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Leo has a good second night at Gemelli; got up and had breakfast
The Holy See Press Office says Pope Leo XIV had a good second night at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, got up, and had breakfast. The Thursday morning note comes two days after surgeons removed the lower lobe of his right lung and intraoperative histology confirmed lung adenocarcinoma; the planned one-week hospital stay is unchanged so far. On Wednesday, Dr. Luigi Carbone and Prof. Stefano Margaritora said blood tests and a chest X-ray showed a normal postoperative course, that Leo had begun respiratory physiotherapy and was walking in his room, and that he had resumed eating. Press office director Matteo Bruni told journalists Leo concelebrated Mass that afternoon in a room prepared on the tenth floor and that the pope remains in good humor. Bruni also confirmed Leo’s “desire” to keep the Nov. 6–17 apostolic journey to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru; Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori said the recovery could still force schedule changes, and specialists note flying is often discouraged for about three weeks after such surgery. Audiences remain canceled through Oct. 20. — Thursday update (Vatican News) · Doctors’ Wednesday statement (Vatican News) · America (Gerard O’Connell) · The Tablet (Patrick Hudson) · Crux (Nicole Winfield and Colleen Barry / AP) · Religion News Service (Claire Giangravè)
Broglio to Catholic troops: ask to be excused from the livestreamed firing squad
Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services says any Catholics assigned to the firing squad for Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan must “request to be excused from this action contrary to the teaching of the Church.” President Trump approved Hasan’s execution by firing squad this month, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced it would be livestreamed; Broglio condemned the broadcast plan as well. — Vatican News (Christopher Wells)
Leo to Amoris meeting: let families help discern the paths ahead
In a closing message to the tenth-anniversary Amoris Laetitia meeting, Pope Leo XIV said he will read the fruits of the work and offer his own reflections in due course. Unable to be present because of his hospitalization, he thanked participants for their prayers and listening, urged them to share what they received with their conferences and dioceses, and expressed his hope “that families will always be active participants in the life and mission of your local Churches, and that they will help you to discern the paths ahead.” At the closing briefing, organizers described a pastoral conversion of listening before judging; Jesuit Fr. Giacomo Costa had already said Leo postponed publishing the synthesis so he could hear it and speak to it himself. — Full text (vatican.va) · Vatican News · Closing briefing (Vatican News) · Also: The Pillar (Michelle La Rosa)
From an ICE raid parish to West Virginia’s cathedra
America profiles Bishop Evelio Menjívar-Ayala, the Salvadoran immigrant Leo named to Wheeling-Charleston, as he holds synodal listening sessions across West Virginia. Installed in July after serving as a Washington auxiliary, he tells J.D. Long García that Hispanic Catholics in the state often vanish from Mass after ICE arrests, that Hispanic ministry there is “in its infancy,” and that the diocese needs “institutional conversion” and radical hospitality. He crossed into the United States as a teenager after three failed attempts; Leo has now named four Latino diocesan bishops in the continental United States. — America (J.D. Long García)
Pope and Holy See
- Leo’s calm may now define how the world sees his pontificate. Justin McLellan writes that the pope’s serenity — praised by Cardinal Pietro Parolin and by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández — may matter as much as any clash with politics, recalling Leo’s Oct. 7 teaching that fragility can reshape a person’s future and relationship with God. — National Catholic Reporter (Justin McLellan)
- What to know about pulmonary adenocarcinoma — and what is still unknown. Colleen Dulle walks through the diagnosis, the early-stage language Leo used on Sunday, canceled audiences through Oct. 20, and the open question of further treatment and travel. — America (Colleen Dulle) · Also: Crux (Lauran Neergaard / AP)
- [IT] Today Ignazio Ding Zuyao was ordained bishop of Haimen, China, after Pope Leo XIV approved his candidacy under the Holy See–China Provisional Agreement. The Holy See Press Office says Leo named the 40-year-old Jiangsu priest to Haimen on Aug. 24; Ding was born in Qidong in August 1986, studied at Sheshan and Beijing, and was ordained a priest for Haimen in 2011. In the same bulletin, Leo named Xaverian Bishop Paolo Andreolli, until now auxiliary of Belém do Pará, as bishop of Ponta de Pedras, Brazil. English bulletin links for today’s notices are not posted yet. — Resignations and appointments (Holy See Press Office [IT])
- Leo thanks Cardinal Re for more than six years as dean of the College of Cardinals. In a letter after Re’s resignation, the pope calls his service “an edifying witness” to his love for the Church and the pope. — Vatican News (Kielce Gussie)
