Pope Leo XIV on Monday met in a private audience with Gareth Gore, a British journalist whose work has criticized Opus Dei as abusive.
Gore said he spoke to the pope for more than 40 minutes and presented him with testimonies from alleged victims of the organization.
Gore is the author of the 2024 book “Opus,” which accuses Opus Dei of financial misdeeds and spiritual and physical abuse against its members.
Writing on his Substack after the March 16 meeting, the journalist said Pope Leo praised his book as a “rigorous piece of work.”
Gore also said he previously thought the Vatican did not want to seriously address accusations of abuse within Opus Dei but that his meeting with Leo “forces me to reassess those conclusions.”
The Vatican did not respond to a request for comment on the meeting.
A spokesman for Opus Dei said the group had no comment on the meeting or Gore’s statement and pointed to prior statements from Opus Dei about Gore’s book.
Opus Dei has previously denounced Gore’s book as “littered with twisted facts, errors, conspiracy theories, and even outright lies.”
The pope received Opus Dei’s prelate, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, in audience at the Vatican last month.
The Feb. 16 meeting came as the personal prelature’s proposed statutes — submitted to the Holy See on June 11, 2025 — remain under review.
Opus Dei’s draft is being examined by the Dicastery for the Clergy following the reforms to the governance of personal prelatures introduced under Pope Francis.
In Church structure, Opus Dei is a “personal prelature,” which, according to canon law, “consists of presbyters and deacons of the secular clergy” joined together to “accomplish particular pastoral or missionary works.”
The organization was founded by Spanish priest Father Josemaría Escrivá in 1928. Escrivá was canonized a saint in 2002.
Pope Leo XIV said Sunday that God cannot be used to justify violence or war, warning that “God cannot be enlisted by darkness.”
The pope made the remarks March 15 during a pastoral visit to the Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Ponte Mammolo, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Rome, where he celebrated Mass on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, known as Laetare Sunday.
Before the Mass, Leo XIV met with various parish groups, including children, young people, families, the sick, the elderly, and the poor assisted by volunteers from Caritas, the Catholic Church’s charitable aid network, and the Community of Sant’Egidio, a Rome-based Catholic lay community known for its service to the poor and peacemaking efforts.
In his homily, the pope reflected on the suffering caused by armed conflicts around the world.
“Many of our brothers and sisters today suffer because of violent conflicts, caused by the absurd claim that problems and differences can be resolved with war,” he said. “Instead, we must tirelessly pursue dialogue for peace.”
“Some even claim to involve the name of God in these choices of death,” the pope continued. “But God cannot be enlisted by darkness. Rather, he always comes to give light, hope, and peace to humanity — and it is peace that those who invoke him must seek.”
Reflecting on the Gospel story of the man born blind, Leo XIV said the passage teaches believers to see others with the eyes of God.
To see in this way, he said, means overcoming prejudice — especially the tendency to look at someone who suffers “only as an outcast to be despised or a problem to be avoided,” retreating into “the fortified tower of selfish individualism.”
Jesus, by contrast, looks at the blind man with love, “not as an inferior being or a nuisance, but as a person who is dear and in need of help,” the pope said.
By healing him, Jesus reveals his divine power and restores the man’s dignity as a creature made in the image and likeness of God. Having regained his sight, the man becomes “a witness to the light,” the pope said.
Leo XIV also warned of another form of blindness — the refusal to recognize God’s presence.
Those who accused Jesus and the healed man, he said, showed a deeper blindness: failing to see “right before them the face of God,” preferring instead the sterile security of rigid legalism.
“Jesus does not stop before such obstinacy,” the pope said, showing that “there is no Sabbath that can hinder an act of love.”
The pope also urged Christians to examine their own lives.
“We too can be blind when we fail to notice others and their problems,” he said. The first Christian community, he added, understood the call to live differently — sharing their goods, persevering in prayer, and living in communion and peace despite trials.
Addressing the parish community directly, Leo XIV praised its outreach to the poor and marginalized, including its attention to inmates at the nearby Rebibbia prison and its efforts to assist migrants with learning the language, finding housing, and securing stable employment.
