Fr. Gabriel Romanelli described the carnage from a recent shelling of his parish and asked the universal church community for prayers. "Let's try to convince the whole world to end this war," he said.
The message was read aloud by Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, the Vatican representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, at the AI for Good Summit 2025 being held July 8-11 in Geneva.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday and thanked him for the Vatican's efforts to help return children taken by Russia. Both he and Leo suggested the Vatican could host peace talks to end the war.
Pope Leo XIV's appointment of the new president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors shows that safeguarding remains a top priority, its former president said.
An impromptu interview with Cardinal Fernández is the strongest indication to date that Pope Leo XIV will not alter course on blessings of people in gay unions. But the comments fall short of an explicit, official Vatican statement.
Leo is a methodical, hard-working and well-prepared manager who wants to read entire reports, not just the executive summaries, before making decisions, people who know and work with him say.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni declined to explicitly confirm the authenticity of the documents, which were posted online this week by a Vatican reporter.
