Wednesday General Audience with Pope Leo XIV 06.03.2026

 

Wednesday General Audience  (@Vatican Media)

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• Pope Leo XIV
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Pope at Audience: The liturgy leads us back to what is essential

Pope Leo XIV emphasizes the importance of the rite, signs and symbols of the liturgy to draw us closer to God, during his weekly General Audience catechesis reflecting on Vatican II's 1963 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium.

By Isabella H. de Carvalho

In our hectic lives marked by busyness and commotion, the rite of the liturgy, along with its signs and symbols, helps us pause and connect with our inner spiritual life as it draws us closer to Christ and his love, Pope Leo XIV said during the Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 3.

“With the solemn simplicity of its rhythms, the rite interrupts our frenetic activities, leading us back to what is essential,” the Pope emphasized.

“We thus discover another dimension of action, not guided by calculations of productivity, and another experience of time and space. In the rite we experience a logic of gratuitousness, we find a pause that regenerates the heart, we recognize that we are preceded by divine grace, we learn to live in a rhythm inhabited by the Holy Spirit.”

This week, Pope Leo continued his catechesis series on the Documents of the Second Vatican Council and reflected on the 1963 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium.

Sacrosanctum Concilium was the first text to be promulgated at the Second Vatican Council and brought about important changes to the liturgy, such as allowing it to be celebrated in vernacular languages and encouraging a more active participation of the faithful.

Do not be silent spectators

In this regard, the Pope explained that the Council – by building on the Liturgical Movement that pushed for these changes – helped highlight how the rites of the Christian liturgy are not “a mere external covering of the sacramental mystery, a collection of arbitrary ceremonies, but are the ecclesial mediation through which the divine gift reaches us.”

“Rite gives shape to liturgical action” and thus to our lives by “generating in us a spiritual sensibility that makes us capable of savouring the presence of God through Jesus Christ,” Pope Leo explained.

However, he noted that this can only happen if we participate actively in the liturgy “with our full selves – body, mind and heart –” and avoid being “strangers or silent spectators.”

He also underlined that through the sacred rite we are “formed in listening to the Word of God, in giving thanks and in adoration, in fraternal sharing and in ecclesial communion,” which leads us to recognize that we are one assembly, made up of different people, but united by the same faith.

Pope Leo acknowledged that the rite is made up of “well-defined sequence of gestures and prayers, which can sometimes be at odds with our individual tendency towards spontaneity.”

However, he insisted that its logic “is not to constrain freedom within rigid frameworks” but rather to connect us to our inner spiritual dimension by bringing us to what is essential.

The importance of signs and symbols

The Pope then turned to the signs and symbols of the liturgy that are interwoven with the rite, which help support “the sanctification of man” and are also rooted in creation and human culture.

Pope Leo explained that "sign" and "symbol" are often used as synonyms but in reality “a sign is symbolic when it is able to refer not only to an idea, but to an entire system of meanings and values.”

For example, “when we are sprinkled with holy water, our awareness of the gift received at Baptism and our commitment to new life in Christ is rekindled.”

Pope Leo also highlighted how the sign of water is especially emblematic, as represented in the Bible: “from the origins of creation to the Flood, from the crossing of the Red Sea to the Jordan, right up to the water flowing from Christ’s side, which becomes a sacramental sign of immersion in His death and resurrection.”

Symbols, he continued, are instead practical and first and foremost actions “such as kneeling and exchanging the sign of peace” or “the constitutive acts of each Sacrament.”

“Above all, symbols have a unique performative and transformative dimension,” he said, “both in relation to the material elements of which they are composed and to those who come into contact with them, engendering a sense of belonging, touching the heart and mind, and giving rise to authentic ecclesial relationships.”

Reawaken an openness to an encounter with God

The Pope ended his catechesis by calling all “to allow ourselves to be educated by the rites of the liturgy, caring for the beauty of our celebrations with a delicate touch and without arbitrariness.”

“The experience of a living and devout liturgy, accompanied by appropriate mystagogical catechesis, is the best resource for reawakening in everyone that openness to the encounter with God which, in the logic of the Incarnation, can only take place by involving the whole person: spirit, soul and body,” he concluded.