He also commended the parish’s charitable initiatives, including family homes that welcome women and mothers in difficulty.
The pope concluded by encouraging the faithful to continue nurturing the “gift of light” entrusted to them through prayer, the sacraments, and charity.
“Let it grow within you and among you in all its gentleness,” he said, “and spread it throughout the world.”
Earlier, greeting children and young people, the pope also addressed parishioners who could not enter the church because of limited space, telling them that a vibrant parish community can be a sign of hope even in places marked by hardship.
“We who believe in Jesus Christ and live as brothers and sisters united can be a sign of hope in a world where these signs are often lacking,” he said. “In Jesus Christ there is salvation, and we want to live, receive, and share this great love that the Lord offers us.”
This article was originally published by ACI Stampa, EWTN News’ Italian-language news partner, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
Preacher of the Papal Household Father Roberto Pasolini continued on March 13 with the second Lenten homily, inspired by the conversion of St. Francis of Assisi and titled “If Anyone Is in Christ, He Is a New Creation: Conversion to the Gospel According to St. Francis.”
Before Pope Leo XIV and members of the Roman Curia gathered in the Paul VI Audience Hall, the Capuchin friar meditated on fraternity, referring to it as both a gift and a “serious and urgent” responsibility — especially in a society marked by division.
In his sermon reported by Vatican News, Pasolini explained that conversion is truly realized within fraternity, describing it as “the most eloquent sign of what the Gospel can accomplish in our lives.”
He also exhorted his listeners to “go beyond” and to view our brothers and sisters not merely as a source of support or sustenance but as someone entrusted to us “so that our lives may change.”
In this context, Pasolini emphasized that brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, do not merely serve to confirm “what we are” but rather call us to a true transformation: “They become the concrete space in which God works on our humanity, loosening our rigidities and teaching us to live with a truer heart, one more capable of love.”
In light of the biblical account of Cain and Abel, the preacher to the papal household noted that a rift between brothers stems “from a problem of perspective” and urged the pope and the Roman Curia to ask themselves “who is Cain within us” and how much space resentment occupies.
He also recalled that, for St. Francis, fraternity is an opportunity “to learn the merciful logic of the Gospel toward a neighbor who makes mistakes.”
“When relationships crack and communion is wounded,” Pasolini noted, “the Gospel does not first suggest defending one’s own rights. Instead, it urges seeking the greatest and always possible good: the good that allows us to recognize in the other no longer an adversary or a debtor but a brother loved by the Lord,” he affirmed.
Pasolini thus invited his audience to focus on the conversion that arises “precisely from what others do to us, even when they hurt us or put us to the test,” and, for this reason, “we must never lose sight of the horizon” or the perspective of eternal life.
“Faith does not separate but reminds us that no one can be excluded from our hearts,” he remarked.
By way of conclusion, Pasolini noted that, amid the divisions, wars, and conflicts of the present day, Christians “cannot limit ourselves to speaking of fraternity as an ideal to be achieved.”
“We are called to receive it as a gift, and, at the same time,” he urged, “to take it on as a very serious and urgent responsibility.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday urged those responsible for the escalating war in the Middle East to declare a ceasefire and open paths of dialogue, warning that violence can never lead to justice or peace.
“In the name of the Christians of the Middle East and of all women and men of goodwill, I address those responsible for this conflict: Let the fire cease and let paths of dialogue be reopened,” the pope said after praying the Angelus with pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
The appeal came amid continuing regional tensions and exchanges of attacks in the Middle East. Earlier Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC that Iran is seeking a ceasefire agreement to end U.S. and Israeli bombing, though he said he is not prepared to accept the proposal for now because the “terms are not good enough yet.”
Israel also struck targets in Lebanon, where at least 14 people were reported killed, including four minors. Pope Leo described the situation in the country as “a cause for great concern.”
“I hope that paths of dialogue will open that can help the authorities of the country implement lasting solutions to the serious crisis underway, for the common good of all Lebanese,” he said.
The pope noted that for the past two weeks the peoples of the Middle East have been suffering “the atrocious violence of war.”
