3+ week, 6+ day ago (798+ words) VATICAN CITY -- Pope Leo XIV on Saturday bestowed one of the Catholic Church's highest honors on St. John Henry Newman, the deeply influential 19th- century British convert and theologian, declaring him a doctor of the church and holding him up as a model for Catholic educators. Only 37 other people have been given the title "doctor" in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church. Newman now joins the ranks of such monumental Christian figures as St. Augustine, St. Therese of Lisieux and St. John of the Cross. The title recognizes that Newman, beloved in both the Anglican and Catholic churches, has universal appeal and made a timeless, eminent contribution to understanding the Christian faith. A theologian and poet raised in the Church of England, Newman is best known for his writings and sermons on the development of doctrine, truth and the nature…...

3+ day, 14+ hour ago (151+ words) CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy -- Pope Leo XIV said Tuesday that Thanksgiving was a "beautiful feast" that unites believers and non-believers alike, as he issued a message of thanks ahead of the U.S. holiday. Leo said he was thankful for many things and urged everyone to recognize the gifts they have been given. "First and foremost, the gift of life. The gift of the faith. The gift of unity," he said. He was responding to reporters' questions Tuesday night as he left Castel Gandolfo, where he goes on Mondays and Tuesdays for a rest and to play tennis. He described Thanksgiving as "this beautiful feast that we have in the United States, which unites all people - people of different faiths, people who perhaps do not have the gift of faith" to say thank you to someone. Leo will spend his first Thanksgiving as…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago (402+ words) VATICAN CITY -- Pope Leo XIV called for "deep reflection" in the United States about the treatment of migrants held in detention, saying that "many people who have lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what is going on right now." The Chicago-born pope was responding Tuesday to a range of geopolitical questions from reporters outside the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, including what kind of spiritual rights migrants in U.S. custody should have, U.S. military attacks on suspected drug traffickers off Venezuela and the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East. Leo underlined that scripture emphasizes the question that will be posed at the end of the world: "How did you receive the foreigner, did you receive him and welcome him, or not? I think there is a deep reflection that needs to be made…...