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Pope Leo XIV greets people as he arrives for a two-week stay in the summer papal estate in Castel Gandolfo, 40 km southeast of Rome, on July 6, 2025. The newly elected Pope Leo XIV, revives a long-standing papal tradition paused under Francis, as Castel Gandolfo prepares to welcome a pope for the first time in over a decade. / Credit: ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty Images

Rome Newsroom, Jul 6, 2025 / 13:45 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has been welcomed by wellwishers upon his arrival to his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, on Sunday.

Crowds of people standing behind barriers greeted the Holy Father, taking photos and shouting “Viva Papa!” as he walked towards the papal palace located southeast of Rome.

The pope will reside in Castel Gandolfo’s Villa Barberini during his two-week summer vacation taking place from July 6–20, continuing a centuries-old papal tradition of rest at the 135-acre estate.

According to the New York Times, the property’s swimming pool has been refreshed and a new tennis court installed for the pope who is known for his appreciation of physical fitness and training.

Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI all spent at least part of the summers in Castel Gandolfo, following the Lateran Pact of 1929. 

Pope Francis chose to not use the property as a summer residence during his 12-year pontificate. The late pontiff instead chose to open the estate’s gardens to the general public in 2014 and, in 2016, converted the papal palace into a museum.

The palace and gardens will remain open to the public during Leo’s stay, since he will be living in the Villa Barberini, a different palazzo on the grounds.

Castel Gandolfo mayor Alberto de Angelis told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, last month that Pope Leo’s stay “will give back to the city its daily connection with the pope.”

“The Angelus, the visits, the contact with the people. We want to experience all of that again,” Mayor de Angelis said.

Pope Leo will continue to deliver his weekly Angelus addresses Liberty Square (Piazza della Libertà) in front of the pontifical palace on July 13 and on July 20.

Pope Leo XIV, speaking in English, expressed his “sincere condolences” to “families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters, who were at the summer camp, in the disaster caused by flooding of the Guadalupe river in Texas in the United States” after praying the Angelus with pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on July 6, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Jul 6, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday prayed for the victims and families affected by the recent flood disaster in Texas.

The Holy Father, speaking in English, expressed his “sincere condolences” to “families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters, who were at the summer camp, in the disaster caused by flooding of the Guadalupe river in Texas in the United States” after praying the Angelus with pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

More than 20 children attending the all-girls summer camp are currently missing after flash floods struck Texas Hill Country in the early hours of July 4, CNN reported on Sunday. 

Aid organizations, including the Catholic Charities Mobile Relief Unit, have since mobilized services to provide food, shelter, and water to flood victims forced to evacuate their homes. 

The death toll continues to rise as rescue and recovery efforts enter into its third day. At least 50 people have been confirmed dead, according to CNN.

Pope Leo also asked his listeners on Sunday to pray for peace, and for those who live in a state of war: “Let us ask the Lord to touch the hearts and inspire the minds of governments, so that the violence of weapons is replaced by the search for dialogue.”

Daily cultivate the seed of the Gospel in your hearts

Reflecting on the Gospel scene when Jesus sent out 72 disciples into towns to prepare for his coming, the Holy Father said there are few people who “perceive” Jesus’ call to share the Christian faith with others.

“Dear brothers and sisters, the Church and the world do not need people who fulfill their religious duties as if the faith were merely an external label,” he said. 

“We need laborers who are eager to work in the mission field, loving disciples who bear witness to the Kingdom of God in all places.”

The Holy Father emphasized that the places of mission can be found “in the particular situations in which the Lord has placed us,” such as in the family home, places of work and study, and other social settings.

“Perhaps there is no shortage of ‘intermittent Christians’ who occasionally act upon some religious feeling or participate in sporadic events,” the pope said. “But there are few who are ready, on a daily basis, to labor in God’s harvest, cultivating the seed of the Gospel in their own hearts.” 

To become a disciple of Jesus and a laborer in the “mission field,” the Holy Father said priority must be placed on cultivating a “relationship with the Lord” through dialogue. 

“We do not need too many theoretical ideas about pastoral plans,” he said. “ Instead, we need to pray to the Lord of the harvest.”

Pope Leo concluded his address asking the Blessed Virgin Mary “to intercede for us and accompany us on the path of following the Lord” to “become joyful laborers in God’s Kingdom.”

On Sunday, the pope departed for Castel Gandolfo where he will stay for a short period of rest during the summer.

A photo shows a view of the National Assembly in Paris on June 10, 2024, a day after the European Parliament elections. / Credit: GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Jul 6, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

A French parliamentary report released on July 2 has shed light on disturbing cases of abuse in schools while also reigniting a longstanding national debate over the balance between state oversight and freedom of education.  

The report, resulting from a five-month inquiry into violence within the school system, proposes a series of measures aimed at better protecting minors. However, its heavy focus on Catholic private institutions under state contract has raised concerns about potential political bias and the future of educational pluralism in France. 

