Bulletins, Newsletters, and Flocknotes

At around 13.10, Pope Leo XIV arrived by car at the Home for the Elderly run by the Little Sisters of the Poor in Annaba, Algeria.

Upon his arrival, the Holy Father was welcomed by the Superior of the Community. In the meeting room, the approximately forty people receiving care, the sisters of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor and the staff of the home were gathered. Following the Superior’s welcome and testimonies from Archbishop Paul Desfarges, emeritus of Algiers, and a Muslim resident from Algeria, the Pope addressed those present. This was followed by an exchange of gifts and a song. At the end, the Holy Father greeted the elderly residents of the home individually, then walked, at around 13.30, to the House of the Augustinian Community, where he met the members of the Order and stayed for lunch with them.

The following is the greeting addressed by Pope Leo XIV to those present during his visit to the Home for the Elderly of the Little Sisters of the Poor:

 

Greeting of the Holy Father

Your Excellencies, Dear Sisters in consecrated life, Dear brothers and sisters,

Good morning!  As-salamu alaykum!

Thank you for welcoming me into this home!  I am pleased to make this visit because God dwells here. Indeed, wherever there is love and service, God is there.

I thank the Little Sisters of the Poor together with the staff of this home.  Thank you, Mother Philomena, for your welcome.

Thank you, monsignor Desfarges, for your words, your touching words!  Having listened to you, and seeing your presence here amongst our elderly brothers and sisters, it is natural to praise God and give thanks to him.  Just as Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” ( Lk  10:21).

I thank Mr Salah Bouchemel for his testimony, which was so beautiful and comforting.  I think that the Lord, looking down from heaven upon a house like this, where people strive to live together in fraternity, would say, “There is hope!”  Yes, because God’s heart is torn apart by wars, violence, injustice and lies. But our Father’s heart is not with the wicked, the arrogant or the proud.  God’s heart is with the little ones, with the humble, and with them he builds up his Kingdom of love and peace day by day, just as you are striving to do here in your daily service, in your friendship and life together.

Thank you, dear sisters and brothers, for this gathering!  I will keep you in my prayers and I gladly impart my blessing.

Departure from Algiers and arrival in Annaba

Visit to the Hippo archaeological site

 

Departure from Algiers and arrival in Annaba

At 8.45 local time, Pope Leo XIV transferred by car to “Houari Boumédiène” International Airport in Algiers. At 9.38 local time, on board an Air Algérie A220, the Holy Father departed for Annaba, Algeria.

He landed at “Rabah Bitat” International Airport in Annaba at 10.32, where he was welcomed by some local authorities, and then transferred by car to the Hippo archaeological site.

 

Visit to the Hippo archaeological site

At 11.00, Pope Leo XIV arrived at the Hippo archaeological site, where he was welcomed at the entrance by a site manager.

The Holy Father walked through the ruins and, upon reaching the end of the route, laid a wreath in memory of Saint Augustine, who served as bishop of the city for more than thirty years. The choir of the Annaba Institute of Music sang a hymn and the Pope paused for a moment of prayer.

At the end, at around 12.50, the Pontiff travelled by car to the Home for the Elderly run by the Little Sisters of the Poor.

Resignation and appointment of bishop of Bethlehem, South Africa

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Bethlehem, South Africa, presented by Bishop Jan de Groef, M. Afr.

The Holy Father has appointed the Reverend Motlatsi Meshack Phomane, of the clergy of the diocese of Umtata, until now parish priest of Mt. Nicholas in Libode, as bishop of the diocese of Bethlehem, South Africa,

Curriculum vitae

Msgr. Motlatsi Meshack Phomane was born on 14 November 1975 in Tshenola, Matatiele, in the diocese of Umtata. Before entering the seminary, he had various work experiences. He entered the Saint Philip Neri Pre-Orientation Seminary in Port Elizabeth and continued his formation at the Saint Kizito Preparatory Seminary in Verulam, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. He subsequently studied philosophy at Saint Peter’s Seminary in Garsfontein and theology at Saint John Vianney Major Seminary in Pretoria.

He was ordained a priest on 30 June 2012, and incardinated into the diocese of Umtata.

