Bulletins, Newsletters, and Flocknotes

Accredited journalists are notified that applications are now being accepted for admission to the Papal Flight for the announced Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to France and Visit to the Headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organzation (UNESCO) , to take place from 25 to 28 September 2026, with the following itinerary:

 

Friday 25 September 2026

Rome/Fiumicino – Paris (1.152 km, 2h 10’, ITA Airways)

Saturday 26 September 2026

Paris – Lourdes (700 km, 1h 20’, Air France)

Monday 28 September 2026

Lourdes –Metz (1.075 km, 1h 40’, Air France)

Metz – Rome/Fiumicino (1.075 Km, 1h 50’, Air France)

Time zone

Rome +2h UTC

Paris +2h UTC

Lourdes +2h UTC

Metz +2h UTC

The provisional programme for the announced Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to France and Visit to the Headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been published in Bulletin No. 626 today, Friday 7 August 2026.

Applications for admission to the Papal Flight may be made solely via the Holy See Press Office online accreditation system at press.vatican.va/accreditamenti , by registering as a user on the system or logging in with your credentials and selecting the relevant event from the Events Calendar.

The deadline for applications for admission to the Papal Flight is Wednesday 12 August 2026, at 12 noon.

Friday 25 September 2026

ROME – PARIS – SAINT-DENIS – PARIS

07:50

Departure by airplane from Rome/Fiumicino International Airport to Paris

 

10:00

Arrival at Paris Orly International Airport

WELCOME CEREMONY

 

11:00

COURTESY VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC at the Élysée Palace

 

11:45

MEETING WITH THE AUTHORITIES, CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS at the Élysée Palace

Address of the Holy Father

15:00

VISIT TO THE UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION (UNESCO) at the Headquarters of UNESCO

Address of the Holy Father

17:15

CELEBRATION OF VESPERS WITH THE BISHOPS, PRIESTS, DEACONS, CONSECRATED MEN AND WOMEN AND SEMINARIANS at Notre-Dame Cathedral

Homily of the Holy Father

21:00

PRAYER VIGIL WITH YOUNG PEOPLE at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis

Address of the Holy Father

 

Saturday 26 September 2026

PARIS – LOURDES

09:00

VISIT TO THE MAISON BAKHITA CENTRE FOR SOCIAL SUPPORT AND INTEGRATION

Greeting of the Holy Father

10:15

MEETING WITH MEMBERS OF THE PROVINCIAL SYNODAL ASSEMBLY, CATECHUMENS AND NEWLY BAPTIZED at the Institut Catholique de Paris

Address of the Holy Father

15:00

HOLY MASS at the Place de la Concorde

Homily of the Holy Father

17:45

Departure by airplane from Paris Orly International Airport to Lourdes

 

19:05

Arrival at Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées International Airport

 

19:40

PRAYER AT THE GROTTO OF THE APPARITIONS AT MASSABIELLE at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes

 

  Sunday 27 September 2026

LOURDES

09:00

MEETING WITH THE BISHOPS OF THE FRENCH EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE in the Saint Bernadette auditorium at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes

Address of the Holy Father

11:00

HOLY MASS at the Prairie of the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes

Homily of the Holy Father

Angelus

15:30

MEETING WITH THE STAFF AND SICK COMMUNITY OF ACCUEIL NOTRE DAME at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes

Address of the Holy Father

16:45

PRIVATE MEETING WITH THE CONTEMPLATIVE RELIGIOUS SISTERS at the Carmelite Monastery of Lourdes

 

21:00

PRAYER OF THE HOLY ROSARY AND TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes

Address of the Holy Father

Monday 28 September 2026

LOURDES – METZ – ROME

 

07:40

Departure by airplane from Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées International Airport

 

09:20

Arrival at Metz-Nancy-Lorraine International Airport

 

10:00

INTERRELIGIOUS MEETING at the “Robert Schuman” Conference Centre in Metz

Address of the Holy Father

11:00

“TO THE ROOTS OF EUROPE FOR PEACE AND UNITY” MEETING at the “Robert Schuman” Conference Centre in Metz

