“But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart” (Deuteronomy 30:14)

Sunday’s first reading foreshadows the Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ: he comes very near to us, in our mouths and hearts in Holy Communion. As the Word of God in the Old Testament was not “in heaven” or “beyond the sea”, so Jesus came down from heaven, and walked over the sea, to be close to us and then stay with us in the Blessed Sacrament.

Humanity is at a crossroads and facing the immense potential generated by the digital revolution driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI), according to a message from Pope Leo XIV.

In a letter sent to experts on the pontiff’s behalf by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin Secretary of State, Leo said the impact of the AI revolution “is far-reaching, transforming areas such as education, work, art, healthcare, governance, the military, and communication.”

A US Catholic diocese has suspended the obligation to attend Sunday Mass for immigrants who fear immigration raids.

Bishop Alberto Rojas of the Diocese of San Bernardino, California issued the decree dispensing from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass on Monday, 8 July, “in light of the pastoral needs of our diocese and the concerns expressed by many of our brothers and sisters regarding fears of attending Mass due to potential immigration enforcement actions by civil authorities.”

The Vatican released its latest synod implementation document on Monday, bringing to mind a remark Pope Francis made a few years ago about how the Church is not a large multinational company run by managers carefully studying how best to sell their product.

“The Church,” Francis said to journalists on 13 November 2021, “does not build itself on the basis of its own project, it does not draw from itself the strength to move forward and it does not live by marketing strategies.”

Pope Leo has delighted Pokémon fans by blessing and signing a Pokémon card during a Danish youth group’s visit to the Vatican on 5 July.

He was presented with two Popplio Pokémon cards due to the similarity in the names. The Holy Father blessed a Reverse Holo version and signed a regular version with a ballpoint pen.

Tri Nguyen, whose Pokémon card was signed by the Pope, described how the Pope’s “joyous face and speech touched my heart” and said it was “a great culmination of our pilgrimage”.

After a devastating flood hit the Hill Country of Texas, Pope Leo XIV has offered his prayers for the victims, some of whom were children attending a Christian summer camp, and for their families.

At least 51 people are presumed dead after heavy rains caused flooding along the Guadalupe River in central Texas, including at least 15 children who were attending a Christian summer camp for girls.

“I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters, who were at the summer camp, in the disaster caused by flooding of the Guadalupe river in Texas in the United States,” Pope Leo said.

After Pope Leo XIV arrives in Castel Gandolfo for his summer break, it is unlikely to prove a real vacation for the new pontiff.

When Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected on 8 May 2025, it was the post-Easter period in Rome. This is the slow-down time in Rome, since the Vatican basically shuts down after the 29 June celebration of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.

Unlike Pope Francis, Pope Leo is continuing the tradition of spending the summer in the lakeside town about 15 miles outside of Rome and which offers a much cooler climate.

Pope Leo XIV has appointed a French archbishop as the new president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. He replaces American Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, the former archbishop of Boston and the founding head of the commission when it was created by Pope Francis in 2014.

Archbishop Thibault Verny heads the Archdiocese of Chambéry–Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne-Tarentaise.

“Having worked closely with Archbishop Verny through his membership on the commission since 2022, I have witnessed his dedication to the prevention of abuse in the life of the Church,” said O’Malley, who is now 81.

Like the populist he was, Pope Francis felt an instinctive scepticism about bureaucracies, including the one he was called to lead. Famously, he once catalogued 15 spiritual diseases of the Roman curia, including “spiritual Alzheimer’s” and the “terrorism of gossip”, and those actually were among the kinder things he had to say about the place.

I vividly recall one veteran curial official coming out of that Christmas 2014 dressing-down and sarcastically quipping to no one in particular: “Well, that wasn’t exactly a pick-me-up.” The problem with populism is that, sooner or later, you need institutions to function to get things done. Personal inspiration and leadership by example can only carry an administration so far, and when its institutions, which a leader is called to direct, are demoralised and lacking direction, it generally spells great mischief.

