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Friday, November 6, 2026
Leo departs for his Latin America journey
Leo departs for his Latin America journey
An ITA Airways flight carrying Pope Leo XIV and accompanying journalists left Rome’s Fiumicino Airport at 7:05 a.m. Rome time, beginning a 12-day trip to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru. He left the San Damaso Courtyard by car for the airport and is due in Montevideo about 4:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET), with a welcome in Independence Square, a meeting with President Yamandú Orsi, and Vespers at the cathedral. Leaving Italian airspace, he sent a telegram to President Sergio Mattarella entrusting the peoples’ hopes for peace and brotherhood to Mary and the saints. The trip — about 14 flights, ten cities, nine Masses, and nearly 40 addresses in Spanish — is his first return to Latin America as pope, less than a month after lung-cancer surgery. — Vatican News (Deborah Castellano Lubov) · Holy See Press Office · Catholic Standard (Courtney Mares, CNS/OSV News) · Where Peter Is (Claudio Iván Remeseira, “Leo in the Land of Francis”)
Parolin: the Latin America visit is a witness to unity
Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin says Leo’s Nov. 6–17 journey will be “filled with memories, affection, and gratitude,” especially in Peru, and that in Latin America “there is a greater need than ever to overcome deep social polarization.” On secular Uruguay, he says Leo is not going “to reclaim lost ground, but to propose good news that is offered freely, never imposed.” In Argentina, Parolin expects him to pay tribute to Francis and speak as a father to a country marked by economic hardship. — Vatican News (Massimiliano Menichetti)
In Argentina, Leo steps into Francis’s homeland and a divided politics
NCR’s David Agren reports from suburban Buenos Aires that Leo arrives Nov. 8 in a country where Francis never made a homecoming as pope, and where affection for the late Argentine pontiff still tracks class and “la grieta,” the Peronist / non-Peronist divide. President Javier Milei has embraced the visit and declared a holiday for the arrival, while Peronist Buenos Aires Province is mobilizing pilgrims for Luján. Working-class priests say ordinary people remember Francis with affection; Archbishop Jorge García Cuerva has called for unity ahead of the visit. — National Catholic Reporter (David Agren) · Where Peter Is (Claudio Iván Remeseira)
California’s governor moves to empty the state’s death row
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Nov. 5 that he will commute all 548 California death sentences to life without parole, calling state-sanctioned killing incompatible with the state’s values. The commutations keep convictions and restitution in place and do not abolish capital punishment; the state Supreme Court must review clemency for people with more than one felony conviction. California has had a moratorium on executions since 2019 and has not executed anyone since 2006. — Vatican News
Pope and Holy See
- What to expect in Uruguay, Latin America’s most secular country. Gerard O’Connell sketches Leo’s under-48-hour stop in a nation where Catholics are about 38% of the population and baptisms have plunged since 1980. The motto is “I Bring You News of Great Joy”; stops include Paysandú, Casavalle’s Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, the Catholic University of Uruguay, a Centenario Stadium vigil, and Mass at Florida’s shrine of Our Lady of the Thirty-Three. — America (Gerard O’Connell)
- At Uruguay’s Catholic University, students await Leo on faith and AI. Rector Fr. Julio Fernández Techera, S.J., says artificial intelligence is “the biggest challenge” for the university and hopes Leo will address it; student Santiago Tarigo says ticket places for the visit vanished in about 20 minutes. — Vatican News (Francesca Merlo)
- Leo chooses the 2027 World Day of the Sick theme: community care. “They lowered him on the stretcher in front of Jesus: The role of the community in caring for every person,” drawn from Luke’s account of the paralytic, will mark the Feb. 11, 2027, observance. The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development says every Christian community, with civil society, is called to attend to the weakness and suffering of others. — Vatican News
- From today’s Holy See Press Office bulletin: the English edition listed only Leo’s departure for Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru and his telegram to Italian President Sergio Mattarella (see above). — Holy See Press Office (EN)
