Thursday, September 24, 2026

The Vatican has the investigation of Bishop Michael Duca of Baton Rouge concerning accusation against diocesan priest

Investigation of Baton Rouge Bishop Submitted to Vatican

It’s not clear when the Vatican will decide or whether the Vatican will reveal the results.

St. Joseph Cathedral in the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (photo: William Silver / Shutterstock)

September 22, 2026

The interview phase of the Vatican’s investigation into how Baton Rouge Bishop Michael Duca handled an accusation of sexual misconduct by a priest has ended and the material has been sent to Rome, a witness told the Register.

Luke Zumo, who filed the complaint that triggered the investigation, said he received an email message Monday, Sept. 21, from New Orleans Archbishop James Checchio saying that the prelate has completed his report and sent it to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops. The archbishop was responding to an email message Zumo sent late last week requesting an update, Zumo said.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of New Orleans declined comment Tuesday afternoon. A spokesman for the Diocese of Baton Rouge contacted Monday night did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zumo told the Register that investigators from out of state working under the archbishop came to Baton Rouge to conduct interviews at least twice — once in June and again in July.

Zumo filed the complaint on Feb. 19, about seven months ago.

According to Zumo, Archbishop Checchio received a letter from the Vatican authorizing an investigation of Bishop Duca on May 4, which is about four and a half months ago.

Zumo noted that’s longer than the 90 days envisioned by Vatican guidelines.

“But it also means that it happened, and it’s going to a final step. I’m thankful for that,” Zumo told the Register.

Zumo made the complaint against Bishop Duca under Vos Estis Lux Mundi, an apostolic letter issued by Pope Francis in May 2019 that established a process for investigating bishops in sexual-abuse cases, including how bishops handle complaints about clerics under their jurisdiction. The document suggests 90 days for an investigation but allows for a longer term at the outset and for extensions for what it calls “just reasons.”

It’s unclear how long the Vatican will take to render a decision and whether that decision will become public.

Complaint About Priest’s Conduct

The investigation stems from a purported incident from nearly a year ago.

A man in his mid-60s has said that on Sept. 27, 2025, Father Charbel Jamhoury, a Maronite priest who at the time was pastor of St. Isidore the Farmer in Baker, Louisiana, used an early-morning Saturday meeting at the otherwise-deserted parish office to make sexual advances on the man and also stated that he missed having oral sex with boys.

The priest has denied the accusations.

As the Register reported in May and in June of this year, the purported victim says he informed the Diocese of Baton Rouge about the incident in early October 2025.

But the purported victim and Zumo, a longtime friend, have told the Register that the bishop was hard to reach and slow to respond.

The bishop put the pastor on leave in late December 2025 and removed him as pastor in early February 2026. Zumo said the bishop acted only under pressure, after Zumo contacted law enforcement, and that parishioners didn’t learn of the accusations against the priest until about four months after the diocese first received the purported victim’s complaint.

The diocese issued a statement Feb. 10 saying that Bishop Duca engaged in “extensive conversation with all parties involved” and considered interviews conducted by a private investigator hired by the diocese and by law enforcement as well as a “full health assessment” of Father Jamhoury before removing him as pastor.

The written statement acknowledged that “many members of the community have been frustrated due to the length of this process and perceived silence,” but said that “due diligence in such matters is necessary to protect the interests of both the claimant and the priest.”

The purported victim has told the Register that Bishop Duca informed him in mid-May 2026 that Father Jamhoury, who is originally from Lebanon, left the United States.

Bishop Duca, 74, is about eight and a half months from turning 75 (in June 2027), which is the normal retirement age for a bishop, though the pope can extend a bishop’s time in office.

Results?

As metropolitan archbishop of New Orleans, Archbishop Checchio under Vos Estis is the ordinary investigator of bishops in the Ecclesiastical Province of New Orleans, which includes the Diocese of Baton Rouge.

Zumo said that he has asked Archbishop Checchio whether he will learn what the Vatican decides to do.

He noted that Vos Estis says: “In compliance with the instructions of the competent Dicastery, the Metropolitan, upon request, shall inform the person who has alleged an offence, or his/her legal representatives, of the outcome of the investigation.”

Zumo told the Register he has asked Archbishop Checchio about that passage in the document.

“He shared with me in a professional and candid way that he’s under obedience to the Vatican and that he’ll only reveal to me what the Dicastery for Bishops allows him to reveal,” Zumo said.

