April 7th, 2026

I am grateful to several of my close friends who have asked if the Café could summarize what Pope Leo has stated or taught in his first year of the papacy. I agree that it is [1] difficult for a Catholic to connect with a critical national or international news source or sources to stay on top of the pope’s schedule and pronouncements; [2] there are different “layers” of papal announcements—from the pope’s Easter sermons to full blown universal letters or encyclicals; and [3] Pope Leo is still absorbing the Vatican bureaucracy, which comes as quite a shock to anyone who has been elected pope. Add to that, Catholic media has tendencies toward a Fox-MSNBC divide like secular media which becomes more extreme the further you go down the social media food chain.
 
Pope Leo XIV’s personality is steadied and cautious. There is little doubt in my mind that some Catholics on both the right and the left have already grown a bit restless with the personality and inner workings of the pope’s mind. Leo has already prayed with King Charles and Queen Camilla in the Sistine Chapel, and this past week he extended prayer and good wishes to the new Archbishop Bishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, senior cleric of the Church of England. On the other hand, he has reaffirmed mandatory celibacy for priests and has expressed no inclination to ordain Roman Catholic women deacons anytime soon. A superficial reading would find this papal thinking contradictory. But that would be a misunderstanding of the man and his vision.
 
To understand Leo XIV, it is helpful to review the papacy of his predecessor, Francis. If we think back, the first half of Pope Francis’ reign was that of a spirited leader unafraid of communicating thoughts of innovative reforms in Church life. Who can forget his remarks to reporters about homosexuality: “Who am I to judge?” Expectations were high for a reform of sorts, until it became clear that a sizeable measure of Catholics in the U.S., for example, actively opposed him for his continued teachings on many issues of Church life. Notably, Pope Francis was not enamored with American free market economics which, in his view, was antithetical to the Gospel teachings of the Eight Beatitudes and other moral actions of Jesus. Consider how American bishops ignored the pope’s call for “synodality,” the mass convocation of clergy and lay persons in every parish and diocese. Toward the end of his reign Francis seemed to pull on the reins to prevent further disharmony that threatened the unity of the Church.
 
In governing content, Leo XIV seems to respect his predecessor’s good intentions to reform the Church along the lines of Jesus’ teachings. Leo is extremely critical of America’s war in Iran, for example. However, he strikes me as a cautious and precise teacher. He pays attention to the full two millennia of Catholic Tradition; he is not easily swayed by the argument to “change [doctrine and tradition] with the times.” For this pope, the argument for change would need to be airtight. On the other hand, he appears genuinely committed to “listening” to the entire Church, lay and cleric [and perhaps more so the laity.] He believes in Synodality, the process of dialogue within the Church, but he trusts the Church [and individual churches] to determine the best arrangements for that.
 
Leo is devoted to the New Testament’s teachings on unity and love for one another; he speaks of evangelism as a compassionate embrace of those looking for God and a place to break bread with followers of Jesus. He is not likely to enact a teaching which would further divide the Church or the world.

In January 2026 Leo called for the entire Catholic Church to read the documents of Vatican II [1962-1965]. Having lived through the unveiling of each of the sixteen documents, my impression today is we scanned the writings without giving full weight to the actual texts. I was shocked to discover in recent years that Vatican II’s document on worship [particularly the Mass], Sacrosanctum Concilium, is considerably more directive on how the sacraments should be celebrated. For example, SC assumes that parts of the Mass will be celebrated in Latin, as a rule. It occurs to me that with better, more precise examination of SC back in the early post-Vatican days, the argument about today’s form of the Mass, the 1970 Mass of Pope Paul VI versus the 1570 Mass of Pope Pius V might have taken a lesser acerbic tone. I am concerned that the pope’s January call for Vatican II study has gained little or no publicity or traction to date.
 
With this preliminary introduction, we turn to specific moments and what they might mean.
 
GETTING DOWN TO CASES...
 
UNITY: At his first Mass as pontiff, Leo XIV defined the Church as united, “a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world." Leo is concerned over conflicts both inside and outside the Church. Prior to his election, he assisted Pope Francis in the selection of bishops around the world. This would make him one of the most informed men to take the Chair of Peter in some time. A lifetime of unity and evangelization would probably be prerequisites for episcopal candidates in the future. Will Leo be able to find such men?
 
LISTENING: On October 10, 2025, Pope Leo stated that “there can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others.” During Vatican II there was tension over the idea of interfaith dialogue, for example. Many bishops argued that to engage with another faith, or with atheists, was an admission that parts or all the “opposition’s arguments” was a complementary nod. There is truth in that, in the sense that the partner in the dialogue is a child of God and worthy of breathing God’s air. “Listening,” as Pope Leo defines it, is the beginning of mutual love and the first step in the evangelizing process.
 
It goes without saying that our country is divided in multiple ways. But the solutions begin personally and locally, not politically. The pope will depend heavily upon the bishops, pastors, and all the faithful—that is, the local churches--to go beneath the angers [and fears!] that drive us apart. To listen requires skill, honest interest, and the tolerance to live with provisional solutions for issues related to the living of the Faith. Given this challenge, what about the local shepherds who must direct it?
 