Saints of the Day for Wednesday, aka the Uganda Martyrs

 

St. Charles Lwanga and Companions

For those of us who think that the faith and zeal of the early Christians died out as the Church grew more safe and powerful through the centuries, the martyrs of Uganda are a reminder that persecution of Christians continues in modern times, even to the present day.

The Society of Missionaries of Africa (known as the White Fathers) had only been in Uganda for 6 years and yet they had built up a community of converts whose faith would outshine their own. The earliest converts were soon instructing and leading new converts that the White Fathers couldn't reach. Many of these converts lived and taught at King Mwanga's court.

King Mwanga was a violent ruler and pedophile who forced himself on the young boys and men who served him as pages and attendants. The Christians at Mwanga's court who tried to protect the pages from King Mwanga.

The leader of the small community of 200 Christians, was the chief steward of Mwanga's court, a twenty-five-year-old Catholic named Joseph Mkasa (or Mukasa).

When Mwanga killed a Protestant missionary and his companions, Joseph Mkasa confronted Mwanga and condemned his action. Mwanga had always liked Joseph but when Joseph dared to demand that Mwanga change his lifestyle, Mwanga forgot their long friendship. After striking Joseph with a spear, Mwanga ordered him killed. When the executioners tried to tie Joseph's hands, he told them, "A Christian who gives his life for God is not afraid to die." He forgave Mwanga with all his heart but made one final plea for his repentance before he was beheaded and then burned on November 15, 1885.

Charles Lwanga took over the instruction and leadership of the Christian community at court -- and the charge of keeping the young boys and men out of Mwanga's hands. Perhaps Joseph's plea for repentance had had some affect on Mwanga because the persecution died down for six months.

Anger and suspicion must have been simmering in Mwanga, however. In May 1886 he called one of his pages named Mwafu and asked what the page had been doing that kept him away from Mwanga. When the page replied that he had been receiving religious instruction from Denis Sebuggwawo, Mwanga's temper boiled over. He had Denis brought to him and killed him himself by thrusting a spear through his throat.

He then ordered that the royal compound be sealed and guarded so that no one could escape and summoned the country's executioners. Knowing what was coming, Charles Lwanga baptized four catechumens that night, including a thirteen-year-old named Kizito. The next morning Mwanga brought his whole court before him and separated the Christians from the rest by saying, "Those who do not pray stand by me, those who do pray stand over there." He demanded of the fifteen boys and young men (all under 25) if they were Christians and intended to remain Christians. When they answered "Yes" with strength and courage Mwanga condemned them to death.

He commanded that the group be taken on a 37 mile trek to the place of execution at Namugongo. The chief executioner begged one of the boys, his own son, Mabaga, to escape and hide but Mbaga refused. The cruelly-bound prisoners passed the home of the White Fathers on their way to execution. Father Lourdel remembered thirteen-year-old Kizito laughing and chattering. Lourdel almost fainted at the courage and joy these condemned converts, his friends, showed on their way to martyrdom. Three of these faithful were killed on road.

A Christian soldier named James Buzabaliawo was brought before the king. When Mwanga ordered him to be killed with the rest, James said, "Goodbye, then. I am going to Heaven, and I will pray to God for you." When a griefstricken Father Lourdel raised his hand in absolution as James passed, James lifted his own tied hands and pointed up to show that he knew he was going to heaven and would meet Father Lourdel there. With a smile he said to Lourdel, "Why are you so sad? This nothing to the joys you have taught us to look forward to."

Also condemned were Andrew Kagwa, a Kigowa chief, who had converted his wife and several others, and Matthias Murumba (or Kalemba) an assistant judge. The chief counsellor was so furious with Andrew that he proclaimed he wouldn't eat until he knew Andrew was dead. When the executioners hesitated Andrew egged them on by saying, "Don't keep your counsellor hungry -- kill me." When the same counsellor described what he was going to do with Matthias, he added, "No doubt his god will rescue him." "Yes," Matthias replied, "God will rescue me. But you will not see how he does it, because he will take my soul and leave you only my body." Matthias was cut up on the road and left to die -- it took him at least three days.