The inquiry was led by parliamentarians Violette Spillebout, from President Macron’s centrist party Renaissance, and Paul Vannier, from the far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI). 

While the report formally addresses all types of schools, much of its attention is directed toward Catholic private institutions under state contract, especially those with boarding programs.  

‘Structural dysfunction’ 

The commission of inquiry was established following revelations of abuse at Notre-Dame de Bétharram, a Catholic boarding school in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques (southwestern France). The case, spanning several decades, served as a catalyst for national reflection. Prime Minister François Bayrou, a former education minister who had sent his children to the school, was called to testify. 

The Bétharram school is cited in the report as a key case study, where priests, teachers, and staff are accused of having committed serious physical and sexual abuse between 1957 and 2004.  

Victims described acts of “unprecedented severity, of absolute sadism.” Lawmakers called the school a “textbook example” of the state’s structural dysfunction and failure to prevent abuse, warning that similar flaws remain in place today. 

More broadly, the report denounces ongoing violence in both public and private schools and cites decades of insufficient protective measures. Commission president Fatiha Keloua Hachi described the investigation as a “deep dive into the unthinkable,” revealing systemic silence and institutional failure. It documents over 270 affected schools and at least 80 victim collectives across the country. 

The report also pointed to cultural and religious factors that may have contributed to institutional silence in some schools, including rigid hierarchical structures and a reluctance to question authority. 

The commission found that sanctioned teachers could sometimes be quietly reassigned. It also highlighted the absence of national data on abuse cases and discrepancies in reporting: One national survey estimated 7,000 cases of sexual violence in a year, yet only 280 were officially recorded in 2023–2024. 

Ultimately, the report concludes that the Ministry of Education still lacks effective tools to identify and address abuse and calls for comprehensive structural reforms. 

Among the report’s most prominent recommendations is the lengthening of the statute of limitations for reporting abuse, reinforcing whistleblower protections, and establishing a new independent reporting body called “Signal Éduc.” It also calls for the creation of a national compensation fund for victims.  

Other proposed measures include increasing the frequency of inspections, particularly for boarding schools (annually in primary schools and at least every three years in middle and high schools), and lifting professional secrecy in cases involving abuse of minors under 15, even in the context of religious confession.  

This last proposal, already included in the 2021 Ciase report on sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, is raising concern among the Church hierarchy which has consistently reaffirmed the inviolability of the seal of confession.  

The report further recommends that private institutions under state contract be brought more directly under the oversight of the Ministry of Education’s General Directorate and proposes reevaluating the role of the Catholic Education Secretariat (SGEC), which oversees over 7,200 schools. 

Catholic education’s response 

Philippe Delorme, Secretary General of the SGEC, which came under intense scrutiny from co-rapporteur Paul Vannier — who repeatedly questioned its legitimacy and accused it of obstructing oversight — responded cautiously to the report.  

He acknowledged its usefulness in surfacing abuses and encouraging vigilance while voicing concern about what he views as attempts to erode the distinctive mission of Catholic education. 

“School life in our establishments is not intended to be exactly the same as in public schools as we enjoy a certain freedom of organization,” he stated during an April 7 audition with the Commission for Cultural Affairs and Education.  

During a June 19 press conference, he claimed that the SGEC had already committed to verifying the criminal background of all non-teaching staff — some 80,000 individuals — well in advance of the report’s release.  

Furthermore, the SGEC recently launched, in May, the “Stop Violences” campaign, aiming to raise awareness, enhance prevention strategies, and reinforce the commitment of Catholic educational institutions to student safety. 

The report’s emphasis on Catholic schools has sparked debate, as critics acknowledge the seriousness of the documented abuses but also question whether the focus risks suggesting a systemic failure unique to Catholic education, despite similar issues existing across the broader educational landscape. 

In a related analysis published in Le Figaro, education journalist Caroline Beyer wrote that the report marks “a political sequence above all,” with Catholic education squarely in the firing line, and questioned whether the recommendations would result in meaningful change or serve ideological motives. 

Her observation echoed broader concerns that, while the report raises vital questions, it risks becoming a tool for polarizing debates around the role of faith-based schools in French society. 

Such doubts about the impartiality of the document have been reinforced by the fact that Vannier was already the author, in 2024, of a highly critical report on the funding of Catholic schools. 

Former Minister of Higher Education Patrick Hetzel also accused the parliamentarian of using the inquiry to pursue an ideological agenda aimed at undermining the 1959 Debré Law, which ensures state support for private schools under contract. “With him, LFI wants to revive the school war,” Hetzel told Le Figaro, referencing historic tensions between secular and faith-based education in France. 

Although Violette Spillebout has insisted that their work was not guided by dogma but by the testimony of victims and a desire to ensure that no child, in any type of school, is left unprotected, the perception of disproportionate attention on Catholic institutions remains a point of contention. 

