CatholicPhilly presents a weekly roundup of international news from Vatican News, the official news portal of the Holy See. The following report on the week of Jan. 19, 2026 links to stories on VaticanNews.va.
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Pope Leo marked two milestones early in the year this week. First was his message for the World Day of the Sick in which, he said, we show compassion like the Good Samaritan by bearing another person’s pain.
The second was the observance of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, in which the pope called for renewed prayer for visible unity among Christians.
Reflections on this observance included those from the Armenian Apostolic Church, from the example of Christians in Finland, a cardinal’s call for ecumenism as a tool for peace, and the start 60 years ago of a healing in the rupture of the Catholic and Orthodox faithful nearly a thousand years ago.
Pope Leo Teaches on Love of our Heavenly Father
Continuing with his catechesis on the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, on Divine Revelation, Pope Leo XIV said during his weekly General Audience Jan. 21 that “thanks to Jesus, we know God as we are known by Him.” In addition, the pope said, “we reach full knowledge of God by entering into the Son’s relationship with His Father, by virtue of the action of the Spirit.” Read the full address here.
Pope Leo urged the faithful gathered for the Sunday Angelus in Rome to avoid seeking “substitutes for happiness” found in “passing illusions of success or fame” but in the joy of “knowing ourselves to be loved and wanted by our heavenly Father.”
The love of Jesus, the pope said, “today comes among us (not to) dazzle us with spectacular displays” but to “share in our struggles and to take our burdens upon Himself.”
Dialogue, Prayers Urged for Countries Experiencing Violence
As violence flared in many regions of the world, the calls for peace and dialogue rose as well. These included in Guatemala; in Ukraine, where volunteers are helping ease the sting of winter cold; and in Myanmar, where a statue of St. Carlo Acutis is offering an example for young people to live their faith “especially in this difficult time” in that Asian nation.
Elsewhere, American and Japanese Catholic bishops renewed their call Jan. 21 for nations to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
Tensions in U.S.-Europe Relations Raise Calls for Discussion, Examination
Vatican secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin addressed heightened tensions between the United States and Europe Jan. 21, saying they “create a climate that worsens an international situation that is already serious.” He urged discussion of controversial issues “without entering into polemics and without fueling tensions.”
Three U.S. cardinals released a statement Jan. 19 regarding American foreign policy. They said recent events in Venezuela, Ukraine, and Greenland raise “basic questions about the use of military force and the meaning of peace.”
The cardinals echoed Pope Leo’s call to overcome “polarization, partisanship, and narrow economic and social interests” that currently inhibit the U.S.’s debate on its own moral foundation.
Catholic Social Teaching Seen as Path to Peace
Pope Leo urged in a message to a European conference that Catholic Social Teaching shows a path toward peaceful coexistence “as it goes beyond borders and provides a platform for collective interests and way of living,” he wrote.
The pontiff also prayed for peace Jan. 21 “at a moment in history that seems marked by a growing loss of respect for the value of human dignity and in which war has come back into fashion.”
Pope Leo Encourages American Marchers for Life
Pope Leo offered a message of spiritual closeness to Americans engaged in the annual March for Life Jan. 23 in Washington, D.C.
He encouraged young people to continue working to ensure that life is respected and protected in all its stages “through appropriate efforts at every level of society, including dialogue with civil and political leaders.”
Causes for Sainthood Advance for Six
The path toward sainthood advanced for six individuals from Guatemala, Italy and Brazil as Pope Leo approved the cause for canonization of two declared “blessed” and four named “venerable.” All of them lived and ministered in the 20th century, and as recently as the 1990s.
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