Address of the Holy Father

16:00

HOLY MASS at the Cathedral of Saint Stephen

Homily of the Holy Father

18:30

FAREWELL CEREMONY at Metz-Nancy-Lorraine International Airport

 

19:00

Departure from Metz-Nancy-Lorraine International Airport

 

20:50

Arrival at Rome/Fiumicino International Airport

This morning, the Holy Father received in audience:

- Msgr. Marco Ganci, interim chargé d’affaires in South Sudan and Eritrea;

- The Reverend Sr. Raffaella Petrini, F.S.E., president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and of the Governorate of Vatican City State; with Archbishop Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, titular of Belcastro, archivist and librarian of the Holy Roman Church;

- The Reverend Fr. Arturo Sosa Abascal, S.J., prepositor general of the Society of Jesus;

- His Eminence Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches;

- His Eminence Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, O.F.M. Conv., vicar general of His Holiness for Vatican City State, archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican and president of the Fabric of Saint Peter.

At 10.22, in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Porziuncola, the Holy Father presided over Holy Mass with the participants in the “ GO! Franciscan Youth Meeting 2026 ”. Before the final blessing, a young man thanked the Pope for the meeting. At the end of Holy Mass, Pope Leo XIV entered the Porziuncola for a a brief moment of silent prayer.

Then, at 11.43, the Holy Father left the Basilica and, after taking leave of the authorities who had welcomed him on arrival, departed by helicopter at 12.16 to return to the Vatican.

The following is the homily delivered by Pope Leo XIV during the Eucharistic celebration:

 

Homily of the Holy Father

 

 

Dear brothers and sisters, Dear young people!

The Feast of the Transfiguration, which we are celebrating, is a mystery of light that enriches our encounter — one that is so joyful, yet also raises questions about the present and the future. In the Gospel, we find the contrast between light and shadow, silence and words, wonder and incomprehension. Today, we are in Assisi, a city to which countless pilgrims have made their way for centuries, because here everything whispers that our lives can take on a new form, radiate light and heal the world. It was here that the transformation of Francis, Clare and then thousands of other young people began. They embraced the Gospel sine glossa — we could say, in its simplicity — then the life of Jesus began anew within them.

We have come here to understand where history is heading and where we ourselves are going. In the Gospel, we see that meaning can indeed be found, that a path can be glimpsed. Like Peter, James and John, we too have been brought a little aside, and Jesus is with us. What matters is his presence. On the mountain, the apostles contemplate Jesus, who had been speaking about his own future, which had caused a misunderstanding among them. Six days earlier, Peter had taken issue with the Master for speaking openly about the cross (cf. Mt 16:21–26) because he expected glory for the Messiah, and perhaps even for himself. Peter did not consider any opposition or risks, and especially did not ask himself what glory really means. Now, in Jesus’ Transfiguration, God himself reveals his glory, which takes the form of a cloud that protects and envelops. He points to his Son and invites us to listen to him. The path of life is discovered by following him together. The beauty of this path takes on a new dimension, an unprecedented intensity, so much so that Peter would like to stay awhile and prolong that vision. He generously offers to build three tents as he would like that conversation between Jesus, Moses and Elijah to continue. However, one must enter into that conversation, not remain a mere spectator. Indeed, we are called to read the Scriptures with the Master, to interpret our own times and to make decisions by following his path. We have come here to overcome resignation and fear, to dispel the doubts that hold us back, just as they held back the apostles. Jesus calls us to engage with his story in order to write new pages of history.

As we hear that “his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light” ( Mt 17:2), we recall Easter morning when an angel of the Lord rolled away the stone sealing the tomb and brought the announcement of the Resurrection. “His face was like lightning, his robe white as snow” ( Mt 28:3). That is the light of a new day, toward which we are drawn, even as darkness still surrounds us — and sometimes dwells within us. We see the dawning light in the canonized saints, such as Saint Francis and Saint Clare, and in a myriad of brothers and sisters who respond to evil with good. We are not alone! In recent days you have experienced this, since you have met and listened to one another, moving beyond the clamor of overlapping and conflicting voices to the art of conversation. Today, we contemplate Jesus, who is transfigured precisely in conversation with the Father, with those who preceded him — Moses and Elijah — and with his contemporaries, the disciples.

