This is the text of the catechesis and appeal from Pope Leo XIV's first general audience, given in Italian May 21, 2025 in the Paul VI Hall.
"With the light and the strength of the Holy Spirit, let us build a Church founded on God’s love, a sign of unity, a missionary Church that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the word," Pope Leo XIV said during his installation Mass on May 18.
On Sunday, May 11, Pope Leo XIV led the prayer of the Regina Coeli from the central balcony in St. Peter's Basilica, overlooking a crowd of 100,000 gathered to pray with him.
The Catholic community is alive, beautiful and strong, and it is up to its pastors to protect and nourish the faithful and to help bring God's hope to the whole world, Pope Leo XIV said.
The man once known as Robert Prevost — a quiet, thoughtful Augustinian with decades of missionary experience in Peru — is Pope Leo XIV.
Through his personal care for missionary priests, Pope Francis showed that the Church’s heart beats strongest where the Gospel is just beginning to take root.
Each of these moments speaks to the heart of Pope Francis’ mission: to bring the light of the Gospel where it is most needed.
His death, coming at the close of the holiest days in the Christian calendar, felt profoundly symbolic for a man who spent his papacy proclaiming the joy and hope of the Gospel to the world’s most forgotten corners.
Msgr. Roger J. Landry, National Director of The Pontifical Mission Societies USA, proclaimed a message of hope from Calvary during the meditations of Jesus' Seven Last Words in St. Patrick's Cathedral, at the invitation of Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
Drawing from Sheen’s life, ministry, and missionary zeal, Monsignor Landry invited seminarians to rediscover the fire of preaching.
Celebrating Mass in St. Louis, Missouri, on the solemnity of the Annunciation, during a meeting of representatives of The Pontifical Mission Societies of the Midwest region, our National Director Monsignor Landry emphasized that “the Church’s mission work is ultimately to bring Christ to people."
Father Anthony Andreassi spoke at St. Mary Seminary in the Diocese of Cleveland about the indispensable role of missionary animation in the Church and the duty of future priests to foster and support this mission.
