Saint Joseph Catholic Church

“Catholic social teaching regards power not as an end in itself, but as a means ordered toward the common good,” Pope Leo XIV wrote in a message to members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. “This implies that the legitimacy of authority depends not on the accumulation of economic or technological strength, but on the wisdom and virtue with which it is exercised for the common good.”

During his five-hour flight from Algeria to Cameroon today, Pope Leo XIV briefly addressed journalists.

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass today (video) at the Basilica of Saint Augustine in Annaba, Algeria, and preached that “Christians are truly born from above.”

“He was very much against what I’m doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran. Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result,” the president said on April 13. “I think he’s very weak on crime and other things.”

“The visit of Saint John Paul II to the Rome synagogue on April 13, 1986, was an extraordinary event,” said Cardinal Kurt Koch. “For the first time in history, a Bishop of Rome entered a synagogue to bear witness before the world to his appreciation for the Jewish religion and the Jewish people.”

“The Pope emphasized that the Catholic Church has a relationship with Judaism unlike that with any other religion,” Cardinal Koch added. “In particular, through this visit to the Rome synagogue forty years ago—as well as through many of his other important statements on Catholic–Jewish dialogue, various eloquent gestures, and the personal friendships he maintained with members of the Jewish people—Pope John Paul II charted a significant course for the future of reconciliation between the Catholic Church and Judaism.”