The original caravan reached Namugongo and the survivors were kept imprisoned for seven days. On June 3, they were brought out, wrapped in reed mats, and placed on the pyre. Mbaga was killed first by order of his father, the chief executioner, who had tried one last time to change his son's mind. The rest were burned to death. Thirteen Catholics and eleven Protestants died. They died calling on the name of Jesus and proclaiming, "You can burn our bodies, but you cannot harm our souls."

When the White Fathers were expelled from the country, the new Christians carried on their work, translating and printing the catechism into their natively language and giving secret instruction on the faith. Without priests, liturgy, and sacraments their faith, intelligence, courage, and wisdom kept the Catholic Church alive and growing in Uganda. When the White Fathers returned after King Mwanga's death, they found five hundred Christians and one thousand catchumens waiting for them. The twenty-two Catholic martyrs of the Uganda persecution were canonized.

There is NO vocations problem in Charlotte North Carolina; they just ordained 10 NEW PRIESTS!

 

Record number of priests ordained in Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina

“We stand in awe of God’s work in our midst,” Bishop Michael Martin said.

By Amira Abuzeid

June 1, 2026 

St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. | Credit: J. Michael Jones/Shutterstock

Bishop Michael Martin of the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, ordained 10 men to the priesthood on May 30, the highest number of priests ordained in one year in the diocese’s history.

The number surpasses the previous record high of seven ordinations (set in 2000 and 2024) and follows six ordinations in 2025.

“We stand in awe of God’s work in our midst,” Martin told EWTN News in a statement. “We give thanks for the ‘yes’ of these men, which is freely offered by them to God’s free invitation.”

The ordinands will bolster the diocese’s 145 active priests who serve more than 575,000 Catholics. The Diocese of Charlotte, covering western North Carolina, has seen steady growth in vocations amid a booming Catholic population.

“There is always a desire to explain a moment such as ours,” Martin said, noting that there are “factors unique to each man in our seminary formation program” that explain the record number of ordinations and that there is “no one set formula.”

“God uses whatever he chooses to invite and foster a faith-filled response from these men,” he said.

He credited families, who are “responsible as they are placing faith in Christ in its rightful place at the center of daily life,” as well as the diocese’s priests, who “are more regularly inviting young men to consider the priesthood.”

He also said the diocese has promoted a culture of vocations” for years and it “is clearly making a difference.”

In 2016, then-Bishop Peter Jugis founded St. Joseph’s College Seminary. Eight of this year’s 10 ordinands studied there before advancing to major seminary. The other two lived there during their pastoral years of parish ministry.

“Many years ago, seeing the desperate need for priests, Bishop Jugis and his clergy made the cultivation of vocations the highest priority,” said the seminary’s rector, Father Matthew Kauth, in May.

In addition, under the leadership of Father Christopher Gober, who served as the diocese’s vocations director until July 2025, two vocations camps were launched: “Quo Vadis Days” in 2014 for young men and “Duc in Altum” in 2016 for young women. The programs are held at Belmont Abbey College.

“We are now reaping the harvest of 20-plus years of labor. It didn’t just happen,” Kauth said. “God has blessed our efforts, and a culture of vocations has been established — yielding increasing returns, just as Christ said it would. Now, we must cultivate and care for those vocations and give thanks to God.”

Saturdayʼs ordination drew an overflowing crowd of more than 1,640 attendees, many of whom arrived hours early.

In his homily, Martin described the occasion as “a day of great joy for the Church and for these 10 men.”

The bishop urged the new priests to love so that people “will follow not just what you say but follow who you are,” and encouraged them to “love the people of God you’re being sent out to serve.”

“His sheep are every human person on the face of the Earth, every person in whatever school or parish, every community, every hospital or nursing home,” Martin told the new priests. “Wherever you go, love them all … you cannot wait for them to come to you, you have to go out to them. That is the nature of the apostolic Church. As you feed them with this holy banquet, you nourish them in ways only the Lord can.”

