Not even on Sunday can we relax, the information doesn’t stop and neither do we. The jubilee of the poor, which also seems to be of the poor trans, doesn’t take off. Thanks to the León effect, the remnants of a jubilee that was born dead are being saved; in the one for the poor, not even that—it doesn’t fill the square and ends up inside the basilica. 1,300 guests invited to eat and brought to the Vatican by bus; we suppose they attend the mass and thus fill it a bit more. Everything points to the fact that so much trans presence responds more to a need to cover voids than to an unconditional love for the doubtfully poor transgender.
A total of 1,300 needy people will attend tomorrow’s lunch offered by the Pope in the Vatican in which a group of trans will participate. They are people who constantly receive help from the Pontifical Charities. They will be accompanied by Father Andrea Conocchia, parish priest of Torvaianica, and Sister Genevieve Jeanningros, a religious from the Little Sisters of Jesus and friend of Pope Francis. Don Andrea, who also presided over the LGBT Jubilee in early September, expressed his «sincere gratitude to Pope Leo for this opportunity, this opportunity to gather and share a lunch together. I believe it is a wonderful demonstration of openness, attention, and closeness toward the entire LGBT community. It can be an opportunity to walk together and is an important sign, also for getting to know and recognize each other mutually in the ecclesial community».
Today’s lunch in the Vatican will feature the participation of all organizations that daily attend to the most vulnerable, from Cáritas to the Sant’Egidio Community, from the ACLI (Italian Catholic Action) to the French association «Fratello». Around thirty Vincentian missionaries, with the help of a hundred members of the Italian Vincentian Family, will serve the lunch for the poor alongside Pope Leo XIV. At the end of the lunch, 1,500 San Vincenzo backpacks will be distributed, filled with hygiene products and food, especially canned tuna donated by the Food Bank.
Pope Leo XIV has appointed Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, as his Special Envoy for the XXXIV World Day of the Sick, which will be celebrated on February 11, 2026, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace, in the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru.
Pope Leo XIV in his audience with the world of cinema: «Cinema halls are suffering a worrying decline that distances them from cities and neighborhoods. Many claim that art and the cinematic experience are in danger. He urged institutions not to give up and to cooperate to reaffirm the social and cultural value of this activity», «May your cinema always remain a place of encounter, a home for those seeking meaning, a language of peace». Approximately 170 directors, actors, and film crew members have arrived at the Vatican. It has also served to encourage creators to continue telling stories. They are artists and today’s news is full of comments on the outfits of the famous. Cate Blanchett, as usual, has captured all eyes without need for excesses and in impeccable black. Monica Bellucci in a black jacket and pants suit.
Leo XIV received in audience His Excellency Monsignor Fernando Arêas Rifan, Titular Bishop of Cedamusa, Apostolic Administrator of the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney which is directly subject to the Holy See and has its seat in Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil. It functions similarly to a Personal Prelature and in 2023, it had 30,000 baptized members, 33 religious sisters, and 32 priests, who celebrate the Holy Mass exclusively according to the Roman rite usus antiquior, with the missal promulgated by Pope John XXIII in 1962. It has 12 parishes, 2 quasi-parishes, and 3 rectories, in addition to 115 churches and 11 communities in the rest of Brazil, where the priests of the Administration serve at the request of their faithful. It also has several public associations of the faithful, including the Marian Congregation, the Apostleship of Prayer, the Catholic League of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and the Eucharistic Crusade. It manages two kindergartens, two orphanages, and fifteen schools. Additionally, it provides aid to needy families in the favelas and in the rural area of Campos dos Goytacazes, and offers free professional training. It runs a publishing and graphic design company, known as Editore Dom Licinio.
It is distinguished from other traditional Catholic institutes that use the Missal prior to the liturgical reform (such as the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, among others) in that it is exclusively and directly subject to the Pope. The other societies are subject to the supervision of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for the Clergy, which oversee groups associated with the ancient Roman rite. The origin is in the Priestly Union of Saint John Mary Vianney, founded by Monsignor Antonio de Castro Mayer, former bishop of Campos, who was very close to the positions of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, to the point of being excommunicated for having participated in the illicit consecration of four bishops of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X. On August 15, 2001, Bishop Rangel and all members of the Priestly Union of Saint John Mary Vianney sent Pope John Paul II a request to be readmitted into communion with the Holy See. On December 25, John Paul II accepted the Union’s request and announced the creation of the Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney, which would be entrusted to Bishop Rangel himself, who would have a guaranteed successor all through the Decree Animarum Bonum.
