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The Holy See Press Office announced that Pope Leo XIV spoke by telephone on April 29 with António Costa, president of the European Council.

According to the statement, the parties discussed the Middle East, “with particular attention given to the West Bank in the State of Palestine and the situation of Christians in southern Lebanon,” and the Pope’s recent apostolic journey to Africa, “emphasizing the importance of interreligious dialogue, the promotion of peace and support for the continent’s most disadvantaged communities.”

Ed. Condon, cofounder and editor of The Pillar, analyzes why Pope Leo has not responded to the SSPX superior general’s request for a papal audience.

The Society of St. Pius X announced in February that it plans to go ahead with the ordination of new bishops without papal approval on July 1, despite a Vatican warning that the move will lead to schism.

“Leo’s continued refusal to arrange a meeting is perhaps better seen as an act of pastoral concern for [Father Davide] Pagliarani’s best interests, rather than high-handedness,” writes Condon.

“Leo likely hopes—or at least prays—that between now and July, the SSPX leaders might reconsider their planned actions, and appreciate the consequences. Meeting with them would seem most likely only to cut that time short.”

Father Grzegorz Gawel, a Polish Carmelite friar imprisoned in Belarus, was among ten persons released in a ten-person prisoner exchange.

Father Gawel was detained in 2025 on espionage charges, according to Reform.news, which covers events in Belarus.

The Eastern European nation of 9.5 million (map) is 82% Christian (63% Orthodox, 17% Catholic). An autocratic president, Alexander Lukashenko, has led the nation since 1994.

A missionary priest in Bangladesh was attacked during the nighttime robbery of his parish in Dhaka, the nation’s capital and largest city.

Father Subash Gomes, O.M.I., was hospitalized, and his passport stolen.

The South Asian nation of 170 million (map)--the world’s eighth most populous—is 89% Muslim and 9% Hindu.

The Minerva Dialogues, an annual meeting organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, have built bridges between the Church and Silicon Valley over the past decade, The Atlantic reported.

“Last year, the influential futurist Jaron Lanier attended a Vatican conference on AI even though he disagrees with the Church on plenty of other issues,” according to the report. Lanier “left the discussion thinking that the Catholic understanding of the human person is ‘vastly, vastly, vastly more sane and reasonable’ than that of his Silicon Valley peers.”

The Diocese of St. Cloud has embarked upon the “most drastic reduction of Catholic parishes ever seen in Minnesota,” The Minnesota Star Tribune reported.

“Right now, all of our 131 parishes have Mass every weekend,” said Brenda Kresky, director of diocesan pastoral planning. “We’re reducing that by [about] a third and saying, even if you remain open, you won’t have Mass on the weekend.”

“We are resurrection people,” she added. “You have to go through Good Friday to get to the resurrection. You don’t get to skip Good Friday.”

The Diocese of St. Cloud has 131 parishes, 49 diocesan priests active in the diocese, 87 total diocesan priests, and 73 religious priests in the diocese, according to the 2025 edition of The Official Catholic Directory.