- Archbishop Gallagher: Migrant children must be welcomed, not just assisted. Marking the World Day of Migrants and Refugees in Geneva, the Holy See’s foreign minister said displaced children need their dignity recognized and a genuine sense of belonging. — Vatican News
- [IT] Romanian Greek Catholics unite Cluj-Gherla to the major archeparchy in the person of the bishop. Major Archbishop Claudiu-Lucian Pop, with his synod’s consent and after consulting the Apostolic See, has united the Eparchy of Cluj-Gherla to the Archeparchy of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia. — Holy See Press Office ([IT])
United States
- Cardinal Cupich asks Chicago to pray Leo home to wellness; students pack a White Sox care package. The archbishop of Chicago says the cancer news is “not the news we hoped for” but that Leo “has much more good work to do.” At Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy, Team 14 students are sending get-well cards and a Chicago White Sox blanket. — Archdiocese of Chicago (Cardinal Blase J. Cupich) · Crux (Laura Bargfeld and Luis Andres Henao / AP) · Vatican News
- Pew: Trump’s approval among U.S. Catholics has fallen to 30% ahead of the midterms. The drop is from 47% at the start of his second term; white Catholics still lean Republican for the House while Hispanic Catholics lean Democratic. Pollsters tie the broader slide to the Iran war, energy costs, and fallout from Trump’s attacks on Leo. — America (Kate Scanlon / OSV News)
- Trump revives baseless claims about Haitian migrants in Ohio while touting deportations. At a Youngstown rally he appeared to revisit 2024 claims about Springfield even as Haitian Temporary Protected Status has been revoked. — National Catholic Reporter (Kate Scanlon / OSV News)
Around the World
- Irish Sr. Mary Teresa Barron says the Vatican wanted a missionary’s feet on the ground, not another academic résumé. The first woman named to lead the Pontifical Mission Societies and serve as adjunct secretary at the Dicastery for Evangelization tells Global Sisters Report she is a “very simple, basic missionary” who learned mission by accompanying a dying Tanzanian mother with AIDS. — Global Sisters Report (Junno Arocho Esteves)
- Severed from their diocese, Indian nuns linked to the Mulakkal case build a survivors’ safety net. Three sisters who campaigned against Bishop Franco Mulakkal now run a business that presents itself as a collective of survivors of gender-based violence. — Global Sisters Report (Binu Alex)
- Alberta bishops ask Catholics to vote the Oct. 19 referendum with concern for their neighbors. The provincial ballot includes immigration questions; the bishops urge prayer, an informed conscience, and care for the vulnerable. — National Catholic Reporter (Christopher Guly)
- [ES] CLAR invites Latin American religious to a Lima congress on renewal and synodality. Registration is open for the Nov. 13–15 gathering under the theme of structural change “at the rhythm of the Spirit.” — Global Sisters Report (Rhina Guidos)
- Cardinal Pizzaballa: “In Israel, no one talks about a peace process anymore.” Three years after Oct. 7, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem describes deep mistrust, a lack of respect for law in the West Bank, and no improvement in Gaza, while urging a renewed hope. — Vatican News (Guglielmo Gallone)
- South Americans pray for Leo as uncertainty hangs over his November visit. AP reports an outpouring of prayer across the region alongside worry that the demanding Uruguay–Argentina–Peru itinerary may slip. — Crux (Franklin Briceno and Isabel Debre / AP) · Also: Reuters (Joshua McElwee), with a Georgetown lung-cancer specialist calling the trip possible but “a tight timeline”
Commentary
- Opinion: Why can’t the MAGA Catholics admit they are heretics? Rebecca Bratten Weiss, a self-described progressive feminist Catholic who is open about where her own views differ from the magisterium, argues that Catholics who reject Church teaching on immigration, the death penalty, war, and the environment should be just as honest about their dissent instead of claiming the popes have strayed. (Her title is quoted as published; the summary does not adopt that charged word as our own.) — Rebecca Bratten Weiss (Substack)
- Opinion: Pre-eminent no more? What the bishops’ 2026 election guidance says — and leaves unsaid. Msgr. Arthur Holquin notes that new midterm preaching aids never apply “preeminent” to abortion, while the 2023 Faithful Citizenship note still does, and he argues for a consistent ethic of life across the ballot. — Liturgy and Truth (Msgr. Arthur Holquin)
- A prayer for Pope Leo’s recovery. Fr. James Martin, S.J., asks God to fill Leo’s injured lungs with the Holy Spirit and to give his caregivers wisdom. — America (James Martin, S.J.)
Also today
- Leo’s diagnosis raises questions about the future — and the very recent past — Nicole Winfield, Crux (AP).
- Leo’s brother Louis Prevost says he has multiple myeloma — Crux, citing a Newsmax interview.
- Trump sends get-well wishes to Pope Leo — OSV News.
- Catholics challenge the planned livestreamed U.S. military execution — Gina Christian, OSV News.
- Nigerian bishop withdraws clergy and shuts institutions after arson attacks — Luke Coppen, The Pillar.
- UNHCR funding cuts put millions of displaced people at risk — Vatican News.
- Archbishop Andrew Nkea of Bamenda on a “Catechism of Pope Leo XIV on Peace” — Vatican News.
- [FR] Leo’s cancer diagnosis hits an early pontificate — La Croix.
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