“Because of that, I’m trying to spiritually and emotionally prepare myself to receive whatever outcome is shared or not shared with us as God’s will,” he said.

Zumo told the Register he appreciates his interactions with the archbishop.

Zumo said, “Archbishop Checchio really has been incredibly responsive and personable throughout, each time I have reached out to him. And that has been a comfort and an encouragement through a difficult process

The now Blessed Fulton J Sheen helped America accept Catholics

How Fulton Sheen paved the way for American acceptance of Catholics

Publications featuring the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen are displayed among other artifacts and memorabilia at the Sheen Museum on July 15, 2026, in Peoria, Ill. (AP/Jessie Wardarski)

by Joseph Connor

September 24, 2026

When Auxiliary Bishop Fulton Sheen's television program "Life Is Worth Living" debuted on the Dumont network on Feb. 12, 1952, it faced a tough road ahead. How many people would watch a middle-aged priest in traditional clerical garb deliver a half-hour homily at 8 p.m. on a Tuesday evening — especially when they could watch comedian Milton Berle's wildly popular show instead?

Despite the long odds, Sheen's show succeeded. It ran until 1957 and was eventually broadcast on more than 100 stations, attracting millions of viewers.

Sheen became so popular that he was featured on the cover of Time magazine and was so charismatic that he won an Emmy as television's most outstanding personality, besting Lucille Ball, Edward R. Murrow and Arthur Godfrey. One writer even invented a word to describe Sheen: televangelist.

The accolades, however, were only part of the story. Non-Catholics made up much of Sheen's audience, and for many of them, he was the first priest they had ever listened to. In a country historically skeptical of Catholicism, his down-to-earth homilies showed that Catholics were just as American as anyone else.

Less than a decade later, the country narrowly elected its first Catholic president. Is it then an exaggeration to suggest that without Fulton J. Sheen paving the way, there might not have been a President John F. Kennedy?

Born in 1895, Sheen was ordained in Peoria, Illinois, in 1919. He made his name as a teacher, homilist and author. He began hosting a radio program called "The Catholic Hour" in 1930, but by the early 1950s, television had eclipsed radio. Sheen saw the new medium as a way to reach a wider audience and, in his words, "help my sponsor, the good Lord."

Sheen's television program had no frills. The set was a book-lined study with a blackboard. He used no notes or cue cards and spoke for 28 minutes without commercial interruption. This simplicity, said New York Herald-Tribune television critic John Crosby, demonstrated that "a great teacher doesn't need film clips, dramatization, panels of experts, diagrams, charts or fancy lighting. He needs only himself."

It was Sheen's appearance and bearing that first caught viewers' attention. His eyes were described as "penetrating, almost hypnotic" and like "deep coals." His voice was "vibrantly expressive," and he seemed to be speaking directly to each viewer — which was no accident, as he imagined his program "as just a tête-à-tête with people in their own home."

The substance of the show, Time noted, was "not dogma, but a mixture of common sense, logic and Christian ethics" that resonated with people of all faiths as he discussed topics like love, freedom, pleasure and peace.

In the 1960 presidential campaign, religion loomed large because no Catholic had ever been elected president. The only Catholic to ever even run, New York Gov. Al Smith, had been soundly defeated in 1928 amid a torrent of bigotry that cast the election as a crusade to "keep popery out of the White House."

Kennedy faced more of the same in a country whose population was still less than 25% Catholic. His critics insisted that if Kennedy were elected, the pope would dictate government policy because, as one non-Catholic organization phrased it, "we honestly doubt that a Roman Catholic President could or would fully resist the pressures of ecclesiastical hierarchy."

Kennedy vehemently disagreed. "I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me," he said in an address to ministers in Houston two months before the election.

When the votes were counted in November, Kennedy had eked out a win with a margin of only 112,000 votes out of the 68 million ballots cast. Sheen's impact on the 1960 election cannot be quantified, but with such a razor-thin victory, it's fair to infer that the television priest who had reached the hearts of millions of viewers had some effect.

As journalist John L. Allen Jr., then Vatican correspondent for National Catholic Reporter, aptly noted in 2009 on the 30th anniversary of Sheen's death, Sheen "clinched the deal with the general public, showing that you could be completely Catholic and completely American."

