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Unity, dialogue, respect: On first trip, pope highlights paths to peace

Visiting two countries over six days on his first foreign papal trip, Pope Leo XIV preached unity, dialogue and respect for differences as the only paths to peace.

• Pope gives Catholics in Turkey Advent ‘resolutions’ to build bridges

  

  By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
  Published November 30, 2025

  With their different rites, cultures, languages and races, Catholics find a unity around the altar that “is a gift from God. As such, it is strong and invincible, because it is the work of his grace,” Pope Leo XIV said in a Mass in Instanbul, part of his first international trip.

• CNEWA director: Sense of relief as hostages freed, ceasefire holds—but peace vulnerable

  

  By PAULINA GUZIK, OSV News
  Published October 15, 2025

  Scenes of joy, relief and tearful welcomes flooded media across the world Oct. 13 as the remaining Israeli hostages were freed from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip as part of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement. The regional director for CNEWA-Pontifical Mission’s Jerusalem office speaks of the region’s vulnerable peace.

• Church must ‘walk poor with the poor’ to serve Christ, says Pope Leo in first exhortation

  

  By GINA CHRISTIAN, OSV News
  Published October 10, 2025

  In his first apostolic exhortation, Pope Leo XIV has taken up the call of Pope Francis for Christians to see in the poor the very face of Christ.