After ordination, he studied for a diploma in business management at the University of South Africa (2012-2013) and held the roles of chancellor of the diocese of Umtata, parish priest of Saint John the Baptist , Port Saint John, Umtata, and diocesan financial administrator (2013-2015). He obtained a licentiate in canon law at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya (2015-2018), and went on to serve as parish priest of Saint Martin , Mt Fletcher, Umtata (2019-2025), diocesan representative for the Pastoral Conference, Sotho Region (since 2013), diocesan translator for the Sesotho language (since 2016), member of the Metropolitan Ecclesiastical Tribunal, Durban (since 2019), member of the College of Consultors, diocese of Umtata (since 2021), parish priest of Mt. Nicholas , Libode, Umtata, chaplain for the diocesan Committee for the Synod and member of the diocesan Financial Committee (since 2025).

The following is the Letter sent by the Holy Father Leo XIV to the cardinals:

 

Letter of the Holy Father

Your Eminence,

During this holy season of Easter, I wish to convey to you my heartfelt and fraternal greetings, in the hope that the peace of the risen Lord may sustain and renew our suffering world.

I likewise renew my gratitude for your participation in the Consistory last January. I greatly appreciate the work carried out in the groups, which facilitated free, concrete and spiritually fruitful exchanges, as well as the notable quality of the interventions made during the plenary. The compiled contributions constitute a resource of lasting value, which I hope will be reflected on further, and will mature through ecclesial discernment.

In my concluding remarks in January, I already referred to some elements regarding synodality that emerged from the groups. Now, I wish to focus in particular on what emerged from the groups regarding  Evangelii Gaudium , especially concerning mission and the transmission of the faith.

Your contributions make it clear that this Exhortation continues to be a significant point of reference. In addition to introducing new content, it refocuses everything on the kerygma as the heart of our Christian and ecclesial identity. It was recognized as a “breath of fresh air,” capable of initiating processes of pastoral and missionary conversion — rather than producing immediate structural reforms — and thus profoundly guiding the Church’s journey.

Indeed, you emphasized how this perspective challenges the Church at every level. On a personal level, it calls every baptized person to renew their encounter with Christ, moving from a faith merely received to a faith truly lived and experienced. This journey affects the very quality of spiritual life, expressed in the primacy of prayer, in the witness that precedes words, and in the coherence between faith and life. At the community level, it calls for a shift from a pastoral approach of maintenance to one of mission. This requires communities to be living agents of the proclamation — welcoming communities that use accessible language, attentive to the quality of relationships, and capable of offering places for listening, accompaniment and healing. At the diocesan level, the responsibility of Pastors to resolutely support missionary boldness emerges clearly, ensuring that such boldness is not weighed down or stifled by organizational excesses, but is guided by a discernment that helps us to recognize what is essential.

From all this flows a profoundly unified understanding of mission, which is Christ-centered and kerygmatic. It is born of an encounter with Christ that is capable of transforming lives and spreading through attraction rather than conquest. It is an integral mission, holding in balance explicit proclamation, witness, commitment and dialogue, and yielding neither to the temptation of proselytism nor to a merely institutional mentality of preservation or expansion. Even when the Church finds herself in a minority, she is called to live with confident courage, as a small flock bringing hope to all, mindful that the aim of mission is not its own survival, but the communication of the love with which God loves the world.

Among the specific suggestions that emerged, the following deserve to be welcomed and reflected on further: the need to relaunch  Evangelii Gaudium  through an honest assessment of what has actually been embraced over the years and what, by contrast, remains unfamiliar or unimplemented, with particular attention to the necessary reforms of the processes of Christian initiation; the importance of valuing apostolic and pastoral visits as authentic opportunities for kerygmatic proclamation and for a growth in the quality of relationships; and the similar need to reassess the effectiveness of ecclesial communication, including at the level of the Holy See, from a more explicitly missionary perspective.

With a grateful heart, I renew my thanks for your service and contribution to the life of the Church. In regard to the forthcoming Consistory, which will take place from 26 to 27 June, more detailed information will be provided in due course to assist with the necessary preparations.

In the risen Lord, source of our hope, I send you my warmest Easter greetings.