When Sheen is beatified in St. Louis this week, his role in gaining greater acceptance for Catholicism in the American public square should not be forgotten.

Ahead of today's Beatification in St. Louis for Fulton J. Sheen, Cardinal Tagle holds Mass in Sheen's home diocese of Peoria

Cardinal Tagle encourages faithful to adopt Archbishop Sheen’s virtues as beatification nears

written by Maria Wiering September 22, 2026

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, Philippines, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization's Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches, waves as he delivers the homily July 21, 2024, during the final Mass of the National Eucharistic Congress at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The cardinal celebrated a Mass at the Cathedral of St Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria, Ill., where Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is buried, on Sept. 22, 2026, two days ahead of Sheen's beatification in St. Louis. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller)

(OSV News) — The grace of the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen comes with corresponding responsibility for Catholics in his home diocese of Peoria, Illinois, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle told Catholics there during Mass Sept. 22.

“This is a grace for all of us here, but also a heavy responsibility,” he said in his homily in Peoria’s Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, where Archbishop Sheen’s remains are entombed. “From now on, when people learn that you are from Peoria, they will say, ‘Oh, are you as missionary oriented as Bishop Fulton Sheen? Are you deeply entrenched in the Word of God, like the Blessed Fulton Sheen?'”

He said, with a laugh, that he hoped that they would not deny being from Peoria, but rather answer, “Yes, I am from Peoria, and this is a blessing from the Lord.”

Beatification preparation

Cardinal Tagle celebrated the morning Mass at Peoria’s cathedral while visiting the central Illinois city of 113,000 to venerate the relics of Archbishop Sheen, who will be beatified Sept. 24. Serving as Pope Leo XIV’s papal delegate, the cardinal will preside over the beatification Mass in St. Louis, about 170 miles southwest.

Cardinal Tagle, 69, serves as a pro-prefect for the Holy See’s Dicastery for Evangelization, leading its Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches, and is the archbishop emeritus of his native Manila. He is an alumnus of The Catholic University of America in Washington and in 2024 served as the Holy See’s envoy to the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis.

In the homily, he joked that Catholics from Peoria should not taunt the faithful from nearby Chicago, asking them, “Has Chicago produced a blessed? Oh, no? … Poor Chicago.”

Cardinal Tagle pointed to the Mass’ first reading from Proverbs 21:1-6, which reminds the faithful that “to do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”

“The heart of a wise person is in the hands of the Lord, and his heart allows the Lord to direct its destiny,” he said, “and when the heart is guided by the Word of the Lord, it will be just … The Lord is more pleased with the heart that is open to his will, that’s attentive to his promptings and is ready to act on his inspiration.”

A ‘heart that listens’

Cardinal Tagle underscored the importance of listening by relating it to the need for understanding between married couples, consecrated religious men and women and their superiors, and priests to their bishops.

“All of us expect to be listened to,” he said, but listening to one another “is at the heart of being a wise person and a follower of the Lord.”

The liturgy’s Gospel reading from Luke 8:19-21 recounted Jesus saying, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”

Cardinal Tagle said the reading showed that “heart that listens” in Mary, who was both Jesus’ mother and disciple. “She must have said, ‘My son recognizes that I became the worthy dwelling place, his dwelling place, because I listened to the word of God’ and after listening, made herself available.”

The obedient heart

A listening heart, the cardinal continued, also reflects the humanity of the Christian. “Pope Leo has been directing all of us to our being persons,” he said, alluding to “Magifica Humanitas,” his recent encyclical on humanity and artificial intelligence. “We are not machines. We are not gadgets. We are persons with hearts.

“Where is your heart?” he continued. “Does it still beat? Does it still hear? Does it still see? Is it still obedient? If it is a truly human heart, then it is capable of relating with God and doing what God says.”

The cardinal encouraged the congregation to follow the example of Mary and Archbishop Sheen in obedience to God. Then, when they say they are from Peoria, he said, people not only associate them with the birthplace of Archbishop Sheen, but with a place where, “like Fulton Sheen, you all listen to the word of God and act on it.”

“Then Peoria becomes part of the wider family, the wider family of God, and Jesus will be pleased,” he said.

Evening Holy Hour

At the end of Mass, Cardinal Tagle recognized the Filipino Catholics present at the Mass and briefly addressed them in their native language. He then greeted the full congregation on behalf of Pope Leo.