“Thousands of innocent people have been killed and many others have been forced to abandon their homes,” he said, expressing his prayerful closeness to those who have lost loved ones in attacks on schools, hospitals, and residential areas.
“Violence will never lead to the justice, stability, or peace that peoples hope for,” he added.
‘Faith is not a renunciation of reason’
Earlier during the Angelus reflection, Pope Leo emphasized that Christian faith does not require abandoning reason but instead allows believers to see reality more clearly.
Reflecting on the Gospel account of the healing of the man born blind (John 9:1–41), the pope said the episode reveals the deeper meaning of salvation.
“While humanity walked in darkness, God sent his Son as the light of the world to open the eyes of the blind and illuminate our lives,” he said.
The pope stressed that faith “is not a blind act,” nor “a renunciation of reason,” nor a conviction that turns believers away from the world.
Rather, he explained, “faith helps us to look from the point of view of Jesus, with his eyes.”
“It is a participation in his way of seeing,” he said, quoting Lumen Fidei, the first encyclical of Pope Francis.
For this reason, Christians are called to open their eyes to the suffering of others and to the wounds of the world.
The Gospel, the pope said, contradicts the idea — widespread for centuries and still present today — that faith is a “leap into darkness.”
“On the contrary, the Gospel tells us that in contact with Christ the eyes are opened,” he said.
Pope Leo added that the Gospel invites believers to view the world with Christ’s eyes and not remain indifferent to human suffering.
“Today, in particular, faced with the many questions of the human heart and the dramatic situations of injustice, violence, and suffering that mark our time, there is a need for an awake, attentive, and prophetic faith,” he said.
Such faith, he explained, “opens our eyes to the darkness of the world and brings there the light of the Gospel through a commitment to peace, justice, and solidarity.”
The pope concluded by encouraging Christians to live a “Christianity with open eyes,” with simplicity and courage.
“Brothers and sisters, we too, healed by the love of Christ, are called to live a Christianity with open eyes,” he said.
This story was first published in two parts by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Pope Leo XIV on March 14 took possession of the traditional papal apartment within the Apostolic Palace, moving into the quarters traditionally reserved for his predecessors.
The move was announced on March 14 by the Holy See Press Office, more than 10 months after Leo’s election.
The Holy Father had been staying at an apartment at the Palace of the Holy Office but will now reside in what has long served as the home of the reigning pontiff. The custom was discontinued in March 2013 by Pope Francis, who chose to reside at Casa Santa Marta from the beginning of his pontificate.
Pope Leo XIV has also reinstated the papal tradition of staying at the summer residence of Castel Gandolfo. In the summer of 2025 the pope stayed at Villa Barberini; subsequently, he decided to travel to Castel Gandolfo almost every week, staying from Monday evening until Tuesday evening.
The papal apartment has undergone a lengthy and meticulous restoration, having remained unoccupied since the conclusion of Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate on Feb. 28, 2013.
The previous renovation dated back to the spring of 2005, following the death of Pope John Paul II and prior to Benedict XVI taking up residence in the quarters.
In addition to the bedrooms, the apartment comprises a private study for the pope — from the window of which he appears every Sunday to recite the Angelus — as well as a dining room and a private chapel, where pontiffs have traditionally celebrated Mass at the start of each day.
Residing alongside Pope Leo XIV in the papal apartment within the Apostolic Palace will likely be his two secretaries, Peruvian Monsignor Edgard Iván Rimaycuna Inga and Italian Father Marco Billeri.
This storywas first publishedby ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
In a message conveyed through Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Leo XIV on Friday said that mathematicians can become “signs of hope for the world,” particularly in a context marked by rapid technological advancements and challenges facing humanity.
The pope’s message was addressed to the Turkish mathematician and university professor Betül Tanbay, chair of the International Day of Mathematics, which was observed March 13.
Tanbay had informed the pontiff of a webinar dedicated to the theme “Mathematics and Hope.” In response, the pope sent a letter extending his cordial greetings and best wishes to all participants in the initiative.
In the text, Leo XIV invited reflection on the role that mathematics can play in the face of “the multiple challenges confronting the human family,” citing rapid technological development, with all its potential “for both good and evil.”
