APSA also reported a profit of €22.8 million ($26.3 million) in 2025—down from €62.2 million the previous year—allowing APSA to contribute €22.7 million ($26.2 million) to the operations of the Roman Curia.

“The comparison with the €62.2 million recorded in 2024 must be viewed in the proper perspective,” said Archbishop Giordano Piccinotti, APSA’s president. “The previous year was an extraordinary one that cannot be repeated, characterized by proceeds linked to the restructuring of the investment portfolio. By contrast, 2025 represents a return to ordinary operating conditions, and in this context the indicators are positive.”

Vatican News reported that APSA “manages 4,281 real estate units, to which are added around 1,200 units abroad—in London, Paris, Geneva and Lausanne—through wholly owned companies.”

APSA’s responsibilities, including real estate management and financial services, are outlined in articles 219-221 of Praedicate Evangelium, the 2022 apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia.

“This ringing is intended to send a strong signal: every day, people die of hunger or the consequences of hunger,” stated Caritas Austria, which organized the initiative in conjunction with the bishops’ conference. “At the same time, we are calling for commitment against hunger.”

Bishops Eugenio Andrés Lira Rugarcía and José Hirais Acosta Beltrán warned that “foreign nationals and members of rural, indigenous, and Afro-descendant communities are particularly easy prey for trafficking networks due to their economic vulnerability, immigration status, and the xenophobia, fear of the poor, and racism that persist in our societies, as well as a lack of state protection.”

“In this way, they become victims of criminal groups that traffic in human beings and organs; that subjugate them and force them to commit illicit acts for drug cartels; that enslave them through prostitution and servile domestic labor; and that tyrannize them in agricultural fields, tourist areas, and the maquiladora and construction industries, in Mexico, the United States, and Canada alike,” the prelates added.

An estimated 60,000 migrants from Morocco entered Ceuta, a Spanish city of 84,000, in a 24-hour period, leading the local diocese to express “deep concern” and offer its assistance to civil authorities.

The event, which has attracted 250 Armenian Catholic youth from around the world, began on July 29 and will conclude on August 3. The theme is “One Heart in Christ.”

The Armenian Catholic Church (CNEWA profile) is among the Eastern Catholic churches in full communion with the Holy See.

Smith was accompanied by Father Antonio Spadaro, S.J., an undersecretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education. He tweeted:

There are unforgettable moments in life. Today I lived one of these. With #PattiSmith, with whom for years I have shared a simple and deep friendship, and #PapaLeone, the Holy Father, today an indispensable reference for anyone who still wants to hope in this world.

Together. Today. For 40 minutes. When every single word had its own weight and its own lightness.

In May, Smith inaugurated one of the two venues of the Holy See’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale, a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place every two years.

Today is the memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), the founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists).

“With one year to go until the start of World Youth Day Seoul 2027, the young people who will be traveling to Korea alongside their pastors are increasingly at the heart of the preparations for the event,” said Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

In 1985, Pope St. John Paul II announced the annual celebration of World Youth Day in the dioceses of the world. In addition, World Youth Days have been celebrated internationally every few years—most recently, in Lisbon, Portugal (2023).

Pope Leo XIV promulgated a new Fundamental Law of Vatican City State (unofficial translation) on July 31. In doing so, he replaced the Fundamental Law promulgated by Pope Francis in 2023, which included a controversial phrase in its preamble.

Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for August 2026 is “let us pray that in large cities often marked by anonymity and loneliness we find new ways to proclaim the Gospel, discovering creative paths to build community.”