Catholic News Agency

• Jimmy Lai’s wife, daughter meet Pope Leo XIV in Rome ahead of trial verdict

  Teresa Lai greets Pope Leo XIV after the general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

  CNA Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 12:48 pm (CNA).

  The wife and daughter of imprisoned democracy activist and Catholic Jimmy Lai met Pope Leo XIV in Rome on Oct. 15, greeting the Holy Father ahead of the expected verdict in Lai’s yearslong trial in Hong Kong.

  Teresa and Claire Lai spoke to Leo after the general audience on Wednesday, appearing in the formal black attire traditionally worn by women greeting the pope.

  

  The 77-year-old Lai has been imprisoned in Hong Kong for years on what advocates have argued are political charges including fraud and participation in unauthorized protests.

  A longtime free speech activist and human rights advocate, Lai — who converted to Catholicism in 1997 and who has spoken publicly about his faith on numerous occasions — was first arrested just over five years ago, in August 2020, on charges related to Hong Kong’s then-new national security law.

  The former media mogul’s national security trial commenced in December 2023. Closing arguments in the trial occurred in August, but Lai’s son Sebastian said earlier this year that Lai was “not going to get sentenced until either [the] end of this year or the start of next year.”

  Lai’s imprisonment has drawn criticism and rebuke from advocates around the world, including U.S. President Donald Trump, who earlier this year vowed to do “everything [he] can” to “save” the activist.

  “[Lai’s] name has already entered the circle of things that we’re talking about,” Trump said in August.

  Lai has also been the recipient of numerous accolades and awards since his imprisonment. In April the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation announcedthat he would be an honorary recipient of a 2025 Bradley Prize for being an “inspiration to all who value freedom.”

  On Oct. 14, meanwhile, the International Press Institute named Lai a recipient of its 2025 World Press Freedom Hero award.

• In second report, Vatican minor commission urges listening, reparations for abuse victims

  Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera, the secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, addresses media during a press conference releasing the commission’s second annual report on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

  Vatican City, Oct 16, 2025 / 11:18 am (CNA).

  The Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on Thursday released its second annual report on the Church’s safeguarding policies and procedures, urging heightened awareness of abuse and the need to offer reparations to victims.

  The second annual report launched by the commission, instituted by Pope Francis in 2014 for the protection of minors and vulnerable adults, promotes “conversional justice” — founded on the pillars of truth, justice, reparations, and institutional reforms — to be adopted by the Church across the globe and at all levels of governance.

  

  Archbishop Thibault Verny of Chambéry, who was appointed by Pope Leo XIV in July to head the commission, spoke of the report’s efforts to emphasize the significance of “walking alongside victims and survivors” and including their voices in promoting positive change and institutional reform within the Church. 

  “We have acquired the profound conviction that the road leading to a culture of protection is not simply for victims and survivors but with them,” Chambéry said at an Oct. 16 press conference. 

  “This path of conversion requires that we be reached by what we hear,” he said.

  The 200-page report provides a snapshot of safeguarding challenges and recommendations in 18 episcopal conferences, mainly in Africa and Europe, and the positive trends and challenges on a regional level in Africa, the Americas, Asia/Oceania, and Europe.

  It also offers a review of the safeguarding policies, challenges, and recommendations of two religious institutions, the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa and the Brothers of Christian Instruction of St. Gabriel.

  Data for the report was collected from focus group consultations with 40 abuse survivors from Africa, the Americas, Asia/Oceania, and Europe, the commission’s Memorare Initiative centers in Global South countries, and questionnaires distributed to episcopal conferences and religious congregations.

  Information was also gathered from consultations with apostolic nuncios and bishops during ad limina visits and data published by external organizations, including U.N. agencies.

  In order to make reparations to abuse victims and their families, the report outlines six key recommendations for Church institutions to form the basis of their “operational vademecum,” including welcoming, listening, and caring for survivors; public and private communications and apologies; and spiritual and psychotherapeutic support.

  The report also urges financial support, institutional and disciplinary reforms, and safeguarding initiatives across the ecclesial community.

  The second annual report released by the pontifical commission also includes a brief section outlining the role and activities of the Roman Curia in supporting local Churches’ safeguarding activities, in line with Pope Francis’ “all-of-government” approach to promote an “ongoing conversion toward a culture of safeguarding.”   

  According to Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, a jurist and member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors since 2022, the annual report is a handbook that can be used within the Church to address the “global data gap” on sexual violence and abuse against children.

  Noting the “alarming” gap in numerical abuse report data worldwide and further improvements for the commission’s future work, Boer-Buquicchio said the report emphasizes the significance of “listening” in the Church’s safeguarding ministries.