The pontiff encouraged participants to consider how mathematicians can offer a positive witness to society. “A particularly fruitful area of research is the use of algorithms, especially in the field of artificial intelligence,” he noted.
However, the pope emphasized that work in these fields demands something more than technical competence. As he pointed out, this task requires “not only intellectual effort and ingenuity but also the integral growth of the whole person,” capable of taking into account the moral dimension of emerging technologies.
Recalling his own experience as a mathematics and physics teacher, Leo XIV quoted words he addressed to students during the Jubilee of the World of Education, held on Oct. 30, 2025: “Possessing vast knowledge is not enough if we don’t know who we are or what the meaning of life is.”
Along these lines, the pontiff expressed his hope that participants would be attentive “to the profound spiritual needs of the human heart” and seek ways to humanize the digital realm so that it may become an opportunity for fraternity and creativity.
Likewise, he encouraged mathematicians to be “prophets of hope, truth, and goodness in the world.”
The message concluded with a prayer from the pope for all participants in the International Day of Mathematics, upon whom he invoked “abundant divine blessings of wisdom, joy, and peace.”
Pope Leo XIV’s mathematical background
Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, graduated in 1977 from Villanova University in Pennsylvania, earning a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics alongside studies in philosophy. This preceded the beginning of his theological studies upon his formal entry into the Augustinian novitiate that same year.
During his time at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Prevost combined his religious formation with teaching: He taught mathematics part time at Mendel Catholic High School in Chicago and worked occasionally as a substitute physics teacher at St. Rita of Cascia High School.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
In Castel Gandolfo, Italy, this week, academics and representatives gathered to launch the Global Alliance, a new initiative by the University of Notre Dame and the Laudato Si’ Centre of Higher Education dedicated to promoting integral ecology through fostering environmental collaboration.
As reported by the official Vatican News outlet, the initiative, which took place March 9–10 at the Borgo Laudato Si’, part of the Pontifical Villa Gardens at Castel Gandolfo established by Pope Leo XIV last year, featured discussions on integral ecology, climate change, and ecological leadership.
Cardinal Fabio Baggio, general director of the Laudato Si’ Center and undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, spoke of the Global Alliance as a fruit of more universities expressing interest in studying the teachings of Laudato Si’.
“We started by looking around the world at all the universities that have begun deepening their studies on Laudato Si’ — we found more than 400,” Baggio said. “One of the outputs we envisioned from the very beginning was the creation of a Global Alliance. The people here are going to commit to producing more research and disseminating awareness about ecological conversion.”
The Borgo Laudato Si’ complex features a circular greenhouse, centuries-old trees, and agricultural land; it is dedicated to Pope Francis’ teachings on caring for creation in his encyclical Laudato Si’.
Sister Alessandra Smerilli, the secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, spoke of event as a source of excitement and a gathering of “people from different corners of the world, different universities, but with one aim, which is that we want to share ideas and good practices to live according to Laudato Si’ principles.”
Former Vatican auditor general Libero Milone revealed details about the work he oversaw with the Vatican finances with the late Cardinal George Pell, including financial irregularities and unaccounted-for sums of money.
“We need to be sure, and I say this as a Catholic and as an accountant, that we are informed correctly about the state of the Vatican finances,” Milone said. “Because if the Vatican finances are sound, it means that our Church will continue. If the Vatican finances are not sound, it’s going to have problems.”
Milone sat down with EWTN News correspondent Colm Flynn for an exclusive interview about his case against the Vatican alleging unfair dismissal, loss of earnings, and reputational damage. The case has been dismissed, and he is filing his final appeal.
For decades, the Vatican has struggled with transparency and accountability in its finances. To address this, Pope Francis appointed Pell to head the Secretariat for the Economy and named Milone as the Vatican’s first auditor general.
Before coming to the Vatican, Milone was a top financial auditor who spent more than 30 years at Deloitte in Italy and in the U.S. as well as a number of other firms.
His job at the Vatican was to examine the Church’s balance sheets and bring order to its financial operations. But after two years Milone suddenly resigned, which he has said he was forced to do after uncovering financial irregularities.