The new priests are Father Robert Bauman, Father Michael Camilleri, Father Daniel Chaves Peña, Father John Cuppett, Father Maximilian Frei, Father Juan González Hernández, Father Bryan Ilagor, Father Michael Lugo, Father Peter Townsend, and Father James Tweed.

They offered first blessings for more than two hours after the Mass and will celebrate their inaugural Masses of thanksgiving in the coming days. Effective July 1, they will take up assignments across the diocese, serving as university and high school chaplains and in parochial vicar positions.

Also on May 30, the nine perpetual pilgrims from the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage arrived in the diocese where they were greeted by more than 100 Catholics at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Monroe.

The 2026 theme, “One Nation Under God,” recognizes the nation’s 250th anniversary. The pilgrimage began on Pentecost Sunday and will continue through Independence Day weekend.

A group of nine perpetual pilgrims carrying the Blessed Sacrament will journey up the Eastern Seaboard on the St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Route, named for the first U.S. citizen to be canonized.

All are invited to join the public processions and other events.

Catholic Dioceses across USA plan special outreach as the FIFA World Cup begins

 

US dioceses see World Cup as opportunity for pastoral outreach, global encounter

written by John Knebels June 1, 2026

A Toronto city worker cleans a sign outside of city hall during the 2026 FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola at Nathan Phillips Square May 25, 2026. The soccer matches will be played June 11-July 19. Mandatory Credit: (OSV News photo/Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images via Reuters)

(OSV News) — As the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaches, Catholic dioceses across the United States are preparing for what many see as both a pastoral opportunity and an unprecedented moment of global encounter.

The tournament — set to be played across the United States, Canada and Mexico — will be the largest in FIFA history, featuring 48 teams and 104 matches.

In the United States, 11 host cities will stage games from June 11 to July 19, with the championship scheduled for July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which sits just across the Hudson River from New York City.

The 11 U.S. host cities: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City in Missouri and Kansas, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and the New York/New Jersey metro area.

Across these cities, Catholic leaders are already preparing for the convergence of international visitors, local parish life and public witness.

Kansas City World Cup outreach efforts bridge state lines

In Kansas City, a coordinated effort known as OneKC Catholic — a joint initiative of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph — has been created to prepare for the influx.

According to its overview, OneKC Catholic is “an effort of evangelization, hospitality, and charity aimed at welcoming visiting Catholics to the KC metro area.”

It adds: “Whether you are visiting, passing through or considering making the Kansas City area your home, our Catholic parishes are ready to welcome you.”

The initiative includes coordinated parish listings, multilingual resources, and collaboration with Catholic Charities on hospitality and planning during the tournament. A kickoff Mass is planned with Bishop James V. Johnston of Kansas City-St. Joseph and Archbishop W. Shawn McKnight of Kansas City in Kansas.

Catholic Atlanta initiatives for World Cup include outreach, hospitality, public safety

In Atlanta, the archdiocese has also begun preparations that combine outreach, hospitality and public safety awareness.

Maureen Smith, chief communications officer for the Archdiocese of Atlanta, told OSV News that the city initiated early coordination with the Church.

“The City of Atlanta approached one of our pastors early in the planning process to let him know about training for faith leaders in how to recognize and respond to human trafficking,” Smith said. “Experts in human trafficking tell us there is always an increase in activity during large sporting events, so we felt like this was an appropriate and important place to start with our own planning.”

Smith also described a broader effort to welcome international visitors through parish engagement.

“We also wanted to offer a welcome to fans and teams who are coming to Atlanta for the World Cup matches,” she said. “We sponsored a contest for a Catholic artist to design a two-inch sticker welcoming guests. We will provide stickers to the parishes and encourage them to get photos of fans with their stickers at church.”

Parishes will also promote Masses in multiple languages, including Portuguese, Haitian Creole, and Spanish, with social media outreach to help visitors locate worship opportunities.

Pastoral and hospitality outreach occurring across the U.S.

Other host cities are developing their own pastoral and hospitality responses.

In Houston, an official World Cup 2026 resource page created by the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston offers access to Mass, confession and Eucharistic adoration in the city, along with a parish locator tool to assist international visitors. Local ministries are also preparing hospitality and fellowship outreach during the tournament.