The Church exists to lead us into this dynamic of listening and decision-making, in which we come to understand for whom we are to live and how we are to live. The Church is the community in which we learn to discern the voice of God, which never simply coincides with our own opinions, and to dare to obey the Holy Spirit, who makes bold and creative all those who choose to follow Jesus. While we are “disfigured” by separating ourselves from him and from others, we are transfigured through the bonds that nourish and call us to life. Franciscan spirituality, in which you have been formed, is among the most attentive to restoring fundamental relationships with God and with all his creatures. Today, more than ever, this is a harmony that needs to be safeguarded and cultivated.

In this regard, at the beginning of my first Encyclical, I suggested that “Each generation inherits the task of shaping its own era, of guiding history to become a place where the dignity of every person is safeguarded, justice is promoted and fraternity is made possible. Yet every era also runs the risk of creating an inhumane and more unjust world. Whenever humanity is in danger of marring its true identity, we Christians lift our eyes to the Incarnate God, knowing that it is ‘only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of humanity truly becomes clear.’ In Jesus Christ, this humanity in its grandeur becomes the Way, the Truth and the Life, opening the path for each of us to grow toward fullness” ( Magnifica Humanitas , 1).

Dear friends, the reason why Saint Francis still draws us to himself, even eight hundred years after his death, lies in the grandeur of humanity that led him to abandon familiar ways in order to find a new path that is more consistent with that of Jesus. Even in a town that had been Christian for centuries, such as Assisi, this seemed revolutionary. “Clare’s choice was even more striking: a girl who wanted to be like Francis, who wanted to live, as a woman, as free as those brothers!” ( Jubilee Audience , 4 October 2025). This is the energy of Christianity — the energy of its beginnings and of its many new beginnings.

Well then, dear young people, today Europe and the whole world are looking to you to be new saints. Dare to believe in the word of the Gospel; become fully human with the freedom of Jesus Christ; embrace Sister Poverty! The title of your gathering, Go!, is a mission, a sending forth onto paths for which we have no maps, because they are opened by listening to the heart, obeying the Holy Spirit, and following the Risen One wherever he has chosen to go before us. Go! Go! Or better yet: let us go! Let’s go to the margins, where the injustice and arrogance of a few deny the dignity and dreams of many, of far too many sons and daughters of God. Pope Francis , drawing inspiration from the Poverello of Assisi, warned us against the temptation “to be that kind of Christian who keeps the Lord’s wounds at arm’s length. Yet Jesus wants us to touch human misery, to touch the suffering flesh of others. He hopes that we will stop looking for those personal or communal niches which shelter us from the maelstrom of human misfortune” ( Evangelii Gaudium , 270).

We may not be understood, even by those closest to us, as happened to Saint Francis. Yet, breaking free from the culture of power, and tearing down the walls that separate human beings from one another, is never a betrayal of our families, towns or traditions. Instead, it means freeing them from their ghosts, from enemies invented out of fear or ignorance and from the violence with which people seek to impose their own limited order on a reality that surpasses us on every side. To trust in God is to rediscover, like Francis and Clare, a world of brothers and sisters to cherish and serve, not to exploit and dominate. Not a world to defend, but to embrace.

Commit yourselves, dear young people, to the civilization of love, whose first signs you have encountered in so many examples of selfless giving, and which — in the image of Christ — transforms countless peacemakers who, even today, are committed to serving life in the most tragic situations of death. Unite the best energies of your magnificent humanity: your studies, skills, work, friendships, love and prayer, so that you can bring Saint Francis’ vision to life in many different ways. I imagine you hold dear the prayer often attributed to him, a text from the last century:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring love. Where there is offence, let me bring pardon. Where there is discord, let me bring union. Where there is error, let me bring truth. Where there is doubt, let me bring faith. Where there is despair, let me bring hope. Where there is darkness, let me bring your light. Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.