United States
- What a Democratic Congress can — and can’t — do on immigration. Will Martino talks with advocates across the spectrum who say ICE funding is locked in through 2029 and Trump’s executive power still limits what Congress can change, even as Democrats take both chambers in January. Oversight hearings and spending leverage are the near-term tools; broader reform may wait for 2028. — America (Will Martino)
- Catholics and “nones” helped power the Democratic midterm wave. Exit polls cited by RNS show Catholics shifting from a clear Republican majority in 2024 to a near-even split, while religiously unaffiliated voters grew to about 27% of the electorate and moved further left. Scholars point more to the economy and immigration experience than to a “religious election.” — National Catholic Reporter (Kathryn Post and Bob Smietana, RNS)
- The Supreme Court hears Colorado’s Catholic preschool funding fight. The Archdiocese of Denver, joined by the Trump administration, asks the justices to overturn a ruling that let Colorado exclude Catholic schools that won’t admit children of same-sex couples from a state-funded preschool program. Colorado says the schools must meet the same anti-discrimination rules as every other publicly funded preschool. — Crux (Lindsay Whitehurst and Michael Kunzelman, AP)
Around the World
- After a terror attack on a Jordanian church, are Christians still safe? Kevin Clarke looks at the Oct. 23 assault on St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church in Karak that killed nine and wounded more than 30, and at King Abdullah II’s insistence that the attack was on all Jordanians. Scholar Sean Yom tells America the targeting of a Christian community is rare and traumatizing in a country that has long protected its Christian minority. — America (Kevin Clarke)
Commentary
- Opinion: A Catholic immigration agenda for the new Congress. J. Kevin Appleby urges oversight of ICE, protections for pastoral access and vulnerable detainees, and bipartisan bills such as Dreamer/TPS pathways and the Religious Workforce Protection Act — while warning against overreach that could backfire in 2028. — America (J. Kevin Appleby)
- Opinion: Evangelization is more than words and numbers. Lavoisier Fernandes argues that proclaiming Christ begins with our own conversion, can’t be reduced to social-media metrics, and must get “hands dirty” in social justice — drawing on Mother Teresa, Francis, Benedict, and Leo. — Where Peter Is (Lavoisier Fernandes)
Also today
- Archbishop Broglio warns U.S. soldiers are increasingly at risk of “moral injury” — Kevin Clarke, America. On Caribbean strikes, Iran, AI, and Magnifica Humanitas.
- Catholic nuns’ visit to a Buddhist temple sparks debate in Vietnam — Global Sisters Report
- Taybeh parish priest warns of violent attacks on Christians during UK visit — Crux
- Pope Leo’s Latin America trip is a high-stakes homecoming — Justin McLellan, National Catholic Reporter. Preview filed Nov. 2 ahead of today’s departure.
Clergy candidates’ message of ‘love your neighbor’ powers Democrats’ midterm election gains
Clergy candidates’ message of ‘love your neighbor’ powers Democrats’ midterm election gains
The Associated Press: Clergy members and other Democratic candidates with an unapologetically Christian message to “love your neighbor” helped their party flip control of Congress.
Catholics and ‘nones’ played key role in Democrats’ historic victory, exit polls show
Religion News Service: “I think it was pretty much an economic election, inflation election, a dissatisfaction with Trump election,” said political scientist Ryan Burge.
In fight for an influential church’s future, President Bush picks a side*
The New York Times: George and Laura Bush made their first public comment on the controversy roiling their usually decorous congregation, which is reverberating far outside Texas.
A majority of Michigan Jews voted for El-Sayed, polling suggests, but divisions remain
Religion News Service: The Michigan Senate results, among other national races, suggest that the turmoil and divisions surrounding Israel and antisemitism that roiled Jewish communities prior to the midterms did not result in dramatic voting changes.
The New York Times: Muslims are thrilled about El-Sayed’s win. But not because of his faith.*
What I’m praying for after the midterms*
Sojourners: I still believe that the ideological and political categories of our two-party system are broken. Ballot boxes never fit neatly into our faith.