In Seattle, Catholic leaders have coordinated pastoral care initiatives focused on travelers and migrants, alongside public prayer efforts for peace during a period of global tension involving some participating nations.

In San Francisco’s host region, Mission Santa Clara on the campus of Santa Clara University has been highlighted as a Catholic focal point tied to the tournament’s presence in the Bay Area.

In Miami, Catholic communities are preparing for a large influx of international visitors, with emphasis on multilingual access to the sacraments and parish hospitality. The archdiocese has also noted the Catholic heritage connected to the World Cup’s origins, including FIFA founder Jules Rimet, a devout Catholic who envisioned the tournament as a means of fostering international fraternity.

In Dallas, Catholic institutions such as the University of Dallas and parish networks are preparing volunteer participation in tournament-related roles, including FIFA-linked programs such as player escort opportunities.

In Philadelphia, preparations include awareness that World Cup matches will coincide with the 250th anniversary of the United States on July 4, adding a unique national and civic dimension to the city’s hosting role.

In Boston, Catholic communities are preparing for international visitors through parish outreach and hospitality coordination tied to the expected influx of fans.

In Los Angeles, SoFi Stadium will host multiple matches, including games featuring the United States team. Local Catholic communities are preparing for large-scale visitor engagement and multilingual pastoral outreach.

A universal Church response

Underlying many of these efforts is a shared theological reflection on universality.

The Catholic tradition itself is rooted in the word katholikos, meaning “universal” or “according to the whole.”

That meaning resonates strongly in the episcopal motto of Pope Leo XIV: “In Illo uno unum” (“In the One, we are one”), drawn from St. Augustine’s exposition on Psalm 127.

Augustine’s reflection — “although we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one” — has often been cited in discussions of global gatherings marked by cultural and national diversity.

In that sense, Catholic leaders note, the World Cup becomes more than a sporting event. It becomes a lived image of encounter: nations gathered, languages interwoven, cultures present in one shared space.

For Catholic communities across those 11 cities, the weeks ahead represent both preparation and invitation — preparation for the practical demands of hosting the world, and invitation to live out a vision of hospitality rooted in faith.

As OneKC Catholic’s mission states, the goal is simple: that visitors “feel known, welcomed, and connected.”

In that spirit, dioceses across the United States are approaching the World Cup not only as an international event, but as a moment of encounter — between Church and world, between local parish and global visitor, and, for many, between hospitality and grace.

Pope Leo XIV appoints EWTN'S President and COO as the Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication

 

Maria Montserrat Alvarado 

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• Pope Leo XIV
• Appointments
• Dicastery for Communication

Pope Leo XIV appoints lay woman Prefect of Dicastery for Communication

Currently President and COO of EWTN News, Maria Montserrat Alvarado will succeed Paolo Ruffini in November, continuing the path of reform and renewal initiated by Pope Francis.

Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Maria Montserrat Alvarado, currently President and Chief Operating Officer of EWTN News, as Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, effective from 1 November 2026.

Born in Mexico City, Alvarado earned academic degrees from Florida International University and George Washington University. From 2009 to 2023, she held leadership positions at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, serving in initiatives dedicated to the defense of religious freedom and the promotion of human dignity.

Since 2023, she has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of EWTN News, the news division of the Eternal Word Television Network, overseeing international media platforms producing content in seven languages across television, radio, print, digital, and social media.

With the appointment of Alvarado, Pope Leo XIV continues the path of reform and renewal of the Roman Curia initiated by Pope Francis, which has seen lay faithful, men and women, entrusted with positions of leadership and responsibility in the service of the universal Church. Alvarado is the first non-religious woman to be appointed prefect of a dicastery of the Holy See.