Milone took legal action alleging that Cardinal Angelo Becciu pressured him to quit after he began finding evidence of fraud. The Vatican dismissed his complaint, arguing that even if Becciu did force his resignation, he acted in a personal capacity, not as an official of the Secretariat of State.
The Vatican has said that Milone “failed in the agreement to keep confidential the reasons for his resignation from office.”
“When they delivered the decree of the crimes that I committed, the document said that they had a document …. which proved they had carried out seven months of investigation on me and included all the details of whatever crimes I’d committed,” Milone said.
“This happened in June of 2017. Eight years and some months have gone by, and we have asked for this document many, many times and we’ve never been given it. So I don’t have any element to know what exactly I’m accused of,” he said.
“My impression is, I’ve never seen it because maybe it doesn’t include anything, because had it included something real, I would have been confronted with it,” he said.
Milone appealed, but the decision was upheld. He has launched a final appeal.
The Vatican did not comment upon EWTN News’ request, which Milone says is because “they’re very embarrassed.”
“They’re very embarrassed what two individuals did within the Vatican from an institutional standpoint, and they don’t have the answer,” he said. “So they try to shy away from the issue without commenting on it, which is what happened in the legal case.”
Financial irregularities
Since his dismissal, Milone has spoken with a number of journalists about the matter and irregulatires he uncovered. He spoke with one who was investigating an issue regarding payment systems for the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA).
APSA “is the major dicastery of the Vatican, responsible for the management of its assets,” Milone said. “It’s like a treasury, and it’s also sort of a banking institution, although it’s not a direct bank because it operates through banks in other countries to operate its financial activities.”
“When this journalist did his investigation and came up with an analysis … he contacted me and he said he had found out that the payment system in APSA was possibly able to make payments by losing track of the receiver,” Milone said.
The issue was that someone could make a money transfer and then change the direction where the money was going after it had left the account, and it wouldn’t show up on the initial records.
The journalist asked if it was true. “So I told the journalist, ‘What you found out is correct, full stop.’ So I only mentioned it once, saying there was a problem with the swift payment issues. And I confirmed the investigation. How could I not confirm? I couldn’t lie.”
“In my two years in the Vatican, I reported 15 issues to the money laundering authority AIF, and to the promoter [of] justice to investigate. Because my statute said if there are issues which are in conflict of the law, you have to report to these authorities,” he said.
“AIF, 14 times, replied to me that we had misunderstood and one time they didn’t reply. And the promoter of justice never replied to any of them. So what’s the point in highlighting issues which need to be investigated if nobody looks into them?”
Milone has also spoken out about “an odd transfer” of 2.5 million euros sent to a hospital to build a ward. The money was sent, but there is no ward.
“We examined all the documentation, all the transactions, and we found that 2.5 million had been paid over to … the hospital over a period of time in equal transactions, 10 transactions of 250,000, I think. And it had gone into the bank account. The ward had not been built. But the money also left the bank account” of the hospital.
“And that was reported to the promoter of justice in the Vatican,” he said. “I just did my job. My job was to review, report, and then get on with the next thing. My job was not of a judicial nature.”
Next steps with Pope Leo
In an interview with Crux, Pope Leo XIV has said the claims of a financial crisis at the Vatican have been exaggerated, noting that the Holy See actually recorded a surplus of 60 million euros in 2024.
He even said he wasn’t “losing any sleep” over the issue of finances at the Vatican. In response, Milone said: “I was very worried that the pope would not be properly informed of the situation in the Vatican because there were too many, let me use the word, skeletons in cupboards that needed to be preserved. And therefore it would be very difficult to understand the issues at hand.”
“The financial situation may be better than he expected,” Milone said. “I don’t know what’s happened between 2017, when I left, and today, except from reading in the newspapers. But I also know as an experienced accountant that some of the issues there would have been very difficult to remove in a very short period of time.”
“Now, the fact that the consolidated financial statements are not being disclosed, to me, is an indication that there is a problem,” he said.
Milone said he would like to meet with Pope Leo “to give him my understanding of some of the challenges that the Vatican faces in moving forward and becoming sound from an economical standpoint.”
