David Agren

Twenty days into his papacy, Pope Leo XIV’s appointment style remains largely unknown — but his years leading the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, may offer clues. There, he prioritized lay leadership, promoted synodality and worked across ecclesial factions.

The Mexican bishops' conference has condemned a massacre of seven young people — including minors — at a parish festival, while urging action on the part of authorities amid rising violence and warning the population to avoid indifference in the face of recurring atrocities.

Peruvians have expressed pride and surprise in one of their own becoming pontiff. Augustinians in the country have expressed similar surprise — recalling Leo as an unassuming prelate, who prioritized the poor, sought unity in the Peruvian church and came to embrace the country.

Thousands of Catholics packed the plaza outside the Cathedral of Santa Maria de Chiclayo in this northern Peruvian city to celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving for an adoptive son: Pope Leo XIV.

Thousands gathered for a massive Mass outside the Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos Aires to remember the life and legacy of Pope Francis, whose ministry as archbishop in the Argentine capital of taking the church to the peripheries and prioritizing the poor became a template for his pontificate.

Masses were celebrated around the country March 23 as Catholics prayed for the victims of the attack, which claimed eight lives and left five injured, in the city of Salamanca in western Guanajuato state March 16.

Argentines working in humble barrios, or neighborhoods, and the people they serve, prayed for the health of Pope Francis at one of the country's most important Catholic shrines.

The Mexican bishops' conference reiterated a call for unity as the country deals with threats from U.S. President Donald Trump, who promises to impose 25% tariffs on Mexican exports if migrants continue crossing the U.S. border and fentanyl is not stamped out.

The Feb. 8 statement from the foreign ministry of the regime accused the Vatican of using its "websites and platforms" to transmit statements "that constitute an insulting aggravation for the Sovereignty and Dignity of the Nicaraguan State."

"I invite you to join me in prayer for the Church and people of Nicaragua, who celebrate the Purísima" — as the Nicaraguan celebration of the Immaculate Conception is known — "as Mother and Patroness," and lift to her "a cry of faith and hope," Francis said during his Angelus prayer on Dec. 8.

Catholic leaders in Central America expressed alarm over the idea of repealing a national prohibition on extractive activities in El Salvador — putting the church in opposition to the country's popular president.

In a moving letter, Pope Francis expressed his closeness with the people of Nicaragua as Central American bishops called for a day of prayer for the country on the feast of the Immaculate Conception amid constitutional changes that will lead into an even darker dictatorship.

Migrants in Mexico waiting for appointments via the CBP One smartphone app — operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection — face uncertain futures after the U.S. election. Trump has promised mass deportations, a reinforcement of border security and a reimplementation of the "Remain in Mexico" program, which kept migrants in Mexico as their asylum claims were heard in U.S. courts.

The ruling Sandinista regime expelled the president of the Nicaraguan bishops' conference, further decimating the country's Catholic leadership as clergy are forced into exile.

Daniel Hernández Rabanales, along with his wife, Cristina Robledo, never tire of helping migrants — whether feeding caravans or providing meals from a small soup kitchen named for Mother Teresa or taking care packages to the local prison for migrants being held behind bars.

Mexico's election of its first female president showcased gender parity in Mexican politics. But women religious there are wary that Claudia Sheinbaum will reduce violence and poverty. 
 

The Mexican bishops' conference's migrant ministry expressed solidarity with the victims and called for a "serious, impartial and investigation" of the shooting. The migrant ministry added in an Oct. 3 statement, "This tragedy did not arise as an isolated incident, but rather as a consequence of the militarization of immigration policy and the increased presence of armed forces on the country's southern border, which has been a constant."

The Mexican bishops' conference has called on the country's freshly sworn-in president to pursue social peace as she inherits the complicated legacy of her popular and polarizing predecessor, who promoted social programs for the poor, but leaves her a country rife with violence and perceived to be backsliding on democracy.

The Sept. 26, 2014, attack on the students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School, a rural teachers college for young men, shocked Mexico, which had become seemingly inured to grizzly stories of drug cartel violence. Ten years later, the case remains in the realm of impunity, despite widespread societal outrage, parental searches and Mexican and international investigations.

The Diocese of Chiclayo denied the accusations of a coverup, saying in a Sept. 10 statement the victims were personally attended to by the then-bishop, Cardinal Robert Prevost — now prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops — in April 2022. Their accusations and the findings of a local investigation, the diocese said, were sent to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which investigates accusations of clerical sexual abuse, in July 2022. The Vatican investigation found insufficient evidence, according to the diocese.