Established by Pope Francis on 27 June 2015 as part of the reform of the Roman Curia, the Dicastery for Communication oversees the Holy See’s communications systems, including Vatican News, Vatican Radio, L’Osservatore Romano, Vatican Media (photo, audio & video services), the Holy See Press Office, the Vatican publishing house, the Vatican Printing press, and the Filmoteca Vaticana. In addition to the operational and technological functions assigned to it, the Dicastery also deepens and develops the properly theological and pastoral aspects of the Church’s activity in the field of communication. Alvarado will succeed Paolo Ruffini, whom Pope Francis appointed in 2018 as the first lay prefect of a dicastery of the Roman Curia, who will be 70 next October.

In a statement released following the announcement, Alvarado said: “While this appointment was unexpected, I receive it with a sincere desire to serve the Holy Father as he begins his pontificate. And I am grateful to Paolo Ruffini for his leadership throughout the last years and look forward to continuing, in friendship and hope, the important work of strengthening the dicastery so it may continue to serve the Church in Rome and everywhere to communicate Christ to the world.”

Ruffini sent a letter to the staff of the Dicastery for Communication and stated: “The Dicastery has embedded in its very DNA the duty to remain constantly attuned to the rapidly changing world of communication. From the moment we were born as an institution, our guiding star has been and remains this: never to stop, to pass the baton while continuing to run, to be present in the here and now, in this very hour, as the touchstone of a communication that is the instrument of a communion that grows over time. I have entered the final lap of the race, before the moment when—in the long journey that is our working life—having reached the age of 70, the age set for retirement, I will pass the baton to Montserrat Alvarado as the next prefect. We know each other well. And in the coming months, we will work closely together, in the spirit of communion that unites us in the Church”.

“I am grateful to the big family of Dicastery – he added - for the journey we have taken together over these eight years. We are beginning now the process over the coming months for a smooth transition in order to help the Dicastery continue to grow in service to the Holy Father and in its mission of serving in a spirit of unity and openness.”

Michael P. Warsaw, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of EWTN, said Alvarado had earned “the trust and respect of everyone privileged to work alongside her” during her years with the network. He added: “We offer her our prayers, our encouragement, and the full support of the EWTN family as she begins this important mission in service to Pope Leo XIV and his pontificate.”

Vatican & Pope Leo release video for June's special prayer intention: the values of sports

 

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• Pope Leo XIV
• prayer
• sport

Pope's June prayer intention: 'for the values of sports'

Pope Leo XIV releases his prayer intention for the month of June and invites Catholics to pray 'for the values of sports,' that all sport may promote peace, fraternity and communion.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

Pope Leo XIV has urged Catholics across the globe to join him this June in praying for the values of sports.

He released the monthly “Pray with the Pope” video on Thursday, which is prepared by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

In his prayer, the Pope recognized the great benefits but also the inherent challenges in the world of sport and prayed that sporting events may promote peace and fraternity.

School of fraternity, peace, and encounter

He thanks the Lord for "the gift of sport, for those who glorify God through the exercise of their bodies, for the friendships born on the field, and the joy of playing as a team.”

As Pope Leo recalls how the Lord teaches us “that in life, as in the game, no one is saved alone,” the Holy Father insists we “need others to grow, to learn respect, to overcome our limits, and to celebrate together the victories we achieve.”

Thus, Pope Leo prays that sport “may always be a school of fraternity, not of empty rivalry, a space of encounter, not exclusion, a path of peace, not violence.”

Uniting people and growing closer to Christ

“May those who play, train or cheer,” the Pope said, “discover in sport a universal language that brings cultures together, unites peoples, and sows respect, solidarity, and personal growth.”

He also prays that every sport “become a parable of life lived with you, working with joy and effort, living with humility in defeat and with gratitude in the victory you offer in your Resurrection.”

“May your Spirit,” the Holy Father concluded, “never be lacking in us, making us one team, united with you to build communion and fraternity in history.”

The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network

 Founded in 1844 as the Apostleship of Prayer, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is a Pontifical Work entrusted to the Society of Jesus.

In December 2020, Pope Francis established this Pontifical Work as a Vatican Foundation and approved its final statutes in July 2024.

It is present in over 92 countries, forming a spiritual community of more than 22 million people who seek to live each day with availability to God’s mission.

At the center of its mission are the monthly prayer intentions of the Pope, inviting its members to focus on the pressing challenges facing humanity and the Church’s mission