  “I want to highlight one of the most consistent points that emerged: Victims/survivors want to feel heard and validated in their experiences,” she said at the Thursday press conference.

  “Amidst these positive developments in our methodology, we recommit ourselves to continuous improvement, knowing that we still fall short of a fully mature reporting instrument,” she added.

• Leo XIV recognizes ‘light and shadows’ in the Church’s treatment of Indigenous peoples

  Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

  ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 10:48 am (CNA).

  Pope Leo XIV invited Indigenous groups to forgive as he recognized both “the light and the wounds” in the history of the evangelization of their peoples.

  “The long history of evangelization that our Indigenous peoples have known, as the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean have so often taught, is laden with light and shadows,” the pontiff said in an Oct. 16 message sent to the Networks of Indigenous Peoples and the Network of Indian Theology Theologians.

  Leo invited members of the network to “forgive our brothers and sisters from the heart, to reconcile ourselves with our own history, and to thank God for his mercy toward us.”

  He also encouraged them to recognize “both the light and the wounds of our past,” to understand “that we can only be a people if we truly abandon ourselves to the power of God, to his action in us.”

  “It is from this truth,” he added, “that we must reread our history and our reality, to face the future with the hope to which the holy year calls us, despite the hardships and tribulations.”

  Leo XIV explained that, through dialogue and encounter, “we learn from different ways of seeing the world, we value what is unique and original to each culture, and together we discover the abundant life that Christ offers to all peoples.” 

  “This new life is given to us precisely because we share the fragility of the human condition marked by original sin, and because we have been reached by the grace of Christ,” he affirmed. 

  He recalled that the Lord is the origin and goal of the universe as well as “the primary source of all that is good, including our peoples.” This, he emphasized, “is the goal of our hope; it is not only for some but for all, even those once considered enemies, the great occupying powers.”

  Jubilee of Hope 

  In his message, the pontiff also emphasized the universality of the Church, “which welcomes, engages in dialogue with, and is enriched by the diversity of peoples,” particularly Indigenous peoples, “whose history, spirituality, and hope constitute an irreplaceable voice within ecclesial communion.” 

  The pope invited the network to experience the Jubilee of Hope as “a moment of living and personal encounter with the Lord” as well as an occasion for “reconciliation, grateful memory, and shared hope, more than a mere external celebration.”

  Passing through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, he explained, means entering, through faith, “into the very source of divine love, the open side of the Crucified One,” which makes us a “people of brothers.”

  This storywas first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

• Pope to UN Food and Agriculture Organization: ‘Slogans do not lift people out of poverty’

  Pope Leo XIV speaks at the Rome headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Oct. 16, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

  ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 09:26 am (CNA).

  Pope Leo XIV called for shared responsibility in the face of world hunger during a visit to the Rome headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Thursday.

  “The pope’s heart, which belongs not to himself but to the Church and, in a certain sense, to all humanity, maintains the confidence that, if hunger is defeated, peace will be the fertile ground from which the common good of all nations will be born,” Leo said Oct. 16.

  After listening to remarks from the FAO’s director general, Qu Dongyu, the Holy Father spoke in both Spanish and English to participants in the World Food Day event, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Queen Letizia of Spain, King Letsie III of Lesotho, Princess Basma bint Talal of Jordan, and former U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.

  ‘My brothers and sisters’

  On the 80th anniversary of the founding of the FAO, the pope emphasized that our consciences must challenge us to resolve the tragedy of hunger, and he appealed to the responsibility of everyone.

  “Those who suffer from hunger are not strangers; they are my brothers and sisters, and I must help them without delay,” he said.

  Leo also warned that the world needs a real commitment on this issue, not just “solemn declarations,” so that no one lacks the necessary food.

  He also claimed that allowing millions of human beings to die from hunger is a “collective failure, an ethical aberration, a historical sin.”

  Condemning world conflicts as “macabre spectacles,” the Holy Father condemned the use of food as a weapon of war, calling it a “cruel strategy” that denies the right to life.

  “The silence of those dying of hunger cries out in everyone’s conscience, even though it is often ignored, silenced, or distorted. We cannot continue like this, since hunger is not man’s destiny but his downfall,” he asserted.

  “It seems that we have become apathetic witnesses to heartbreaking violence,” the pontiff continued.

  The pope said: “Do future generations deserve a world that is incapable of eradicating hunger and poverty once and for all? Is it possible that we cannot put an end to so many lacerating arbitrary acts that negatively impact the human family? Can political and social leaders continue to be polarized, wasting time and resources on useless and virulent arguments, while those they should serve continue to be forgotten and exploited for partisan interests?”