Pope Leo XIV has said that Catholic school teachers should be “models in life” as well as “models of faith” during what he described as a teacher’s “pilgrimage of discipleship”. He also urged the students under their care to try and listen to “God’s voice” calling to their young hearts.

Speaking to teachers from Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland on 5 July in the Vatican as part of the Jubilee year, the pontiff said students will “look to you particularly as to how you teach and how you live”.

Documents have emerged, in what appears a leak at the Vatican, which indicate that the majority of Catholic bishops did not support the move by Pope Francis to restrict the Latin Mass.

The texts from the Vatican’s doctrine office were posted online on Tuesday by the Vatican correspondent Diane Montagna, who has followed the Latin Mass dispute since Traditionis Custodes, the apostolic letter issued motu proprio by Pope Francis in 2021 that restricted the celebration of the Tridentine Mass of the Roman Rite. It reversed Pope Benedict XVI’s previous permission for the Latin Mass to be celebrated.

The United States Senate has narrowly approved a sweeping budget bill that includes a measure to strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood for one year.

The legislation, which has become known as the “Big Beautiful Bill”, passed by the slimmest of margins. Vice-President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote to secure passage through the Senate, after three Republican senators joined the opposition to the Bill, which included all Democrats.

Pope Leo XIV has been formally invited to visit Peru, his adoptive country, by the leadership of the Peruvian bishops’ conference.

Though born in the US, which rejoiced at the election of the first pope in history to come the United States, Pope Leo has also maintained his Peruvian citizenship after receiving it in 2015 following his appointment as bishop of Chiclayo.

Pope Leo XIV has drawn on the examples of Saint Peter and Saint Paul to call for more unity in the Catholic Church.

His comments came during his homily for the Solemnity of Ss Peter and Paul, given in St Peter’s Basilica on Sunday. He also warned against the risk of “falling into a rut, a routine, a tendency to follow the same old pastoral plans without experiencing interior renewal and a willingness to respond to new challenges”. Instead, he explained, the two saints offer a challenge to Catholics to think about the vitality of their faith.

The United States was the largest contributor to the Vatican’s Peter’s Pence collection in 2024, while Ireland gave the most per Catholic among the top donor countries listed.

The US contributed €13.7 million, accounting for 25.2 per cent of all diocesan and private donations, according to the Vatican’s annual report published on 27 June.

“They came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord,” (Acts 12:10).

The angel freed Peter from Herod’s prison by miraculously unlocking several doors, as if the keys of the kingdom which Jesus had given him were at work in a concrete way.

A Supreme Court decision allowing parents to opt out of storybooks that promote one-sided ideology on gender and sexuality has been praised by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In a 6–3 decision on Mahmoud v. Taylor, the Montgomery County Board of Education, the Court on Friday ruled that a policy was unlawful when it removed parental notice and opt-outs for storybooks that celebrate gender transitioning, pride parades, and pronoun preferences with children as young as three and four.

Pope Leo XIV has warned 32 new priests to not be taken in by today’s models of success and prestige in the world “that are dubious and short-lived.”

The pontiff made his remarks on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 27 when he was ordaining the men in St Peter’s Basilica.

“What I have to say is simple, but I consider it important for your future and for the future of the souls entrusted to your care,” Leo said.

Pope Leo XIV has said that drugs and addiction are an “invisible prison” for their victims, while urging governments to do more to “dismantle” the criminal and corporate organisations and networks that profit from victims of addiction.

The pontiff made his comments while making an address to mark the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on 26 June.

Most of those attending the Pope’s address came from Italy’s San Patrignano community, which works with those suffering from drug addiction and offers them rehabilitation.

Pope Leo XIV has warned that violence against Christians in the East is raging “with a diabolical intensity” of the likes not seen before. He also criticised the “special interests” that perpetuate the violence while also calling out the lack of effective action taken by the world’s leaders to end the bloodshed.

The pontiff said it was “truly distressing” to see an intensity of violence “previously unknown”, as well as the principle of “might makes right” prevailing in so many of today’s conflicts, “all for the sake of legitimising the pursuit of self-interest”.