“When I go back to Rome, I will surely report to him about the beatification and will tell him about this Mass and your presence at this Mass,” he said.

He also noted the Holy Hour that he planned to attend later that evening, which is the penultimate Holy Hour in a nine-day series leading up to beatification.

Archbishop Sheen famously adopted a daily Holy Hour as part of his own spiritual practice while in formation for the priesthood at St. Paul Seminary from 1917-1919, and he maintained the practice through his life.

Archbishop Sheen was ordained in 1919 as a priest of the Diocese of Peoria. He taught philosophy at The Catholic University of America and rose to fame first through his radio show “The Catholic Hour” and then TV show “Life is Worth Living.” He meanwhile served as national director for the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, an arm of the Holy See now part of the Pontifical Mission Societies, supporting the Church’s evangelization and humanitarian relief efforts around the world. He was an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York before serving as bishop of Rochester, New York, from 1966 to 1969. Upon his retirement, Pope Paul VI gave him the title “archbishop.” He continued to preach and give retreats and died at age 85 in 1979.

Maria Wiering is senior managing editor of OSV News.

He was a "master of modern media"; the soon to be beatified Fulton J. Sheen

In 1979, Pope John Paul II embraced Archbishop Sheen at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City

Church

Archbishop Fulton Sheen: A 'master of modern media'

Amid the noise of our media-driven world, Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria, Illinois, reflects on what Archbishop Fulton Sheen called “the most important conversation in a human life”—the one that takes place “in the depths of the heart.”

By Bishop Louis Tylka*

We live in an age of extraordinary communication. The devices we carry give us access to more information than previous generations could have imagined. At almost any moment, from almost anywhere in the world, we can reach another person, receive breaking news, and watch events unfold thousands of miles away.

And yet, for all this connection, many people today feel profoundly disconnected.

We are surrounded by voices and struggle to hear one another. We consume an endless stream of information, opinions and images, yet find ourselves searching for meaning. Technology promises community, but can create echo chambers in which we hear only those who already think as we do. Furthermore, without physical human interaction, the communal sense created leaves a person hungering for genuine connections. Instead of drawing us together, our methods of communication can deepen division, anxiety and loneliness.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen understood that the most important conversation in a human life takes place in the depths of the heart. It is one reason his voice remains so compelling today.

In 1951, Sheen was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of New York (© Fred Palumbo, Library of Congress)

Archbishop Sheen was a master of modern media in his own era. He understood radio and television and used them with remarkable effectiveness. He entered millions of homes through The Catholic Hour and Life Is Worth Living. Standing before the cameras with his blackboard and episcopal regalia, he spoke about God, human nature, love, suffering, freedom, marriage, temptation and eternity.

What distinguished Archbishop Sheen was more than his command of these new media; it was that he knew what he wanted to communicate. He believed that beneath our ambitions, fears, distractions and sins is a human heart made for God. He observed that “nothing ever happens in the world that does not happen first inside human hearts.” That conviction ran throughout his preaching and writing.

For Archbishop Sheen, the interior life was not an escape from the world. It was where the Christian learned how to enter the world truthfully. This is an important distinction for our time. The digital world constantly invites us outward: What is happening? What is trending? What are people saying? Who agrees with me? Who is against me? What should I fear? What should I desire next? The Gospel asks different questions: Who am I before God? Whom am I called to love? Where do I need conversion? What is Christ asking of me? These questions require something increasingly difficult to find: silence.

Archbishop Sheen’s public ministry was rooted in this kind of interior encounter with Christ. For decades, he maintained the practice of a daily Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament. The man who spoke to millions first learned to be silent before God.

There is something deeply instructive in that for all of us, particularly those entrusted with communicating the Gospel today. Before we speak, we must listen. Before we post, we must pray. Before we seek to influence others, we must allow Christ to convert our own hearts. Archbishop Sheen understood that evangelization is more than the transmission of religious information. It is an invitation into a relationship with Jesus Christ and, through Him, with one another.

As Bishop of Peoria, I am profoundly grateful that the Church will soon number Archbishop Sheen among the Blessed. On September 24, 2026, he will be beatified in St. Louis, Missouri in an extraordinary moment of grace for our local Church, for the Church in the United States and, I believe, for the universal Church.