The report comes amid broader efforts by the French government to extend control over education. In 2021, President Macron’s administration drew criticism for proposing a ban on homeschooling, ostensibly to combat Islamic radicalization. Though softened before passage, the bill reflected a shift toward greater state control over education. 

The report’s publication also coincided with renewed focus on Paris’s Stanislas School, a prestigious Catholic institution under investigation for alleged non-compliance with the national sex education curriculum as well as “homophobic and sexist drift”, and for its new Christian culture courses.  

While a 2023 inspection did not confirm systemic discrimination, the Ministry of Education has signaled closer monitoring. 

Monsignor Mariano Fazio is auxiliary vicar of the Prelature of Opus Dei. / Credit: Opus Dei

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jul 6, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Argentine justice system has added the auxiliary vicar of Opus Dei, the organization’s second in command, Monsignor Mariano Fazio, as a defendant in the case involving the alleged human trafficking and the reduction to servitude of 43 women in Argentina.

The case, which was formally filed in 2024 but had been reported in the media several years earlier, accuses Opus Dei authorities of allegedly recruiting 43 women while they were still minors and subjecting them to a regime of semi-slavery in their residences.

Until now, the defendants were four priests who served as authorities at different times between 1991 and 2015: Carlos Nannei, Patricio Olmos, and Víctor Urrestarazu, former vicars of Opus Dei in Argentina, and the former director of the women’s branch in the country, Gabriel Dondo.

The case now includes another defendant: Fazio, currently auxiliary vicar of the Prelature of the Holy Cross, the second-highest authority in Opus Dei worldwide. 

The Argentine Prosecutor’s Office Against Human Trafficking and the National Prosecutor’s Office in Criminal and Federal Correctional Affairs No. 3 are requesting that he appear to testify.

The accusation

Although the complaint states that at least 43 women were recruited by Opus Dei as minors, deceived with promises of an education and a home, and then forced to work for free as domestic workers for years, the document only focuses on the case of one of them.

The prosecutor’s office maintains that Opus Dei presented “a false proposal” and that the only education these women received was to perform domestic tasks “without pay” and in violation of their rights.

The accusation also refers to a system of “indoctrination and psychological manipulation” with “rules of life,” including the obligation to chastity, the severance of family and social ties, periodic health checkups, and the provision of psychiatric medication, which they had to comply with under threat of punishment.

The case is based on the testimony of a Bolivian woman who worked for Opus Dei for 30 years. In April, the woman expanded her statement, claiming to have directly served Fazio, among other priests.

Response by Opus Dei 

Upon the announcement of this new charge, reported by the Spanish newspaper Eldiario, the Opus Dei communications office in Argentina issued a statement clarifying that the judicial investigation concerns “the personal situation of a woman” during her time in Opus Dei and “categorically” denies the accusation of human trafficking and labor exploitation.

Opus Dei expressed surprise at seeing that “the claim [that] initially began in the media as a complaint about inconsistencies in pension and employment contributions” has subsequently “morphed into a civil claim for financial harm and damages” as well as most recently an “accusation from a person claiming to have been a victim of ‘human trafficking.’”

The complaint, Opus Dei maintains, stems from “a complete decontextualization” of the freely chosen vocation of the assistant numeraries.

The statement goes on to defend the right of the people mentioned in the complaint to defend themselves and “be allowed to present their version of events for the first time, in order to definitively clarify this situation.”

Those leveling the accusation, Opus Dei emphasized, “have systematically attempted to instill in the media a narrative of automatic guilt” that violates the presumption of innocence.

The organization maintains that the woman making the complaint “is referring to a stage in her life when she freely chose to embark on her spiritual journey in the Catholic Church” as an assistant numerary.

A life choice

The assistant numeraries, the statement explains, “are women of Opus Dei who, like all other members, aspire to love God and others and demonstrate this through their work and their daily lives,” work that in this case consists of caring for people who live in the centers.

The statement indicates that joining the apostolate is a life choice that involves an explicit, repeated, and often written desire, while “there is no barrier” to leaving.

The statement also maintains that the “living situation and mistreatment” raised in the complaint is false, since in addition to receiving pay and having private health insurance, the homes where the numerary assistants reside provide “a welcoming environment with facilities for rest, recreation, reading, and study.”

The prelature once again affirmed its “commitment to fully cooperate with the justice system to determine the facts and resolve the situation in a fair and transparent manner.”

Who is Monsignor Mariano Fazio?

Fazio was born in Buenos Aires on April 25, 1960. He holds a degree in history from the University of Buenos Aires and a doctorate in philosophy from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.

Ordained a priest in 1991 by Pope John Paul II, he served as the first dean of the institutional communications department at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome from 1996 to 2002, and from 2002 to 2008 served as rector of that university.

During the same period, he was elected president of the Conference of Rectors of the Pontifical Roman Catholic Universities.

