L’Osservatore Romano devoted the most prominent front-page coverage in its July 3 edition to the current European heatwaves.

In his conversation with the children, Pope Leo recalled attending Mass as a child; there, he encountered “the best friend of all: Jesus.”

“It is important to build bridges, to create friendship,” the Pope told the children. “Do not enter into war or conflict ... Jesus calls us all to be friends.”

Two Vatican officials presented a new Mass formulary, the Missa pro custodia creationis (Mass for the Care of Creation), at a July 3 press conference (video). The press conference followed a decree (Latin, English) of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

In February 2024, Pope Francis created ten study groups to examine some of the issues raised in the October 2023 synod session, including “shared discernment of controversial doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical issues.” The groups were scheduled to submit their reports by June 2025; the General Secretariat, citing the death of Pope Francis and election of Pope Leo, announced the extension of the deadline to December 31.

“The documents suggest that the majority of Catholic bishops who responded to a 2020 Vatican survey about the Latin Mass had expressed general satisfaction with it, and warned that restricting it would ‘do more harm than good,’” the Associated Press noted.

In a July 2021 letter to the world’s bishops, Pope Francis linked his decision to impose drastic limits on the traditional Latin Mass to the bishops’ responses to the questionnaire. The documents published by Montagna, if genuine, call into question the veracity of Pope Francis’s claim.

Chiles, a counselor who is a Christian, is challenging a 2019 Colorado law that forbids counselors from encouraging minors to change their “sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions.” Her legal counsel states that “many of Chiles’s clients are also Christian and specifically seek her help because of their shared faith-based convictions and biblical worldview.”

In its brief, the USCCB argues that the Colorado law violates the right to freedom of speech recognized by the First Amendment. The argument has three parts: “seeking counsel to live virtuously is a profound human concern,” “sexual morality and virtue are matters of intense contemporary discussion,” and “the First Amendment must certainly protect the ability to seek and give counsel on such fundamental matters.”

Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, said that these workers “should be guaranteed fair wages, just labor conditions, and the protection of their fundamental rights.”

“My Delegation would like to draw attention to the typically hidden nature of domestic work, which leaves migrant workers more vulnerable to abuse, debt bondage, and trafficking, with limited access to justice and effective remedies,” he added.

The Istanbul-based Hürriyet Daily News reported that the two discussed “the human tragedy in Gaza, efforts to combat climate change, the fight against Islamophobia and racism, and the importance of the family’s existence in society.”

“We discussed the crucial need for the Christian community to adopt a more assertive position in order to secure a lasting ceasefire and guarantee the full provision of humanitarian aid,” the first lady said after the meeting.

“We are in agreement that the climate crisis is a shared concern for all of humanity, irrespective of their faith or region,” she added. “In this context, I have observed that there is significant potential for collaboration between Türkiye and the Vatican in addressing climate change.”

The Pope reportedly told the first lady that he wishes to visit Turkey in November—a visit already announced by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, but not officially confirmed by the Vatican.

The nation of 84.1 million (map) is 98% Muslim. Pope Francis made an apostolic journey there in 2014.

Following the audience, Meloni 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.

The parties, according to the Holy See Press Office, discussed “the good existing relations between the Holy See and Italy,” as well as “the joint commitment to peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, and humanitarian aid in Gaza.”

Italy, a Southern European nation of 61.0 million (map), is 75% Christian (71% Catholic) and 6% Muslim.

“It is not easy to find words of consolation for the families who have lost their loved ones in this senseless war,” Pope Leo said. “I imagine that it is the same for you too, who are in contact every day with people wounded in their heart and in their flesh.”

“You are called to serve Christ in every wounded and distressed person who turns to your communities asking for concrete help,” the Pope continued, as he expressed his closeness to the bishops and their faithful and prayed for peace.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (CNEWA profile), an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See, has eparchies (dioceses) in Ukraine, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, Poland, and the United States, and other jurisdictions elsewhere.