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last mo.

Pope Leo XIV Marks First Year With Pastoral Visit in Southern Italy

A fence‑mending meeting with Secretary Marco Rubio signaled a bid to steady U.S.–Vatican ties after weeks of public friction with President Trump.

Leo gives a speech criticizing world leaders for what he described as spending billions on "killing and devastation," at a meeting in St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Bamenda, Cameroon, on April 16.
FILE - Pope Leo XIV carries a lightweight, 1.5-meter (5-foot) wooden cross during the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Pope Leo XIV, center, walks with Muezzin Musa Asgın Tunca, third from left, Istanbul's Mufti Emrullah Tuncel, fourth from left, the Imam of Mosque Sultanahmet Fatih Kaya, sixth from left, and Turkish Minister for Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, seventh from left, during a visit to the Mosque in Istanbul, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, File)
FILE - A flag from the United States waves in the crowd as Pope Leo XIV appears at the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica for his first Sunday blessing after his election, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

Overview

  • Leo’s trip to Pompeii and Naples on Friday marks the first anniversary of his May 8, 2025 election, with Mass at the famed shrine and a greeting of large crowds in the city center.
  • The pope met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday to cool tensions after Trump attacked his anti‑war stance, with both sides stressing a strong relationship and a shared call to work for peace.
  • In his first year, Leo revived traditional papal routines such as the red mozzetta, the Apostolic Palace and Castel Gandolfo, and he moved carefully but firmly on governance by canceling the World Day of Children, dissolving a disputed fundraising commission and loosening Francis‑era limits on where the Holy See can bank and invest.
  • The agenda he set centers on poverty, migrants, the environment and fast‑moving technology, with his first encyclical on artificial intelligence expected in the coming weeks after warnings about algorithmic control and the toll of rare‑earth mining.
  • Unity remains his stated goal as he faces near‑term tests, including planned July 1 consecrations by the Society of St. Pius X that Rome says would be a schismatic act, and a looming clash with Germany’s Synodal Path over a proposed lay‑bishop decision body and formal same‑sex blessings.