Fazio was an expert at the fifth general conference of the episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean (Aparecida, Brazil), where he met then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

He served as vicar of Opus Dei in Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia. In December 2014, he was appointed vicar general of Opus Dei by the then-prelate, Bishop Javier Echevarría, a position he held until January 2017 when the Pope Francis appointed Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz as prelate of Opus Dei.

He has served as auxiliary vicar since May 14, 2019.

In May, Ocáriz and Fazio met with Pope Leo XIV to share the current situation of the apostolate after Pope Francis requested that the statutes be modified.

Regarding the meeting, the prelate of Opus Dei stated that “it was a fatherly gesture, during which the pope expressed his closeness and affection.” 

Regarding the process of modifying the statutes, he reflected: “The changes we are experiencing — including in the process of adjusting the statutes — are an impetus to safeguard what is essential.” He added that Opus Dei “is called to change in fidelity to its charism.”

After a three-year journey, on June 11, Opus Dei presented the proposal for its new statutes to the Holy See.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Archbishop Benjamin Phiri of Zambia’s Archdiocese of Ndola. / Credit: Archdiocese of Ndola

ACI Africa, Jul 6, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Archbishop Benjamin Phiri of Zambia’s Archdiocese of Ndola has called on journalists and media in the South African nation to resist sensationalism and distorting of facts as the country prepares for general elections in August 2026.

In his homily on Sunday, June 29, the solemnity of Apostles Peter and Paul, Phiri called for responsible and ethical journalism.

“When you report in order to educate, you do not tell lies. You tell the facts as they are,” he said during a Mass marking the 40th anniversary of St. Peter the Apostle Mushili Parish of his metropolitan see.

The archbishop faulted journalists, “whose narratives fuel more conflict than resolve issues because of the practice of pitting one against the other.”

“You want that political party to fight against that political party; you want that person there to be fighting the other person there. Is that what you learn in school about reporting?” he asked.

He added: “If you are a Catholic, and that is what you are doing, I am very disappointed in you. Because that is not what you are supposed to do. Yes, you are doing your job, but you are doing it wrongly. Report properly, report factually, and be constructive.”

The archbishop, who started his episcopal ministry in January 2011 as auxiliary bishop of Zambia’s Chipata Diocese, warned media professionals and outlets against spreading harmful information or seeking “fame” at the expense of harmony.

“Your newspaper or your radio station or TV may become famous because you are good at making people sad. You are also going to receive your own judgment,” he cautioned, adding: “If there is social unrest and people die, the blood is on your head. Because you are the one who misrepresented things and made people to arouse their emotions to the extent of killing each other, you are responsible.”

In his homily, Phiri, who has been at the helm of the Ndola Archdiocese since June 2024, also urged the people of God in the South African nation not to let differences in ideology lead them to violence.

“Now we are going towards elections. I know we are mainly here for different beliefs and ideologies,” he said, emphasizing that while ideologies and political engagements are not fundamentally bad, they should be pursued “in accordance with the will of God.”

He lamented the consequences of ideological differences, particularly during election seasons, highlighting how they have led to conflict, injury, and even loss of life among individuals who profess the same faith.

“This one believes in that way, another believes something else, and suddenly we are beating each other, even killing each other. How foolish can one get? We are all worshipping the same God,” he said.

The 66-year-old Church leader questioned the eternal value of political ideologies. “Is an ideology going to take you to heaven?” he asked. “And there you are, fighting each other, killing each other, trampling on each other, because of some ideology. You have missed it.”

He added: “If what you do is against the will of God, salvation will not be yours. I’m saying this because we who are Christians, at times we talk too much and so much about Christianity, but our hearts are so far away from each other and from God.”

Phiri also addressed corrupt practices in Zambia’s public service, urging public servants to refrain from misusing their positions for exploitation or personal gain and instead to serve the people of God with integrity.

He lamented that corruption has made it increasingly difficult to secure employment opportunities or admission to educational institutions without offering bribes or personal connections.

“Nowadays it is very difficult to find a job unless you know someone or pay someone. It is difficult to find a place in a school unless you know someone or pay someone. Don’t I have a right, if I am properly qualified, to find a job? Or for my child to find a place in an institution, if the child is qualified?” he asked.

Zambia, which has a population of over 19.6 million people according to 2022 statistics, is scheduled to hold its general elections on Aug. 13, 2026, to elect its president, members of the National Assembly, Councilors, and Council chairpersons.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

Trees emerge from flood waters along the Guadalupe River on July 4, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. Heavy rainfall caused flooding along the Guadalupe River in central Texas with multiple fatalities reported. / Credit: Eric Vryn/Getty Images

San Antonio, Texas, Jul 5, 2025 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Catholics are responding with prayers and aid after record-breaking flash floods in central Texas devastated communities along the area’s rivers and killed at least 27 people. 

The flash flooding began in the early hours of July 4. Heavy rainfall filled the creeks that emptied into the several rivers that wind through the normally arid hills known as the Texas Hill Country, located north and west of San Antonio and Austin.