As Milone’s case moves forward, if the next appeal is rejected “that would be technically the end of the line in the Vatican,” he said.
“I’m an optimistic person. I believe that in any case, if there’s a justice system, the justice system has to be properly followed by. And I believe that at the end of the day, if there is truth in the documents and the documents are read properly and understood properly, I will be on the right side of the decision,” Milone said.
On Friday, March 13, Pope Leo XIV issued a direct appeal to Christians who bear responsibility in armed conflicts, urging them to undertake a serious examination of conscience.
“Do those Christians who bear grave responsibility in armed conflicts have the humility and courage to make a serious examination of conscience and to go to confession?” the pontiff asked before priests dedicated to the ministry of confession.
The Holy Father’s statement was made within an international context heightened by the conflict between the United States and Israel with Iran.
The audience took place at the Vatican during a meeting with priests participating in the annual course dedicated to the formation of confessors, organized by the Apostolic Penitentiary. Each year, these courses bring together priests from various parts of the world to deepen their understanding of the pastoral practice of the sacrament of penance.
In his address, the pope underscored the importance of the sacrament of reconciliation, attributing to it the mission of restoring a person’s “inner unity.”
That reconciliation produces, he added, “the inner unity of the individual and unity with the Church,” and for this reason “it also promotes peace and unity within the human family.”
In his address, Leo XIV recalled that the ministry of confession demands closeness, listening, and the capacity to spiritually accompany the faithful — especially in a context marked by tensions and conflicts.
In a world that, as he put it, is experiencing a time of “fragmentation,” the pope emphasized that reconciliation fosters a person’s inner unity — a quest particularly prevalent among young people. The disappointments caused by “unbridled consumerism” or by “a freedom detached from the truth,” he noted, can become “opportunities for evangelization.”
Furthermore, he explained that reconciliation with God also has an ecclesial dimension. “In the celebration of the sacrament of confession, whilst penitents are reconciled with God and with the Church, the Church herself is edified and enriched by the renewed holiness of her repentant and forgiven children,” he remarked.
Many Christians don’t make use of the sacrament of reconciliation
Leo XIV lamented that numerous baptized individuals do not frequently turn to the sacrament of reconciliation, warning that the Church’s “infinite treasure of mercy” runs the risk of notbeing taken advantage of.
During his meeting with priests and candidates for the priesthood participating in the annual course for confessors organized by the Apostolic Penitentiary at the Vatican, the pontiff emphasized that, although the sacrament can be received repeatedly, this does not always translate into actual practice among the faithful.
“It is as though the infinite treasure of the Church’s mercy remained “unused,” he said, due to a widespread distraction among Christians.
As he explained, it is not uncommon for many of the faithful to “remain in a state of sin for a long time rather than approaching the confessional with simplicity of faith and heart to receive the gift of the risen Lord.”
The pope recalled that the practice of confession has a long normative tradition within the Church. Thus, he cited the Fourth Lateran Council, which established in 1215 the obligation to go to confession at least once a year — a norm also upheld by the Catechism of the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council: “After having attained the age of discretion, each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year” (Code of Canon Law, 989).”
During his address, Leo XIV also recalled a teaching of St. Augustine of Hippo: “He who confesses his sins, and accuses them, does now work with God. God accuses your sins: and if you also accuse, you are united to God.”
The sacrament of reconciliation: ‘A workshop of unity’
Building upon this idea, the pontiff explained that the sacrament of reconciliation can be understood as a true “workshop of unity.”
“It restores unity with God through the forgiveness of sins and the infusion of sanctifying grace,” he affirmed.
The Holy Father devoted part of his address to explaining how sin operates — specifically, that it “does not break unity, understood as the creature’s ontological dependence on the Creator.”
“Even the sinner remains totally dependent on God the Creator, and this dependence, when recognized, can open the way to conversion,” the pontiff explained in this regard.
Sin: Turning one’s back on God
Pope Leo explained that sin effectively breaks “spiritual unity with God,” for it is akin to “turning one’s back” on him.
