusting in providence.

“We will be able to help one another — and in particular, to help the pope — to find the “five loaves and two fish” that providence “never fails to provide,” he affirmed.

Leo XIV concluded his homily by offering the cardinals his “heartfelt thanks” for their service and reminding them that, even if they don’t always manage to find solutions to the problems they face.

‘We may not always find immediate solutions to the problems we face’

“We may not always be able to find immediate solutions to the problems we face. Yet in every place and circumstance, we will be able to help one another — and in particular, to help the pope,” he said, calling for collaboration.

“Beloved brothers,” the pope noted, “what you offer to the Church through your service, at every level, is something profound and very personal, unique to each of you and precious to all.”

According to what the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, reported Jan. 7, of the 245 cardinals who currently make up the College of Cardinals, 170 are in Rome participating in the closed-door meetings that concluded Thursday.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Jan 8, 2026 / 15:06 pm (CNA).

More than 11,000 Christians gathered in the Bavarian city of Augsburg this week for one of Europe’s largest ecumenical faith events — the MEHR conference — which its founder says aims to “make room for God” in an increasingly secular region.

The four-day MEHR conference (German for “more”), held Jan. 3–6 at the Augsburg Trade Fair grounds, drew participants from across the continent to hear from international speakers — including American author John Eldredge — and to engage in prayer and worship.

Led by Catholic theologian Johannes Hartl and the Augsburg Gebetshaus (“House of Prayer”), the 14th annual gathering brought together Catholics, Lutherans, and evangelicals under the theme “The Sound of Joy,” defying trends of declining church attendance in German-speaking Europe.

While most attendees came from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, organizers on opening night welcomed visitors from as far away as Costa Rica, Italy, and Norway.

Ecumenical celebration

The conference opened with prayer and praise. Designed as an interdenominational gathering, MEHR unites diverse Christian traditions and incorporates varied styles of worship.

Auxiliary Bishop Florian Wörner celebrated a Catholic Mass on Sunday, while Augsburg Bishop Bertram Meier presided at Mass for the solemnity of the Epiphany on Jan. 6. Most worship bands came from evangelical communities, while Lutheran Bishop Tobias Pilz led a Protestant service on Monday.

Prayer is the centerpiece of the conference, transcending denominational lines, Hartl explained in an interview with CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, and EWTN News.

“When we pray, sing, and speak about him — when we direct the attention of 10,000 people toward him — something comes back: his presence, his joy, his peace,” he said.

Finding spiritual resonance

This year’s theme, “The Sound of Joy,” focused on helping participants tune in to that spiritual resonance.

“Participants often tell us that when they enter our main hall, their eyes are opened; they receive new hope, new perspectives, and life’s questions find answers,” Hartl said. “We aren’t doing that — we can’t. Only God can. But we can make room for God.”

Katharina Achammer, who traveled from Salzburg, experienced this joy firsthand. Having attended three times before, she said she remains impressed by how people from different Christian traditions can focus together on Jesus. “When young people pray together, that simply radiates joy for me,” Achammer said.

Hartl defended the scale of the event by emphasizing the unique dynamic of mass gatherings.

“Some things you can only see on a large scale,” he said, comparing the conference to the World Cup: While it doesn’t replace the weekly practice of local church life, “sometimes you need these special experiences.”

The Bible, Hartl noted, is full of large festivals — and the Church marks major events such as World Youth Day and holy years. “We celebrate a big festival because God is worth celebrating in a generous, beautiful way,” he said.

While shared experiences are vital, Hartl emphasized that MEHR is not only about emotional experiences. Each year, he includes a theological track to engage scholars on contemporary questions.

“Ideas have long-term consequences,” he said. “What a society holds to be true changes everything in the long run.” His goal, he explained, is to shape ideas, not just spread feelings.

Dealing with secular media

The House of Prayer’s influence has drawn negative attention in Germany’s secular media, as CNA Deutsch reported.

A recent documentary by public service Bavarian Broadcasting scrutinized Catholic renewal movements, portraying Hartl and his team as “ hip missionaries” who, it claimed, stand “with Jesus against freedom.”

Asked about the critical reporting, Hartl said: “Over the years, we’ve received plenty of positive coverage. Recently, there was a somewhat critical report — but if you come here, talk to the people, and soak up the atmosphere, you can decide for yourself whether this is a dogmatic, fear-obsessed, hostile culture — or a life-affirming, joyful one.”

Speakers and future generations

Chris from Cologne attended the conference specifically to hear author John Eldredge, who spoke on resilience and living in God’s presence. He also enjoyed the Sunday evening concert by the Christian band O’Bros.

“Those two sessions alone made the trip worthwhile,” he said.

A separate “MEHRkids” program offered games and age-appropriate catechesis for younger visitors. Eight-year-old Tobias, visiting from Italy with his parents, said his favorite part was the trampolines.

“We also talked about how we can encounter God,” Tobias said. While the workshops didn’t interest him as much, he still had fun — and hopes to return next time.

Creating space for 11,000 people to encounter God is no small task. But true to its theme, the “sound of joy” echoed through the packed halls of the Augsburg fairgrounds as thousands made room for God at the start of the new year.

This article was first published by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.