“At this time it is unknown how many have been affected by rising water levels along rivers and creeks,” the Archdiocese of San Antonio said in a Friday statement.  

“It is our prayer that those impacted by the floods will find the strength to rebuild. We pledge to be with the people in these challenging circumstances. Let us answer Christ’s call to love one another.”

On July 4, the Catholic Charities Mobile Relief Unit turned Notre Dame Church in Kerrville into a shelter where evacuees can find food and water as well as clothing and other supplies, the archdiocese said.

San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller and Auxiliary Bishop Michael Boulette traveled to Kerrville on July 4 as well to minister to victims of the flooding.

‘Totally destroyed’

The Guadalupe River near Kerrville, Texas, rose so quickly that the National Weather Service’s evacuation orders were not issued in time to evacuate. The river swelled over 22 feet in half an hour around 4 a.m. on July 4, according to local officials, devastating parts of the towns of Hunt, Kerrville, and Comfort. 

The river washed away RV parks, cars, homes, and entire cabins at summer camps located along its banks. The total number of missing people is still unknown because of the large number of visitors to area rivers due to the Fourth of July weekend. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared a disaster for 15 counties on July 4, deploying more than 500 first responders, 14 helicopters, boats, high water vehicles, and drones. Over 850 people have been rescued as of the afternoon of July 5.

Abbott pledged at a press conference in Kerrville on Friday that rescuers “will stop at nothing” to find every victim of the catastrophic flooding. 

A girls’ Christian summer camp in the area, Camp Mystic, reported more than 23 people missing, including an entire cabin of 8- and 9- year-old girls, who are feared to have perished.

Social media was filled with images of the missing young girls on July 4. By the evening, reports began to come in of the recovery of several bodies, including some of the young girls. Rescue efforts continued throughout the night and into the morning of July 5.

Camp Mystic director Dick Eastland is also reported to have perished after attempting to rescue some of the campers, according to a parent of a camper who wished to remain anonymous. 

One camper said she was “heartbroken” but thankful to be alive, describing the camp as “totally destroyed” after her safe return to her home in Houston in the early hours of July 5.

Henry Chaudoir, 12, who was rescued from Camp La Junta, a boys’ camp in Hunt, told CNA he had prayed a decade of the rosary and the St. Michael prayer the night before the flood. He and his fellow campers felt “terrified” when flashes of lightning revealed “an ocean of water” covering the camp, he said, but he was “grateful to God to be alive.”

Chaudoir’s cousin, Jackson Adams, 18, a counselor at Camp La Junta, told CNA that he and all the other counselors decided to stay in their cabins as the water rose because of the strong current outside. 

Adams, whose 13-year-old brother Harris was also rescued from the camp, said the water “only went up to our waists in our cabin” before starting to recede. He told CNA, however, that it rose to the ceiling in another cabin filled with 7- to 9-year-old boys. The counselors lifted the boys onto the rafters, rescuing several who fell off after a wall collapsed.

Adams said the swiftly moving river carried away the Casita, a cabin that housed Camp La Junta staff. After the Casita collided with the cabin in which the boys were sitting in the rafters, it made a hole, which enabled the staff from the Casita to rescue the boys. All of them survived.

“Praise the Lord the Casita hit the cabin!” Chaudoir said.

One of the counselors from the cabin with the boys in the rafters tried to go for help but was swept off his feet by the current, Adams told CNA. The counselor caught onto a nearby tree and was rescued after several of the older counselors formed a “monkey chain” and dragged him to safety.

Adams said a young girl from Camp Mystic was carried by the river onto Camp La Junta and was rescued by the camp’s maintenance and stables director, Katie Cain. The girl said the water sucked her and “two or three” other campers out of their cabin after a counselor opened a window.

Cain also rescued most of the camp’s horses by breaking a fence, allowing them to run to safety as the waters rose.

Adams said he plans to return to Camp La Junta to assist with rescue and cleanup efforts.

One man in the town of Center Point heard a 22-year-old woman crying for help in the early hours of July 4 and called rescue workers, who plucked her from a tree she had clung to after reportedly floating more than 20 miles on the raging Guadalupe River from Hunt.

The flooding is the result of a slow-moving storm system that dumped 10-15 inches of rain on the Texas Hill Country, with some areas seeing up to 20 inches. 

The rivers continued to rise through the holiday weekend. In the early hours of Saturday, July 5, the Guadalupe River rose to a record 47.4 feet in Bergheim, Texas, about 50 miles from Kerrville.

The Llano and San Saba rivers have also risen, leading to road closures and evacuations of towns along their banks.

Tina and Luke Gunter, who live near the San Saba River about two hours north of Kerrville, had to evacuate their home after quickly rising waters dislodged part of their home and carried it away.

Neighbors allowed the Gunters, who have three young children, to stay in their guesthouse overnight, and other friends began to bring the family meals and offered other supplies.