BISHOPS:
On the role of a bishop, the Pope had this to say to gathered bishops in Rome on June 25, 2025: "Be men of communion, always promoting unity in the diocesan presbyterate" and make sure every priest, without exception can sense the fatherhood, brotherhood and friendship of his bishop.”
 
The Episcopacy of the United States may very well be Pope Leo’s greatest American challenge. Much like the Congress of the United States, the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops [USCCB] has not energetically engaged in much forward planning and programming. It may be that the national body of bishops is strapped for cash, and it does appear that one of the USCCB’s showpiece programs, the Campaign for Human Development, has gone broke as of 2023. The most recent audit of the entire USCCB can be found here, 2024, by KPMG. This would be prior to the 2025 federal cuts made by the Trump Administration to a variety of Catholic assistance projects.
 
There are several issues that the USCCB seems reluctant to address, not least of all its own divisions. This was noticeably clear in the bishops’ discomfort with Pope Francis and the conference’s tendencies to install officers with reservations about Francis’s papal direction. Pope Francis’s call for synodality and the bishops’ inaction is a good example. If I had to guess, I doubt that Leo will permit the papacy to suffer disrespectful public attitudes from American bishops, many of whom have aligned themselves with Trump, ostensibly on the abortion issue alone. Leo has publicly spoken on the immorality of the Iran War. Not every U.S. bishop has signed on.
 
Among other troubles, not only is there a shortage of priests [see below] but also an equal shortage of [1] Catholic ministerial professionals, in multiple positions—directors of faith formation, parish business managers, young adult ministers, etc. and [2] an absence of certification and/or professional standards for church ministers. Until recently the benchmark requirement for a “DRE” as we used to say, was a master’s in theology or religious education or its equivalent.
 
PRIESTS:
Sometimes my posts write themselves. Over lunch today Margaret read to me Pope Leo’s papal intention for the month of April: “For priests in crisis: Let us pray for priests going through moments of crisis in their vocation, that they may find the accompaniment they need and that communities may support them with understanding and prayer.”
 
Again, I will only reference the United States, without forgetting that priests in more than a few countries continue to be murdered for exercising their ministry. Priests in the U.S. are having a challenging time of it. Their workload is generally well known. Their congregations are divided in many places over multiple issues. But there is more beneath the service. For starters, consider relations between priests and their bishops. There is statistical evidence that the relationships of priests to bishops is not what it should be. This has been verified by many sources:
 
Well-being, Trust, and Policy in a Time of Crisis: Highlights from the
National Study of Catholic Priests [2022 study].
 
Ave Maria [2021 survey; highly comprehensive on the life of priests.
2025
 
Our Sunday Visitor [2025] report on current update of the “Well Being” study cited above, conducted by Gallup,
 
Catholic Weekly, Sydney, Australia, on Pope’s words for priests in crisis. [April 2, 2026]
 
It is worth noting that last week Pope Leo elected to wash the feet of twelve priests from his Diocese, Rome. One of my favorite “underground” Vatican sources, The Pillar, reports that the Pope received scattered criticism for exclusion of women from the Holy Thursday washing rite, choosing instead to wash the feet of recently ordained priests. Pope Francis, as you may recall, used to wash the feet of prisoners and the poor of both sexes on Holy Thursday. Today the pastoral, spiritual, and professional care of priests [not by priests, as we are accustomed to think] at this moment is a major preoccupation of Pope Leo.
 
My sense is that the major Catholic publications are dancing around the issue of priest morale very gingerly. However, after exhaustive searching through my AI sidekick, there are two statistics that in a strange way complement each other. First, Vatican officials admit that of priests under consideration for appointment to the episcopacy, i.e., to become bishops, about 35% of those priests decline the offer. If you grew up a Catholic years ago, the bishop’s staff and miter was the ultimate reward of the ecclesiastical pyramid. Why would a priest turn down such an offer? Pressures of the job? Personal sense of inadequacy? Or is it that the priest has a secret history that would lead to disgrace if revealed? The other statistic indicates that at any one time, 35% of priests are not living their vow of celibacy. I learned in researching this post that in 2019 the Vatican quietly developed policies dealing with priests who fathered children, and particularly the welfare of the children themselves.
 
In any case, the Pope is a realist about the challenge of Orders. He knows the depth of support necessary to maintain the excellent work of priests. A safe bet for further attention.
 
SEX AND MARRIAGE:
On November 21, 2025, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued Una Caro: In Praise of Monogamy, Doctrinal Note on the Value of Matrimony as an Exclusive Union and Mutual Belonging. That same week, the Pope addressed the staff of the Roman court of annulment petitions: Per EWTN, “the pontiff emphasized that theology, law, and pastoral care must be understood in a harmonious way, not as separate or opposing areas, and pointed out that annulment proceedings are not merely technical procedures to obtain the “free status of persons” but rather an ecclesial service based on the search for truth and on family pastoral care.
 