  “We cannot limit ourselves to proclaiming values” but rather “we must embody them,” since “slogans do not lift people out of poverty,” he said.

  He condemned a political paradigm and ethical vision that “replaces the person with profit.”

  Real solutions, not ‘eye-catching posters’

  We must not “be content with filling walls with large, eye-catching posters” but embrace a unified commitment, Leo said.

  He also stressed the importance of multilateralism and international cooperation, so that the shortcomings of poor countries can be truly understood in order to solve their problems, “without imposing solutions concocted in distant offices, in meetings dominated by ideologies that frequently ignore ancestral cultures, religious traditions, or customs deeply rooted in the wisdom of the elders.”

  Pope Leo XIV insisted that the plight of those who suffer from hunger invites us to reconsider our lifestyles, and that it is necessary to share their pain, since, by failing to live up to our commitments, we become complicit in the promotion of injustice. In the face of war, he emphasized that the international community “cannot look the other way.”

  “We cannot aspire to a more just social life if we are not willing to rid ourselves of the apathy that justifies hunger as if it were background music we have grown accustomed to, an unsolvable problem, or simply someone else’s responsibility,” he stated.

  The Holy Father concluded his message by recalling that there is also “a hunger for faith, hope, and love,” and he encouraged his listeners not to tire of asking God for the strength to serve those most in need.

  “As you continue your efforts, you will always be able to count on the solidarity and engagement, the commitment of the Holy See and the institutions of the Catholic Church that stand ready to go out and serve the poorest and the most disadvantaged throughout the world,” he said.

  This storywas first publishedby ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

• Pope Leo XIV explains why Christian hope is better than optimism

  Pope Leo XIV waves from the popemobile during an Oct. 15, 2025 public audience in St. Peter's Square. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

  Rome Newsroom, Oct 15, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).

  Optimism can disappoint us, but Christian hope “promises and fulfills” our hearts’ desire for fullness, Pope Leo XIV said at his weekly audience on Wednesday.

  Addressing thousands of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 15, the pope said, “This deep desire in our hearts can find its ultimate answer not in roles, not in power, not in having, but in the certainty that there is someone who guarantees this constitutive impulse of our humanity; in the awareness that this expectation will not be disappointed or thwarted. This certainty coincides with hope.”

  “This does not mean thinking in an optimistic way: often optimism lets us down, causing our expectations to implode, whereas hope promises and fulfills,” he added in his weekly message.

  The Holy Father continued his reflections on the mystery of Christ, which culminates in the Resurrection, but this time he linked it to “current human and historical reality, with its questions and challenges.”

  “From Christ’s Resurrection springs that hope that gives us a foretaste, despite the fatigue of living, of a deep and joyful calm: that peace that only he can give us in the end, without end,” the pope explained.

  Leo recalled that human existence is full of contrasts — joy, sadness, gratitude, and stress — but that only in the Risen Christ does the heart find the fullness it seeks.

  “We live busy lives, we concentrate on achieving results, and we even attain lofty, prestigious goals. Conversely, we remain suspended, precarious, awaiting success and recognition that are delayed or do not arrive at all,” he continued.

  The pope acknowledged that this tension between the desire for fulfillment and the experience of limitation defines much of the human condition: “We find ourselves experiencing a paradoxical situation: we would like to be happy, and yet it is very difficult to be happy in a continuous way, without any shadows. We come to terms with our limitations and, at the same time, with the irrepressible urge to try to overcome them. We feel deep down that we are always missing something.”

  However, the pontiff said, this feeling of “lack” is the call to find fulfillment in the Risen One.

  “In truth,” he said, “we were not created for lack, but for fullness, to rejoice in life, and life in abundance, according to Jesus’ expression in the Gospel of John [10:10],” which says, “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

  Leo emphasized that the Risen Christ “is the wellspring that satisfies our thirst, the infinite thirst for fullness that the Holy Spirit imbues into our hearts. Indeed, the Resurrection of Christ is not a simple event of human history, but the event that transformed it from within.”

  The Holy Father noted that spiritual thirst is a permanent condition of the human heart, and only Jesus, who died and rose again, can answer our deepest questions, such as, “is there really a destination for us? Does our existence have any meaning? And the suffering of so many innocents, how can it be redeemed?”

  “The Risen Jesus does not bestow upon us an answer ‘from above,’ but becomes our companion on this often arduous, painful and mysterious journey. Only He can fill our empty flask when our thirst becomes unbearable,” he explained.

  “We are fragile creatures,” Leo added. “Mistakes are part of our humanity; it is the wound of sin that makes us fall, give up, despair. To rise again instead means to get up and stand on our feet.”