The Gunters plan to repair their home, which they built themselves, as soon as possible.

“We will have a lot of work to do,” Tina Gunter told CNA. 

“But we are grateful we are all OK. It’s just a house. Better to lose a house than a child,” she said.

A choir poses before an image of Pier Giorgio Frassati during a celebration of the centenary of his death, Turin, Italy, Friday, July 4, 2025. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Turin, Italy, Jul 5, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

On the 100th anniversary of Pier Giorgio Frassati’s death this week, crowds packed into the Turin Cathedral to pray at the tomb of the charismatic young man who is set to be canonized as a saint in September.

The three-day celebration of the centenary, dubbed “Frassati Days,” drew pilgrims from the United States, Poland, and Switzerland to Piedmont, the northern Italian region where Frassati lived and left a lasting legacy of faith and charity.

 “These 100 years made Frassati a popular young man. Not only in Turin, not only in Piedmont, not only in Italy, but all over the world,” Cardinal Archbishop Roberto Repole said during the centenary Mass on July 4.

He described Frassati as “an authentic witness to Christ and the eternal God” and remembered him as “a natural leader” who loved the mountains and inspired those around him. 

Eucharistic adoration followed the evening Mass, with the cathedral remaining open late into the night as young people knelt in silence at the tomb of the man whom John Paul II called “the Man of the Beatitudes.” 

Born in Turin in 1901 into a prominent family — his father was the founder of the La Stampa newspaper and a diplomat — Frassati balanced a deep life of faith with active engagement in politics and service to the poor. He joined the Dominican Third Order, climbed Alpine peaks, and distributed food and medicine to the needy in the poorest parts of Turin. He died on July 4, 1925, from polio at the age of 24, believed to have contracted the disease from one of the people he served.

In the cathedral’s front pew for the solemn Mass was Frassati’s niece, 93-year-old Giovanna Gilardini.

“He’s my uncle,” she told CNA. “My mother [Luciana] used to talk to us about Pier Giorgio.”

She recalled a moment in 1981 when Frassati’s coffin was opened during the beatification process. “I saw him,” she said. “He was intact, perfectly intact.”

Frassati’s body was found to be incorrupt, or preserved from the natural process of decay after death. According to Catholic tradition, incorruptible saints give witness to the truth of the resurrection of the body and the life that is to come. That moment, Gilardini explained, solidified her belief in his sanctity.

“Pier Giorgio helps me a lot [from heaven] all the time,” she said.

Just behind her sat her grandson, 14-year-old Pier Giorgio Gilardini, named after the soon-to-be saint. “To live up to his name, I feel like I have to be good,” the teenager said. “He inspires me.”

The Archdiocese of Turin and the neighboring Diocese of Biella shared responsibility for the commemorations, just as Frassati had split his own time between the city and the mountains. While he lived most of the year in Turin, his summers were spent with his grandparents in the mountain town of Pollone, where he hiked and prayed in the Alps.

On Thursday evening, a vigil Mass was celebrated under the shadow of those Alps on the grounds of Villa Ametis, the Frassati family home in Pollone, by Bishop Roberto Farinella of Biella, who described the centenary as a celebration of Frassati’s “birth into heaven.”

The Mass took place beneath a towering sequoia tree planted by Frassati’s grandfather — a tree that the young Pier Giorgio used to climb as a boy. 

“Here everything speaks to us about Pier Giorgio,” said Father Luca Bertarelli, the local parish priest in Pollone. “The house, the yard, the sequoia which he used to climb, his pickax, these candelabras that were in his room for his last Communion, the viaticum before his death.”

 “But what speaks to us most are the pilgrims,” he added. “I have met in these years thousands of pilgrims, especially young people… and I have also seen some tears that flowed from their eyes because of the holy life of Pier Giorgio.”

“Pier Giorgio really is the saint for today,” Bertarelli said.

Eucharistic adoration under the stars followed the Pollone Mass, with candles illuminating the façade of the Frassati home. Passages from Frassati’s letters were read aloud until late into the night.

Among the attendees were Cedric Ebiner and his brother Vincent, who drove from Switzerland to be there. The Ebiner brothers began the day with a climb up Mount Mucrone, following the Poggio Frassati trail Pier Giorgio once hiked himself. 

“I have a big devotion to Pier Giorgio,” said Cedric, a Swiss native who now teaches French and Latin at Loyola High School in Los Angeles.

 “Saints are just like other people — the more you know about them, the closer you can get to them, and so just visiting the place where they lived gets you closer to them. … being there just adds to it,” he said.  

Growing up, he added, “we did a lot of hiking, mountain climbing… so that aspect of him being an outdoors kind of guy is really appealing. … He’s a real man.” 

In Turin, young people took part in the “Frassatour,” visiting key sites in Frassati’s spiritual life, from the Church of St. Dominic, where he discovered his vocation as a lay Dominican, to the Sanctuary of the Consolata, a Marian shrine he frequented. 

