James Todd

Reader, writer, producer and storyteller. Husband, father, son and brother. Catholic Christian. Communications Manager @DukeChapel. Views my own.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Communion is never an achievement acquired once and for all. It requires a daily conversion, taking shape in prayer and through concrete attitudes, relationships of trust, and a willingness to listen to one another. #ExtraordinaryConsistory

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Dear writers, we need your imagination, your narrative creativity and your lively thinking. We need these to create spaces of freedom and authenticity, within which divine grace can make the promise of consolation and peace resound. https://t.co/FEmCrdQ392

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

I assure my closeness to the people of the Philippines, struck a few days ago by a powerful earthquake. I pray for the deceased and their families, for the wounded, and for all those suffering because of this disaster.

[Bishop Robert Barron @BishopBarron]

“Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, teach me an entire forgetfulness of myself, since that is the only way one can find entrance into you.” —St. Claude La Colombière

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Today in the Church, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For Christians, Jesus’ Heart symbolizes God’s merciful and infinite love for every human being. No matter where we come from, God’s love knows no borders, makes no distinctions, is given to all, and brings us together in unity. #ApostolicJourney

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Every human being is worthy by the mere fact of having been willed, created, and loved by God. There is no situation that causes the Lord to turn His gaze away from us. It is a consoling truth that accompanies us at all times and reminds us that His merciful love always outweighs whatever good or evil we may have done. #ApostolicJourney
https://t.co/W0PUAtuB92

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

At times we experience the night of faith, the weariness of believing, the fatigue of the spirit, a sense of inadequacy in the face of the Gospel’s call, the bitterness of our failures. These nights are a time of blessing and a place for rebirth. #ApostolicJourney

[Paulina Guzik @Guzik_Paulina]

In what will certainly become one of the most fundamental speeches of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV told the Spanish Parliament, before receiving a 7-minute standing ovation: "The defense of human life is neither a partisan issue nor a confessional interest: it is a goal of civilization."

"If life ceases to be recognized as a fundamental value, what future can our societies have?" he said, speaking to a gathering of politicians, many supporting abortion and euthanasia.

"Can a community that casts into the shadows the unborn child, the elderly, the sick, those who suffer in silence, or those who depend entirely on the care of others be called fully just?"

"Every human life must be recognized and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence. When this certainty is obscured, the most vulnerable are the first victims, and the law loses its deepest meaning: to serve and protect every person."

"For this reason, the moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to accompany, protect and love those lives that are most fragile," he said, repeating what John Paul II emphasized decades ago.

Starting his speech he commented that Church's is the "message offered in the spirit of service to the human person."

"When the Church addresses anything concerning public life, she does so while respecting the proper mission of institutions and the legitimate responsibility of those who have received the mandate to legislate," Pope Leo said, emphasizing "the Church offers a reflection born of the desire to serve the common good."

He hailed Spain as country that "has known how to view the human being as more than just a cog in the social, economic or political order. It has recognized the human being as a creature open to truth, endowed with freedom, and driven by a thirst for eternity that no temporal reality can quench -- in a word, as someone whose dignity takes precedence over all utility and to whose service legislative action is subject."

He said it was Catholic orders that "helped to shape a legal and moral consciousness capable of remembering that authority always entails responsibility and that every human being must be recognized as a subject of rights and duties."

"That aspiration continues to resonate today: that dignity, justice and the common good should be the measure of social relations, both at the national and international levels."

Referring multiple times to his "Magnifica Humanitas" encyclical, he said: "When the common good ceases to be a shared horizon, public action runs the risk of fragmenting into partial interests, incapable of safeguarding what belongs to all."

"In this context, the family — the primary human reality and the natural foundation of the community — takes on particular importance," Pope Leo said.

"The family will always be the first school of humanity, where one learns, before anywhere else, the basic grammar of living together: welcoming life, caring for others, forgiving, serving and belonging."

"Human life can never be treated as a commodity," the pope said.

"A law does not attain its true greatness merely by having been formally enacted; it attains it when, in addition to being valid in form, it can stand before the dignity of the person and pass that test without shame."

"I invite you, then, to lift your gaze to the world around you, not to turn away from reality, but to remember that every decision by public authorities affects real people, especially those who have less power to make their voices heard."

"The expanse of one’s vision consists precisely in looking more deeply at what is at stake in every public decision. This is why, alongside technical solutions and legal reforms, a moral renewal is also needed."

Video: Vatican Media
(fragment of speech follows)

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

The human heart is not filled by accumulating experiences, possibilities, or temporary guarantees; it is filled when it discovers a call, when it understands that life reaches fullness only if it is given. Following Christ does not impoverish existence, but expands it. #ApostolicJourney

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

In the Eucharist, we find a visible manifestation of the reality that we are the Church of Christ, His members, His body. We are brothers and sisters in Him. And in Christ, though many and diverse, we are one: "In Illo uno unum". #CorpusChristi #MagnificaHumanitas

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships, and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge good and evil, grasp the ultimate meaning of situations, or bear responsibility for consequences. They may imitate or even simulate, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational, and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom. #MagnificaHumanitas

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

I invite all to pray to the Lord that the visit of His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church of the Holy See of Cilicia, may constitute a further step on the path towards full unity. Let us also pray for #peace in Lebanon and the Middle East, once again torn apart by violence and war. #ChristianUnity

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

No nation, no society, and no international order can call itself just and humane if it measures its success solely by power or prosperity while neglecting those who live at the margins. Indeed, Christ’s love for the least and the forgotten compels us to reject every form of selfishness that leaves the poor and the vulnerable invisible.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

In these days leading up to the Solemnity of Pentecost, as we prepare to relive the mystery the miracle of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the nascent Church, let us #PrayTogether to the Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of life. May He grant us the gift of #ChristianUnity, bestow upon us enduring peace, and renew the face of the earth.

[Bishop Robert Barron @BishopBarron]

St. Isidore, patron saint of farmers and rural communities, pray for us!

[Bishop Robert Barron @BishopBarron]

Our Lady of Fatima, apparition of the Blessed Virgin to three shepherd children in Portugal, pray for us!

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Mary is the Mother of the whole Church. Everyone can turn to her with filial confidence, certain of being heard, protected, and loved. #GeneralAudience

[Bishop Robert Barron @BishopBarron]

Friends, today marks one year since the election of Pope Leo XIV.

Please join me in thanksgiving for our Holy Father, praying that God will continue to strengthen and guide him in his leadership of the Church.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

The Church interprets history through the lens of the Gospel and speaks decisively against all evil, as the pilgrim People of God. At the same time, she acknowledges the need for continual conversion so she may properly fulfill her mission. As members of the same Body, we are called to renewal. #GeneralAudience

[Bishop Robert Barron @BishopBarron]

“Love and sacrifice are closely linked, like the sun and the light.” —St. Gianna Molla