Saint Joseph Catholic Church

The Grand Duke subsequently met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations. According to a Vatican statement, the parties discussed “social cohesion, the education of young people, and the safeguarding of the dignity of life and of the human person,” as well as international affairs.

The Western European nation of 690,000 (map) is 72% Christian (70% Catholic) and 4% Muslim.

The conference was organized by the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice (CAPP) Foundation, named after Pope St. John Paul II’s 1991 social encyclical.

No continent can “live in peace and thrive without commonly held truths that inform its norms and values,” the papal message stated.

Catholic social teaching “has much to offer as it goes beyond borders and provides a platform for collective interests and way of living, thus making peaceful coexistence possible,” the message added.

The Church in Algeria has 8,740 Catholics, or 0.2% of the total Algerian population of 45,398,000, according to statistics in the new (2025) edition of the Annuario Pontificio [Pontifical Yearbook], published by the Vatican’s Secretariat of State. Remarkably, one diocese reported no baptisms in 2024, and another reported only one.

On Sunday, January 25—the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time—the Church commemorates the 7th Sunday of the Word of God. Pope Francis instituted the commemoration with his 2019 apostolic letter Aperuit illis; it was first celebrated in 2020.

The prelates of the Holy Land Coordination said the Palestinian Christians in the West Bank “told us of their suffering: endless attacks from extremist settlers, uprooting of their olive trees, the seizure of their land and intimidatory acts that make their daily life unbearable, driving many into mass emigration.”

“As Christians, it is our calling and duty to give a voice to the voiceless, and to bear witness to their dignity, so that the world may know their suffering and be moved to advocate for justice and compassion,” the prelates added. “The people of the Holy Land cry out for our help and prayers; they long for an end to their suffering. Stand with them.”

In an audience with the prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Leo XIV approved the promulgation of decrees that pave the way for the beatification of two Servants of God and recognize the heroic virtue of four others.