Earlier this year, Pope Leo XIV beautifully described Archbishop Sheen as “a light of faith, hope, and love” whose radio and television ministry touched millions with the hope of the Gospel. The Holy Father added a remarkable personal testimony: “I myself am a witness of his evangelization when I was growing up.” That testimony reminds us that we do not always know where a word spoken in faith will travel or what fruit it may bear.

Decades after Sheen stood before a television camera, his voice continues to reach new generations. His talks now circulate through digital platforms that did not exist during his lifetime. Young people encounter him online and discover that a bishop who died in 1979 somehow understands their questions about happiness, loneliness, identity, love and God. Why? Because technology has changed, but the human heart has not. Our deepest hunger remains the same.

The Church must learn to evangelize in the digital world. We should creatively use every worthy means available to proclaim Jesus Christ. Archbishop Sheen himself would surely encourage us to do so. But his witness also offers a necessary caution: We must never become so fascinated with the means of communication that we forget the purpose of communicating.

Our task is not to generate more content in an already noisy world. Our task is to help people encounter Christ — and through Christ, to encounter one another as brothers and sisters. Sometimes that encounter begins when the noise stops, the screen goes dark and a person becomes quiet enough to hear the voice of God speaking within the heart.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen understood that. Our world needs to rediscover it.

* The Most Reverend Louis Tylka is Bishop of Peoria, Illinois. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen will be beatified September 24, 2026, in St. Louis, Missouri. More information is available at CelebrateSheen.com.

Pope Leo XIV on today's Beatification of Fulton J. Sheen with hope-filled enthusiasm

Pope

Pope Leo upholds Fulton Sheen's legacy ahead of beatification

On the eve of Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s beatification, Pope Leo XIV expresses his hope that the new American Blessed's example will inspire innovative ways of spreading the Gospel with joyful enthusiasm.

Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV has paid tribute to Venerable Fulton Sheen, highlighting the late American Archbishop’s media apostolate ahead of his beatification in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Speaking at the Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope recalled the upcoming beatification, and held up Archbishop Sheen as an example for everyone engaged in evangelization.

“Tomorrow in Saint Louis, Missouri, Venerable Fulton Sheen will be beatified,” he said.

“May the example and intercession of this holy bishop, known for his evangelizing work through the media, inspire many others likewise to find new ways of spreading the Gospel message with joyful enthusiasm," said Pope Leo.

The beatification Mass will take place on Thursday afternoon, 24 September 2026, at The Dome at America’s Center in Saint Louis.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, will preside at the beatification Mass.

According to the Diocese of Norwich, organizers expect nearly 45,000 pilgrims from 48 US states and twelve countries, together with more than 80 bishops and hundreds of priests.

Born in 1895 and known affectionately as “Uncle Fultie”, Archbishop Sheen became a familiar presence in American homes through his television programme Life Is Worth Living. The programme aired from 1952 to 1957 and attracted millions of viewers.

Archbishop Sheen, who studied in Washington and at the University of Louvain in Belgium, won an Emmy Award, receiving the honour for Most Outstanding Personality in 1953.

In 1966, Pope Paul VI appointed him Bishop of Rochester, in New York. He resigned from the leadership of the diocese three years later, but continued his public ministry until his death in December 1979.

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Popular podcasting nun discerning establishing a new religious community

Popular Catholic podcaster and religious sister announces discernment of new community

Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, a well-known speaker, podcast host, and author, said she is discerning the establishment of a new religious community called Friends of the Bridegroom.

Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT. | Credit: X @onegroovynun

By Francesca Pollio Fenton

Popular Catholic speaker, podcast host, and author Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, announced on Sept. 21 that she is publicly discerning the establishment of a new religious community called Friends of the Bridegroom.

“After several years of private discernment, I would like to announce to you with great reverence and care that, with the blessing of my religious community the Sisters of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) and the Archbishop of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, his Excellency Jeffrey S. Grob, I am officially entering into a time of public discernment of the foundation of a new religious community, Friends of the Bridegroom,” Heidland wrote in a post on X.

The religious sister explained that her many years working in healing ministry and working with other religious sisters, priests, and bishops has allowed her “to see and experience the need and ache for the ongoing healing and renewal of our clergy and religious sisters.”

Heidland has served as the executive director of Friends of the Bridegroom alongside Father John Burns of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. According to its website, it is an apostolate that seeks to renew the Church through the healing, renewal, and expansion of consecrated life and the priesthood.