Paolo Reineri, who helped lead the tour and wrote a children’s book on Frassati, said he wanted kids to know that Frassati “is a friend who can be with them and inspire them.” He added: “He is an inspiration because he found time to do a lot of good — and he always found time for God.” 

Frassati’s canonization, alongside Blessed Carlo Acutis, will take place Sept. 7, making them the first new saints declared by Pope Leo XIV. 

Germana Moro, president of the Pier Giorgio Frassati Association in Turin, credited much of the progress in his sainthood cause to Frassati’s sister Luciana. “It was thanks to Luciana’s immense amount of work… that her brother’s beatification process was reopened,” she said, noting that Luciana had gathered more than 900 testimonies about her brother’s life. 

“Pier Giorgio teaches us that without constant deep union with the Blessed Sacrament… we will not survive,” Moro said. “Celebrations are not enough if they do not help us follow the path of faith that he walked before us and whose footprints he left clearly visible.” 

Christine Wohar, president of Frassati USA, a Nashville-based nonprofit apostolate dedicated to spreading awareness of his life, reflected on the timing of the upcoming canonization.  

“We cannot improve on God’s plans. This is certainly the case with the centenary of Pier Giorgio’s death, the diocesan Year of Frassati that is concluding in Turin on his feast day, and the fact that he will soon be canonized,” she said.  

“What is more significant is that it is happening in a jubilee year because it was also a jubilee year [when Frassati died] in 1925. And how appropriate that it is a year dedicated to hope — as devotees of Frassati have hoped and prayed for so long to be able to put ‘saint’ in front of his name.”

Pope Leo XIV greets a young pilgrim in Rome during a meeting with group of teachers and young people from Denmark, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, Saturday, July 5, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jul 5, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Saturday said pilgrimages play an essential role in the life of faith as they help a Christian to be better united to Jesus Christ and discern God’s purpose for us in life.

The Holy Father invited a large group of teachers and young people from Denmark, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales to the Vatican on Saturday and encouraged them to come closer to God during their summer pilgrimage in Rome for the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope.

During the meeting, the pope said: “A pilgrimage has a vital part to play in our life of faith for it removes us from our homes and our daily routines and gives us time and space to encounter God more deeply.”  

“Such moments always help us to grow, for through them the Holy Spirit gently fashions us to be ever more closely conformed to the mind and the heart of Jesus Christ,” he continued.

Continuing the theme of his July prayer intention “for formation in discernment,” the pope told the group of teachers and students that God “has created each one of you with a purpose and a mission in this life.” He encouraged them to visit the many holy sites in the Eternal City during their jubilee pilgrimage.

“Use this opportunity for listening, for prayer, so that you may hear more clearly God’s voice calling you deep within your hearts,” he said. “Today, so often, we lose the ability to listen, to really listen.”

“We listen to music, we have our ears flooded constantly with all kinds of digital input, but sometimes we forget to listen to our own hearts and it’s in our hearts that God speaks to us,” he continued. 

By fostering a personal relationship with Jesus, the pope said God “calls us and invites us to know him better and to live in his love” and to share that gift of faith with others, just like the countless saints and martyrs had over the centuries.

Addressing the teachers of the group, Leo said they have an “important role in the formation of today’s youth” and are role models for them. 

“I hope that, each day, you will nurture your relationship with Christ, who gives us the pattern of all authentic teaching, so that, in turn, you may guide and encourage those entrusted to your care to follow Christ in their own lives,” he said.

The Holy Father challenged his listeners on Saturday to continue their “pilgrimage of discipleship” when they return to their home countries, relying always on God’s mercy and the intercession of the saints.

“Dear friends, with these few words, and entrusting you to the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, I gladly impart to each of you my heartfelt blessing,” he said at the meeting’s conclusion.    

According to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, more than 10 million pilgrims have come to Rome for the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope since Pope Francis opened the Church’s holy year on Christmas Eve 2024.

Speaking to over 400 bishops from 38 countries on June 25, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the importance of pastoral prudence, poverty, and synodality in the ministry of a bishop. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jul 5, 2025 / 10:35 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Archbishop Thibault Verny of Chambéry in France as the new president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

The prelate succeeds U.S.-born Cardinal Seán O’Malley, 81, the founding president of the safeguarding commission established by Pope Francis in 2014.  

“I thank the Holy Father for my appointment as president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors,” Verny said in a statement released July 5. 

“I am honored by the trust he has placed in me, fully aware of the grave and sacred task entrusted to the commission: to help the Church become ever more vigilant, accountable, and compassionate in her mission to protect the most vulnerable among us.”

The new president praised his predecessor, saying O’Malley has been “a moral compass” for the faithful and for people of goodwill: “His legacy is one of courageous fidelity to the Gospel and to the dignity of every human person.”

Under O’Malley’s leadership, the Vatican released its first report on the Church’s safeguarding efforts worldwide in October 2024. 