Traditionis Custodes will be remembered as one of the most controversial measures of Francis’s pontificate. The motu proprio of July 2021, with which he repealed the liberalization of the so-called Latin Mass, granted in 2007 by Benedict XVI, unleashed controversy and division within the Church, ultimately being questioned not only by traditionalist Catholics but also by a majority convinced that such restrictions were unnecessary. There is great expectation about the stance that Leo XIV would take on this matter. Six months after the election of Prevost, the Pope who presented himself to the faithful with the aim of uniting the Church, it seems his approach is beginning to clarify.
Last Thursday, Damian Thompson, columnist for The Spectator spread the rumor that «Leo will grant an extension of the Latin Mass to any bishop of England and Wales who requests it», clarifying that «the Nuncio has informed the bishops, many of whom have already obtained authorization to celebrate Tridentine Masses in their dioceses». It seems that the apostolic nuncio announced a significant relaxation of the restrictions during the autumn plenary session of the Episcopal Conference of England and Wales. He communicated to the local bishops that the Pope, while not repealing Traditionis custodes for the moment, intends to grant broad exemptions from the restrictions to those who request them.
A defeat for Cardinal Arthur Roche, also British. The sensible approach prevails, adopted since July 2021 by his eternal rival, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who remains Archbishop of Westminster despite having recently turned 80. Nichols, who long ago exceeded the canonical age limit of 75 for a diocesan bishop to retire, could leave Westminster. Names like Richard Moth, Bernard Longley, and John Wilson could already be among the three candidates for succession. Leo XIII’s decision to suspend his offensive against traditional communities brings relief to a sector of British public opinion, which two years ago openly supported a letter published in The Times urging Francis to stop any new restrictions on celebrations of the Vetus Ordo. This initiative recalled another published in 1971, also in The Times, by a series of famous writers, including Agatha Christie. Leo’s decision, leaked by the nuncio to the United Kingdom, will probably not be limited to British dioceses but will become a worldwide norm. Traditional-leaning faithful can breathe easy, although some will feel disappointed by not having repealed Traditionis Custodes.
The friends of the United Nations are being left alone, and what hurts much more, without their money. Now they intend to lean on the naive climatologist Catholics: “When religion speaks, politics listens”. The head of the cabinet of the Climate Conference has highlighted the important role played by the Catholic Church in COP30. He claims “the fundamental leadership that the Catholic Church has played in recent years”, first with Pope Francis and now with Pope Leo XIV. “That is extremely encouraging. Texts like Laudato si’ and Laudate Deum are moral reference points, truly inspiring, not only for Catholics and Christians, but for all religions in the world”. His statements took place at the conclusion of “The prophetic voice of the Church in the care of the common home”, in which three cardinals of the Catholic Church of the Global South presented the document A Call for Climate Justice and the Common Home in the UN pavilion of COP30. “You have a lot of moral authority to move politics in the right direction”.
Joint statement issued today by the Holy See and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, with which Pope Leo XIV entrusted to the Canadian Church sixty-two objects from the ethnographic collections of the Vatican Museums. Curious the formula used, not returning anything, because nothing was stolen, and entrusting a property of the Holy See to the custody of the Church of Canada. This act takes place «at the conclusion of the path begun by Pope Francis, through his Apostolic Journey to Canada in 2022, various audiences with indigenous communities, and the publication of the 2023 Declaration on the “Doctrine of Discovery”». The objects, originally donated by Catholic missionaries between 1923 and 1925 for the great Vatican Missionary Exhibition promoted by Pius XI, are now returned «as testimony to the history of the encounter between faith and the cultures of indigenous peoples». «The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a spirit of loyal cooperation with the Cultural Heritage Directorate of the State of Vatican City, commits to ensuring their adequate safeguarding, promotion, and conservation».
«By your perseverance you will save your souls».