Pope Francis on a Bishop With Worn-Out Shoes
Pope Leo XIV leaves Rome on Friday, November 6, for a 12-day apostolic journey to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru. On Saturday, November 14, in the Diocese of Chiclayo, which he led as bishop from 2015 to 2023, he will close the jubilee year marking the 300th anniversary of the canonization of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, the 16th-century archbishop of Lima and patron of the Latin American episcopate. Meeting Peru’s bishops in Lima on January 21, 2018, Pope Francis held up Turibius as the model of a pastor who goes out to his people.
He wanted to get to the other shore in search of the distant and dispersed. To do so, he had to leave behind the comfort of the bishop’s residence and traverse the territory entrusted to him in constant pastoral visits; he tried to visit and stay wherever he was needed, and how greatly was he needed! He went out to encounter everyone, along paths that, in the words of his secretary, were meant more for goats than for people. …
He knew that this was the one way to be a pastor: to be close to his own, dispensing the sacraments, and he constantly exhorted his priests to do the same. He did so not only by words, but by his witness in the front lines of evangelization. Today we would call him a “street” bishop. A bishop with shoes worn out by walking, by constant travel, by setting out to “preach the Gospel to all: to all places, on all occasions, without hesitation, reluctance and fear. The joy of the Gospel is for all people: no one can be excluded”. How much Saint Turibius knew this! Without fear and without hesitation he immersed himself in our continent in order to proclaim the good news.
— Pope Francis, Meeting with the Peruvian Bishops, Lima, January 21, 2018
A Convert from Communism
The pro-life prognosis in Pennsylvania: An interview with Maria V. Gallagher
By John M. Grondelski, Ph.D. on Nov 05, 2026 07:20 pmMaria V. Gallagher is Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, the leading prolife organization in the Keystone State. Once among the most staunchly prolife of states, Pennsylvania’s resilience for life has been tried by [...]
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Blessed Bernhard Lichtenberg: An ordinary priest facing extraordinary evil
By Dawn Beutner on Nov 05, 2026 04:00 amWhat was it like to be a German Catholic living under Nazism in the 1930s and 1940s? Decades after the fact, it’s easy to demonize Adolf Hitler. Attempted genocide is, after all, demonic. But how [...]
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Natural law, modern equality, and more on turning the corner
By James Kalb on Nov 05, 2026 03:00 amLast month, I wrote a bit about the renewal of family life as part of overall social renewal. I said it would require men and women to see each other as complementary, so they would [...]
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St. Charles Borromeo and the key principles of Catholic reform
By Fr. Charles Fox on Nov 04, 2026 11:00 amThe Catholic Counter-Reformation of the second half of the sixteenth century had many important protagonists. One man who did the most to advance the cause of reform on the practical level was St. Charles Borromeo [...]
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Priming the soul for the mystery and miraculous nature of life in Christ
By Paul Senz on Nov 04, 2026 05:00 amFairy tales have been part of the Christian tradition for a long, long time, and some of the most brilliant and insightful minds have opined on their importance. J.R.R. Tolkien, in his marvelous essay “On [...]
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White Martyr Family
By George Weigel on Nov 04, 2026 04:00 amImagine yourself seventy-eight, diabetic, falsely convicted in a sham trial of threatening national security, imprisoned for over 2,200 days in a maximum-security solitary confinement cell from which you’re only freed for 50 minutes of exercise [...]
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The mission: Pope Leo XIV in South America
By Francis X. Rocca on Nov 03, 2026 12:00 pmA pontiff returns to the continent that shaped his vocation. [...]
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Man, Machine, and Jeremy Bentham’s Head
By Francis X. Maier on Nov 03, 2026 01:38 amWhen you grow up in Western New York, as I did, you learn two things about the Niagara River. First, it’s great for swimming and boating. Second, don’t get caught in the current. Past a [...]