“This dramatic possibility is as real as the gift of freedom that God himself has bestowed upon human beings. To deny the possibility that sin truly breaks unity with God is, in reality, a failure to recognize the dignity of man, who is — and remains — free and therefore responsible for his own actions,” he pointed out.
Addressing the young priests and candidates for the priesthood in attendance, Leo XIV emphasized the importance of the ministry of confession. “Always be keenly aware of the most exalted task that Christ himself, through the Church, entrusts to you: to restore people’s unity with God through the celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation.”
The pope emphasized that many priests have attained holiness precisely through this ministry, recalling examples such as Sts. John Mary Vianney, Leopold Mandić, Pio of Pietrelcina, and Blessed Michał Sopoćko.
Finally, Leo XIV noted that reconciliation is also a path toward peace. “Only a reconciled person is capable of living in an unarmed and disarming way! Those who lay down the weapons of pride and allow themselves to be continually renewed by God’s forgiveness become agents of reconciliation in everyday life. In him or her are fulfilled the words attributed to St. Francis of Assisi: ‘Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.’”
Before concluding, the pope exhorted the priests to regularly approach the sacrament themselves: “Never neglect to approach the sacrament of reconciliation yourselves, with faithful constancy, so that you may always be the first to benefit from divine mercy.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Pope Leo XIV has appointed Spanish Augustinian Archbishop Luis Marín de San Martín as papal almoner and prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity.
Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, who has led the office since 2022, will return to his native Poland as the new metropolitan archbishop of Łódź.
Marín de San Martín, titular bishop of Suliana, became a more prominent figure in the Vatican during the Synod on Synodality, when Pope Francis named him undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops in 2021.
He and Leo XIV, both Augustinians, have known each other for years. In 2008, when the current pontiff was serving as prior general of the Augustinian order, he asked Marín de San Martín to take charge of the order’s archive in Rome, where he has now served for 18 years.
Born in Madrid in 1961, Marín de San Martín holds degrees in spiritual theology from the Pontifical Comillas University in Madrid and in dogmatic theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He also earned a doctorate in theology from Comillas with a dissertation on the ecclesiology of St. John XXIII and holds a diploma in archival studies.
He served as provincial councilor of the Augustinian Province of Spain from 1999 to 2002 and was pastor of the parish of Santa Ana y la Esperanza in Madrid. Until 2008, he was prior of the Monastery of Santa María de la Vid in Burgos. He has also taught at the San Agustín Theological Center in El Escorial and at the Augustinian Theological Study Center in Valladolid.
With extensive experience in lay pastoral ministry, he has served since 2008 as general archivist of the Order of St. Augustine and since 2013 as assistant general to the prior general of the order, as well as president of the Augustinian Spirituality Institute.
The Apostolic Almonry, formally renamed the Dicastery for the Service of Charity under Pope Francis’ 2022 reform of the Roman Curia, is the Vatican office responsible for carrying out charitable works for the poor in the name of the Holy Father, especially in Rome and in conflict zones.
The papal almoner is also delegated by the pope to grant apostolic blessings through parchment certificates. The office carries the dignity of archbishop and membership in the pontifical family, allowing participation in papal liturgies and official audiences.
Krajewski, born in Łódź in 1963, entered the diocesan seminary there in 1982 and earned a theology degree from the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin before being ordained a priest on June 11, 1988.
He later earned a licentiate in liturgy from the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of Sant’Anselmo in Rome and a doctorate in theology with a specialization in liturgy from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, also in Rome. He also worked with the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.
Over the years, he served as master of ceremonies to the metropolitan archbishop of Łódź, taught at the diocesan seminary and at Franciscan and Salesian seminaries in the archdiocese, and was a professor at the Warsaw academy.
He also served as pontifical master of ceremonies in the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff. In 2013, he was named papal almoner and titular archbishop, receiving episcopal ordination on Sept. 17 of that year.
Pope Francis made him a cardinal in the June 28, 2018, consistory, assigning him the deaconry of Santa Maria Immacolata all’Esquilino. Since 2022, he has served as prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity.
This story was first published by EWTN’s Spanish-language news partner, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News.