Una Caro laid out the Church’s official teaching on marriage. The document is surprisingly beautifully written and inspiring, with considerable human insight and common sense. It is, to be sure, an ideal. When placed side by side with the instructions to the Dicastery on annulments, the message seems to be that all pastoral discussions, rulings, and catecheses will begin as current practice for future pastoral discussions. That said, I would be surprised if there were not at least quiet meetings at the Vatican about how confessors deal with contraception [and possibly other moral circumstances] in the ultimate forum of the secrecy of the confessionals.
 
AND FINALLY, WHAT MIGHT WE SEE IN THE YEARS AHEAD?
 
Point 1: Pope Leo’s history and temperament—not to mention his public statements on the Iran War and the plight of immigrants—are evidence that he will institutionalize the needs of peace and recognition of the cultural sins of conflict in the life of the Church for generations. While nearly all popes of the Vatican II era have attempted to move the Church forward in its scripturally based responsibility to create a just earth, Leo has the opportunity and the will to realign the operations of the Church toward justice and unity. As a sidebar, it will be interesting to see how American laity and clergy respond when the Pope leans forward on his mission.
 
Point 2: An overhaul of both catechetics and institutional Catholic education, cradle to grave. Leo is ten years younger than me and thus was immersed too in early faith instruction by religious sisters in Catholic schools. Leo needs no reminder that schools are dwindling, Catholic colleges are closing doors or cutting back, that teaching religious are rare, that there are acute shortages of skilled catechists and certified teachers, little or nothing of systematic teaching for Catholic adults, that applicants for seminaries need greater immersion in the full Catholic life.
 
Much has been made of increased numbers of converts in many dioceses of the United States, as well as greater enthusiasm among college students through campus ministry programs. As a former college chaplain, no one is happier than I am to see this growth. I would pass along here two maxims, though. First, “Piety comes and goes; stupidity remains.” The second phrase comes from medieval times: the definition of theology as “faith seeking understanding,” or the principle that faith in God motivates a believer to pursue deeper knowledge and comprehension of divine truth.” Cultivation of the heart and mind is God’s intended gift to the Church. We have an exceedingly long way to go in Catholicism until understanding catches up to pious enthusiasm.
 
Point 3: Just an observation from the blogger’s desk, but truly little of Leo XIV’s thought, preaching, and writing is percolating down to the general Catholic public. This entire post today was inspired in part by a friend’s observation that he had heard something had come from the Vatican about marriage and annulments, but with no context. There is no one answer to this real dilemma. [You can get a free on-line subscription to Vatican News at this address.] Preachers can integrate papal thinking into their homilies; catechists can do likewise.
 
Point 4: Seminary training for future priests will be enhanced. Several dioceses have added an extra year of on-site training in an actual parish. One journal noted that the goal of an on-site year was to assist seminarians interact personally with women. This takes us into two more delicate areas: increasing numbers of seminarians of various cultures/languages, and the situation of heterosexuals and homosexuals living side-by-side in seminaries and rectories. Pope Leo XIV admitted to an interviewer that the issue of homosexuality is delicate, “As we’ve seen at the synod, any issue dealing with the LGBTQ questions is highly polarizing within the Church.” In another interview the Pope quoted an Eastern bishop as telling him that Westerners are obsessed with sex.” Still, Leo wants all people to feel welcome into the Church. The devil is in the details.
 
Point 5: The pope has already made his mind well know on the sanctity of marriage and annulments. The fact that he is concerned about the quality of annulments is actually an encouraging pastoral sign, not a roadblock. An annulment should include something that addresses the psychological currents of a failed marriage, for the benefit of the petitioner, to avoid similar pain and brokenness in a second union. Having processed annulments myself for nearly two decades, the emphasis in annulment proceedings seemed to be too much legality. I always felt that the “inner facts” in an annulment needed to be heard in a healing psychological fashion. I advised parishioners to see a therapist to address factors in a failed first marriage with an eye toward understanding and healing. [Sometimes the diocesan tribunal recommended the same thing.]
 
Point 6: There are many contested moral teachings that need further debate, discussion, and explanation. Contraception comes immediately to mind, but science has delivered new concerns to our doorstep: in vitro fertilization, vaccines, etc. Transgender medicine, particularly involving surgery, is currently much in the news. Truthfully, we know less than we should, scientifically speaking, about gender identity, same sex attraction, etc.
 
In July 2025 during a long interview, Pope Leo made a revealing comment. He called out what he said can be a western “obsession” with sexuality, saying a fellow cardinal from the global east during the Synod of Bishops on Synodality convened by Pope Francis had lamented that “the western world is fixated, obsessed with sexuality.”
 
“A person’s identity, for some people, is all about sexual identity, and for many people in other parts of the world, that’s not a primary issue in terms of how we should deal with one another,” Pope Leo said. He admitted that this comment remains “on the back of my mind, because, as we’ve seen at the synod, any issue dealing with the LGBTQ questions is highly polarizing within the Church.”
 
An enigmatic observation from the Holy Father, to be sure. Stay tuned to his piety and his mind.