Verny was made a member of the pontifical commission by Pope Francis in 2022 and has since been active in the Vatican’s international safeguarding efforts in different countries, including the Central African Republic and the Ivory Coast.

In his first statement as president of the pontifical commission, the French archbishop said the Church cannot “impose” safeguarding models nor “avoid hard conversations” about taboo topics in local traditions.

“Our work must begin by listening — with humility, with respect, and with cultural intelligence,” the archbishop said on Saturday.

Since 2022, Verny has also chaired the French Bishops’ Conference’s council for preventing and combating child abuse while being a member of the Vatican commission.

Between 2016 and 2023, he served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Paris, where he was tasked with upholding the agreement between the archdiocese and local authorities to facilitate the reporting of abuse allegations to the civil courts.

In 2023, Verny was appointed archbishop of Chambéry in southeast France.

An aerial view of the papal palace of Castel Gandolfo near Rome. The apostolic palace is a complex of buildings served for centuries as a summer residence for the pope and overlooks Lake Albano. / Credit: Stefano Tammaro/Shutterstock

Vatican City, Jul 5, 2025 / 08:30 am (CNA).

Two months into his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV will leave Rome to spend two weeks on a pontifical estate in the lakeside town of Castel Gandolfo, 18 miles south of the city and sometimes known as the “second Vatican City.”

The pontiff will stay on the hilltop Vatican property “for a period of rest” from the afternoon of July 6 to the afternoon of July 20, the Vatican announced last month. Leo is scheduled to make public appearances from Castel Gandolfo on two Sundays, but otherwise, his public audiences and private audiences will be suspended during that time.

Leo will also spend three days in Castel Gandolfo over the holiday weekend for the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary Aug. 15–17.

Pope Leo’s stay on the 135-acre pontifical estate, which includes multiple properties, extensive gardens, and a working farm, marks the continuation of a centuries-old papal tradition of summer rest.

While Leo’s immediate predecessor, Pope Francis, opted not to use the triangle-shaped territory as a summer retreat, Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II famously escaped Rome’s intense heat by spending several months in recreation, study, and work in the hilltop town.

According to Vatican News, Pope Leo made a quick visit to Castel Gandolfo on the afternoon of July 3 to check up on the renovations to Villa Barberini, where he will be staying.

A tennis court has also been newly installed on the property for the tennis-loving pope, the New York Times reported. The pool is also reportedly receiving a refresh in anticipation of Leo’s arrival.

Previous popes lived during their retreats in the pontifical palace of the estate, which is situated on the border of the town of Castel Gandolfo and the gardens, opening up onto Liberty Square.

But in 2016, Pope Francis converted the papal palace of Castel Gandolfo into a museum. Two years prior he had opened the gardens to visitors.

The palace and gardens will remain open to the public during Leo’s stay, since he will be living in a different palazzo on the grounds — the Villa Barberini.

The ‘second Vatican City’

The papal ties to Castel Gandolfo date back to 1596; it became an official papal residence 30 years later. The Baroque architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini later added on to the property’s historic villa, first built by Emperor Domitian in the first century.

The territory was conceded to the Holy See as an extraterritorial possession under the Lateran Pact of 1929. 

Since that time, Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI all spent at least part of the summers there, where they would pray the Sunday Angelus and mingle with the townspeople.

The popes would also occasionally receive important visitors. And the quiet atmosphere and scenic gardens provided a restorative space for reading, writing, and taking walks — or in John Paul II’s case, a lap in the property’s swimming pool.

For Benedict XVI, the villa was a favorite summer getaway during his pontificate. He also chose to spend some time there after resigning the papacy.

“Since 1628, the popes have lived in Castel Gandolfo. Some more, some less, but their presence has been constant. This is a city accustomed to the daily life of the pope,” Mayor Alberto de Angelis told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, last month.

Pray with Pope Leo XIV

Part of the papal presence in Castel Gandolfo is the opportunity to pray the Sunday Angelus with Leo. The public can see Pope Leo in Castel Gandolfo during the Angelus messages on July 13 and on July 20, which he will deliver from Liberty Square (Piazza della Libertà) in front of the pontifical palace.

After nearly four weeks back at the Vatican, the pontiff will then return for three days to Castel Gandolfo, where he will recite the Angelus on Aug. 15 and Aug. 17.

Visit Castel Gandolfo

Tickets to visit the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo or its gardens (Borgo Laudato Si’) can be booked on the official website of the Vatican Museums for a weekend or weekday.

The town of Castel Gandolfo, which sits above the volcanic Lake Albano, is also a pleasant spot for a stroll. The town is part of the area south of Rome known as the Castelli Romani.

Pope Francis “did a lot for the city, opening the doors of the papal residence and the gardens... But now, Leo XIV will give back to the city its daily connection with the pope: the Angelus, the visits, the contact with the people. We want to experience all of that again,” de Angelis said.

From Rome, Castel Gandolfo can be reached by train or car.