Saint Joseph Catholic Church

During an audience with Pope Leo on January 9, Cardinal Roberto Repole of Turin presented Avvolti (“Wrapped”), a website that allows for the digital examination of the Shroud of Turin.

“Each enlargement is accompanied by explanations and links to passages from the Gospels that describe the passion of Jesus,” L’Osservatore Romano reported. “Despite the scientific rigor of the texts and images, the aim was to create a product accessible to all, thus bringing the general public closer to the image of the Shroud.”

The Diocese of La Rioja, Argentina, has begun a jubilee year in commemoration of the martyrdoms of Blessed Enrique Angelelli and his companions.

Bishop Dante Braida of La Rioja “emphasized how the martyrs’ witness continues to inspire a faithful listening to the Gospel, along with a concrete commitment to justice, reconciliation, and closeness to the poor,” the Fides news agency reported.

Commemorating the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the custos of the Holy Land, Father Francesco Ielpo, OFM, celebrated an outdoor Mass at Qasr al-Yahud in the West Bank, on the western side of the Jordan River.

In the 14th century, the Holy See entrusted the care of the holy sites in the Holy Land to the Franciscan order. Before the Mass, the consuls of Italy, Spain, France, and Belgium joined the custos, or Franciscan provincial, for a meeting with local officials.

Pope Leo XIV received Matteo Rossi and Lorenzo Bugli, the two captains regent, or heads of state, of San Marino.

Following yesterday’s papal audience, Rossi and Bugli met with Cardinal Parolin, Secretary of State of His Holiness, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations. The parties discussed international crises, “with particular reference to the conflict in Ukraine, collaboration in the sphere of multilateral diplomacy, and the importance of interreligious dialogue in promoting peace,” according to the Holy See Press Office.

The nation of 35,000 (map) is 91% Catholic.

The Holy See Press Office announced yesterday that the Vatican’s highest appellate court ruled against prosecutor Alessandro Diddi in his appeal of the 2023 court ruling in the “trial of the century.”

The 2023 ruling in the financial crimes trial saw the conviction of Cardinal Angelo Becciu and eight other defendants. Diddi appealed the court’s rejection of his charge that the defendants engaged in a conspiracy. The defendants’ appeals of the 2023 ruling are pending.

Pope Leo XIV received Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

“I briefed him on the immense suffering endured by Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as well as on the political & financial challenges confronting UNRWA,” Lazzarini said following yesterday’s audience. “I stressed that the attacks on UNRWA are an assault on the multilateral system and a defiance of international law with reverberations far beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

“I also stressed that bringing back to a learning environment the more than 600,000 girls and boys currently living in the rubble of Gaza should be our common priority to avoid a lost generation,” he added. “I sought the Holy Father’s support to preserve UNRWA’s critical services, primarily in the area of education, public health and safety nets for Palestine Refugees in Gaza and across the region until a just and fair political solution is in place.”

Lazzarini subsequently spoke with Vatican News about the audience and the UNRWA. The agency is facing a “dire” financial crisis, The Times of Israel reported.

The members of the Brazilian bishops’ Episcopal Commission for Missionary Action and Interecclesial Cooperation met yesterday with Pope Leo XIV and invited him to visit Brazil for the 7th American Missionary Congress, which will take place in 2029 in the Archdiocese of Curitiba.

The prelates discussed the work of the commission and thanked the Pope for beginning a series of Wednesday general audiences on the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Archbishop Luiz Fernando Lisboa, CP, of Cachoeiro do Itapemirim asked Pope Leo to “speak more about the wars in Africa, which are all due to natural resources, and which are spoken about very little in Brazil and elsewhere.”

Pope Leo XIV received María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan politician and pro-democracy activist who was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

“Today I had the blessing and the honor of being able to share time with His Holiness and to express our gratitude for his attention to what is happening in our country,” Machado said following yesterday’s audience. “I also conveyed to him the strength of the Venezuelan people, who remain steadfast and in prayer for the freedom of Venezuela, and I asked him to intercede for all Venezuelans who remain kidnapped and disappeared.”

Amid the Anglophone Crisis, an armed conflict that began in 2017, Cameroon’s bishops met in Kumba and devoted their meeting to the theme of “communion and collegiality.”

The central African nation of 32 million (map) is 58% Christian (28% Catholic), 22% Muslim, and 19% ethnic religionist. Pope Benedict XVI made an apostolic journey there in 2009.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, was the Pope’s legate at Sunday’s Mass marking the 800th anniversary of the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels, Belgium (video).

Cardinal Parolin preached that “it is not numerical weakness that undermines Christian witness, but the loss of evangelical boldness.”

“The Church does not stand above history, nor does she simply merge with it,” he added. “She journeys through it as a presence that accompanies, discerns and serves.”