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Opinion: The Purge of Purgatory
By Matthew Becklo on Nov 02, 2026 04:00 amOn All Souls Day and throughout the month of November, the Catholic Church encourages her members to visit cemeteries, pray for the faithful departed, and undertake “almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance” on their behalf [...]
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Praying for those being cleansed on their way to heaven
By Carl E. Olson on Nov 02, 2026 04:00 amReadings: • Wis 3:1-9 • Psa 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 • Rom 6:3-9 • Jn 6:37-40 “I’ve always had a hard time explaining purgatory,” the man said. “Didn’t the Second Vatican Council say that Catholics [...]
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Africa surpasses Europe in Catholic population; Church leaders highlight missionary role
By Father Don Bosco Onyalla on Nov 01, 2026 07:00 pmAccording to the latest statistics published by Agenzia Fides, Africa’s Catholic population has now surpassed Europe’s, rising to 288.3 million. [...]
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“God is glorious in His saints”: St. John Henry Newman and All Saints
By Peter M.J. Stravinskas on Nov 01, 2026 09:00 amEditor’s note: This homily was preached on the Solemnity of All Saints, 1 November 2026, at the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, Jersey City, New Jersey. St. Paul tells us that “God is glorious [...]
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I’ve got all these saints around my neck
By Kenneth Craycraft on Nov 01, 2026 04:00 amMy son-in-law, Kyle Swensen, is an aspiring singer/songwriter and a member of the band “Barnweaver,” whose eponymous first album was released in May 2026. A few years ago, I was sitting in a hotel room [...]
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Rome excoriates publisher of a “credibly accused” list
By Michael J. Mazza on Oct 31, 2026 07:24 pmIn a shockingly frank judicial decision—decided in June 2025 but made available in English just last week in the canon law journal of St. Paul University in Ottawa1—the Roman Rota, the rough equivalent of the [...]
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Forgotten saints, faithful to the end
By Dawn Beutner on Oct 31, 2026 03:49 pmEvery November 1, Catholics celebrate All Saints’ Day. We remember famous saints and not-so-famous saints from every century and all over the world. We also remember the people whom we love who have departed from [...]
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The saints are sealed, called, and saved by God
By Carl E. Olson on Oct 31, 2026 12:00 pmReadings: • Rev 7:2-4, 9-14 • Psa 24:1BC-2, 3-4AB, 5-6 • 1 Jn 3:1-3 • Mt 5:1-12a Many readers are understandably confused or puzzled when hearing a passage from the Book of Revelation. It is [...]
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The Reformation reformed
By Sandra Miesel on Oct 31, 2026 11:00 amThe chronology of the Reformation no longer opens with Luther’s 95 Theses. The seeds of revolt were planted long before 1517. [...]
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A Convert from Communism
By Michael J. Miller on Oct 30, 2026 04:30 pmAs World War II was brewing, the Communist newspaper in London ran an “exposé” about the supposed Fascist connections of G. K. Chesterton’s Weekly Review. The articles were hastily written by Douglas Hyde, who was [...]
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Halloween is a reminder of how the Church overcame ancient horrors
By Casey Chalk on Oct 30, 2026 01:15 pmOne of the most perduring themes of Halloween is the exotic mystery of ancient Egypt: cryptic hieroglyphics shrouding deadly secrets, cursed tombs of pharaohs, mummies that come to life. It’s a curious and ironic twist, [...]
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‘largest commutation in history’ as hundreds spared execution
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The Maryland attorney general’s office said Father Laurence LaPointe admitted to abusing a boy at Gilman School. |
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The pope sent a message to a conference in Rome marking the anniversary, where attendees discussed the Vatican’s complex relations with China. |
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Texas’ Catholic bishops congratulated Democratic winners, who won every top office statewide, and prayed for their wisdom while reaffirming that Catholic principles remain unchanged. |
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted the death sentences of nearly 550 prisoners on the state’s death row on Nov. 5. |
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