She called her time working with the apostolate “a profoundly blessed time” and added that “the Lord has continually stirred a desire in all of us in the apostolate to discern the foundation of a new community of priests, religious sisters, and laity who would work toward this important renewal.”

“During this time of public discernment, the Friends of the Bridegroom ministry and my public activities connected with this discernment will remain under the pastoral care and oversight of Archbishop Jeffrey Grob, Archbishop of Milwaukee,” she explained. “I am deeply grateful for his willingness to accompany and guide this discernment during this important time.”

Heidland will remain a sister in good standing with SOLT and will continue to wear the order’s habit.

“I am truly grateful for the support of so many people over the years and I continue to count on your prayers and support as we discern this very important step … Once again, I extend my tremendous gratitude to Sister Mary Aloysius of Jesus, SOLT General Sister Servant, her General Council, and Archbishop Jeffrey Grob,” she wrote.

Heidland was placed for adoption by her 17-year-old unmarried biological parents. After spending some time in foster care, she was adopted by a Catholic couple and raised in Woodland, Washington.

It was her adoptive parents who gave her a foundation in the faith. However, at age 11 she was sexually assaulted and at 13 she was raped. She has never publicly named her abuser.

During her teenage years, Heidland focused her time on sports. When she was a senior in high school she was offered a full scholarship to play volleyball at the University of Nevada, Reno. While she remained an important part of the team, she was an alcoholic by the age of 21 and embraced the partying lifestyle.

Completely estranged from her faith and feeling broken, a priest entered into her life and made a lasting impact. Heidland’s mother also began to pray and fast for her daughter, asking the Lord to guider her becoming a nun.

In 1998, Heidland entered the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity after she felt Jesus calling her to become his bride. Today, she speaks openly about the healing, and restoration Jesus has done in her life and shares her powerful testimony with others around the world.

Pope Leo XIV issues urgent appeal ahead of 112th World Day of Migrants & Refugees

ICE arrests more than 12,000 people following tips from unaccompanied child program

Pope

Pope appeals for care and protection of migrant children

Pope Leo XIV appeals for the protection of migrant and refugee children, and for everyone to take responsibility for minors on the move. His appeal comes ahead of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday issued an urgent appeal to everyone to take responsibility for young migrants and refugees exposed to violence, exploitation and traumatic conditions along migration routes.

His appeal comes four days before the 112th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, to which the Pope has issued a message on the theme “Even just one of these children.”

“Sunday, September 27, marks the World Day of Migrants and Refugees,” he said at the conclusion of his General Audience in St Peter’s Square, noting that his “thoughts go out to migrants and refugees, especially minors forced to leave their homelands.”

“Children and adolescents are the most vulnerable,” he continued, noting that they “often endure unspeakable suffering—violence, torture, exploitation, and traumatic conditions—and not infrequently lose their lives along migration routes.”

The Pope then made a direct appeal: “I appeal to everyone’s sense of responsibility. Let everyone feel personally involved in the lives of these young people, who must always be protected and cared for.”

Pope Leo’s appeal came as the Church prepares to celebrate the World Day of Migrants and Refugees on 27 September.

‘Even just one of these children’

In his message for the World Day, published in August, the Pope recalls that minors are among the most vulnerable people involved in migration and forced displacement.

In it he notes that millions of children and adolescents “are forced to leave their homeland because of war, poverty, violence, environmental disasters and other tragedies. Sadly, their number continues to grow. “

Pope Leo also points to “deaths along migration routes, trafficking and exploitation, the recruitment of minors for use in armed conflicts, sexual violence, forced marriages, and the atrocities they have suffered or witnessed during their travels. Their dignity is trampled upon in countless ways.”

Yet the Pope insists that the response cannot be reduced to statistics.

“Before this tragic reality,” he writes, “my thoughts turn to the words of Jesus that profoundly challenge our consciences: ‘Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me’”.

Human faces behind the numbers

According to UNHCR’s Global Trends 2025, published in June 2026, 117.8 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced at the end of 2025 as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and the climate crisis.

The figure included 41.6 million refugees, 9 million asylum-seekers and 68.7 million people displaced within their own countries by conflict or violence.

Children make up a particularly large share of displaced populations. UNHCR estimates that 45 million children under the age of 18 were among the 117.8 million forcibly displaced people at the end of 2025. Among refugees, people in refugee-like situations and other people in need of international protection, 39 per cent were children.

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