With fraternal esteem in Christ,

From the Vatican, 12 April 2026

LEO PP. XIV

The following is the Message sent by the Holy Father Leo XIV to participants in the Plenary Session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (taking place at the Casina Pio IV from 14 to 16 April 2026):

 

Message of the Holy Father

I was pleased to learn of the plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences taking place from 14 to 16 April 2026, and I send prayerful good wishes to all taking part. I express my gratitude to Cardinal Peter Turkson for his dedicated service as Chancellor of the Academy. I likewise thank your President, Sister Helen Alford, for selecting the theme: “The Uses of Power: Legitimacy, Democracy and the Rewriting of the International Order.” It is a particularly timely topic, focusing our reflection on the exercise of power, which is a critical element for building peace within and among nations at this moment of profound global change.

Catholic social teaching regards power not as an end in itself, but as a means ordered toward the common good. This implies that the legitimacy of authority depends not on the accumulation of economic or technological strength, but on the wisdom and virtue with which it is exercised (cf.  Catechism of the Catholic Church , 1903). For wisdom enables us to discern and pursue the true and the good, rather than apparent goods and vainglory, amid the circumstances of daily life. This wisdom is inseparable from the moral virtues, which strengthen our desire to promote the common good. In particular, we know that justice and fortitude are indispensable for sound decision-making and for putting decisions into practice. Temperance also proves essential for the legitimate use of authority, for true temperance restrains inordinate self-exaltation and acts as a guardrail against the abuse of power.

This understanding of legitimate power finds one of its highest expressions in authentic democracy. Far from being a mere procedure, democracy recognises the dignity of every person and calls each citizen to participate responsibly in the pursuit of the common good. Reflecting this conviction, Saint John Paul II affirmed that the Church values democracy because it ensures participation in political choices and “the possibility both of electing and holding accountable those who govern them, and of replacing them through peaceful means when appropriate” ( Centesimus Annus , 46). Democracy remains healthy, however, only when rooted in the moral law and a true vision of the human person. Lacking this foundation, it risks becoming either a majoritarian tyranny or a mask for the dominance of economic and technological elites.

The same principles that guide the exercise of authority within nations must likewise inform the international order — a truth that is particularly important to recall at a time when strategic rivalries and shifting alliances are reshaping global relations. We must recall that a just and stable international order cannot emerge from the mere balance of power or from a purely technocratic logic. The concentration of technological, economic and military power in a few hands threatens both democratic participation among peoples and international concord.

In this regard, my predecessors have expressed the need for updated institutions and a universal authority (cf. John Paul II,  Centesimus Annus , 58;  Pacem in Terris , 137), marked by the principle of subsidiarity (cf. Benedict XVI,  Caritas in Veritate , 57). The development of such a global community of fraternity calls for “a better kind of politics, one truly at the service of the common good” (Francis,  Fratelli Tutti , 154). Indeed, it is “more necessary than ever to boldly rethink the modalities of international cooperation” ( Visit to the FAO Headquarters on the Occasion of World Food Day , 16 October 2025, 7).

In the final analysis, when earthly powers threaten the  tranquillitas ordinis  — the classic Augustinian definition of peace — we must draw hope from the Kingdom of God, which, though not of this world, sheds light upon the affairs of this world and reveals their eschatological meaning. In this perspective of faith, we are reminded that God’s omnipotence is shown especially in mercy and forgiveness (cf. Thomas Aquinas,  Summa Theologiae , I, q. 25, a. 3, ad 3); divine power does not dominate, but rather heals and restores. It is precisely this logic of charity that must animate history, for human activity inspired by charity helps to shape the “earthly city” in unity and peace, rendering it — however imperfectly — an anticipation and a prefiguration of the “City of God” (cf. Benedict XVI,  Caritas in Veritate , 7). Such faith strengthens our resolve to build a culture of reconciliation capable of overcoming the pitfalls of indifference and powerlessness (cf.  Address in the Presence of Religious Leaders , 28 October 2025).

With these sentiments, I earnestly hope that your reflections during these days will yield valuable insights for clarifying the legitimate uses of power, the criteria of authentic democracy and the kind of international order that serves the common good. In this way, your work will contribute meaningfully to the building of a global culture of reconciliation and peace — a peace that is not merely the fragile absence of conflict, but the fruit of justice, born of authority placed humbly at the service of every human being and the entire human family.

May the Holy Spirit, source of all charity and bond of unity and peace, enlighten your minds and sustain your efforts. I willingly invoke upon all of you God’s abundant blessings.

From the Vatican, 1 April 2026

LEO PP. XI