That is “where” to go. But here, especially, is “how” to go:

O Lord, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, for it is in giving that one receives, it is in self-forgetting that one finds, it is in forgiving that one is forgiven, it is in dying that one awakens to eternal life.

Dear friends, may these days in Assisi remain etched in your memory, and may your return home, to the various countries of Europe to which you will travel, be like the descent of Peter, James and John from the high mountain of the Transfiguration. May your return be reflective, open to the future and committed to Jesus Christ. He trusts you, counts on you and remains always with you.

Resignation and appointment of metropolitan archbishop of San Juan de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico

Election of auxiliary bishop of the eparchy of Buchach, Ukraine

Appointment of Consultors of the Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life

 

Resignation and appointment of metropolitan archbishop of San Juan de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the metropolitan archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico, presented by Archbishop Roberto Octavio González Nieves, O.F.M.

The Holy Father has appointed Bishp Eusebio Ramos Morales, hitherto of Caguas, as metropolitan archbishop of San Juan de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico.

Curriculum vitae

Archbishop-elect Eusebio Ramos Morales was born on 15 December 1952 in Maunabo, Puerto Rico. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in sciences and biology from the University of Puerto Rico, he studied philosophy and theology at the Central University of Bayamón, with the Jesuits in Mexico and at Boynton Beach Seminary; finally, he was awarded a licentiate in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

He received priestly ordination on 3 June 1983.

He has held the following offices: assistant vicar; spiritual director and rector at the Seminary in Caguas; parish priest of Dulce Nombre de Jesús in Humacao; professor of dogmatic theology at the major seminary; parish priest of Santísimo Redentor and moderator of the Presbyteral Council of Caguas.

He was appointed bishop of the diocese of Fajardo-Humacao on 11 March 2008, and received episcopal consecration on 31 May of the same year. 

On 2 February 2017, he was appointed bishop of the diocese of Caguas.

He is currently president of the Episcopal Conference of Puerto Rica (C.E.P.)

 

Election of auxiliary bishop of the eparchy of Buchach, Ukraine

The Holy Father has granted his assent to the election by the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church of the Reverend Fr. Terentiy Tsapchuk, O.S.B.M., assigning him the titular see of Orea.

Curriculum vitae

The Reverend Fr. Terentiy Tsapchuk was born on 21 July 1980 in the village of Chortovets, in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. He joined the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat in 1998 and gave his perpetual vows on 19 August 2006.

After a year of preparatory formation at the Basilian Institute in Zolochiv (2000-2001), he carried out his studies in philosophy at the Pontifical Theological Faculty in Warsaw, Poland (2001-2003) and studied theology at the major seminary of the Latin archdiocese of Lviv in Bryukhovychi (2003–2007). During his theological studies, he received his religious formation at the Basilian Institute in Bryukhovychi.

He was ordained a priest on 26 July 2007. Following ordination, he held the following pastoral and religious offices: from 2007 to 2012, parish administrator in Lutsk, Kivertsy and Kryzhivtsi; from 2012 to 2020, hegumen of the Basilian monastery in Lutsk, and concurrently parish priest of the parish of Saint Basil the Great in Lutsk; from 2010 to 2020, protopresbyter of the archiepiscopal exarchate of Lutsk; from 2020 to 2024: parish vicar in Ivano-Frankivsk; and since 2024: hegumen of Pohonya Monastery, and at the same time parish priest of the parish in the same town.

In 2016 he was awarded a licentiate in Church history from the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland.

 

Appointment of Consultors of the Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life

The Holy Father has appointed the following as Consultors of the Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life: Monsignor Alfonso Vincenzo Amarante , C.SS.R., Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome, Italy; the Reverend Kevin Otieno Mwandha , S.D.B., vice Rector of the Salesian Pontifical University, Rome; the Very Reverend Father Ignasi M. Fossas i Colet , Abbot President of the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict; the Reverend Fathers: Damián Guillermo Astigueta , S.J., Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law of the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome; Maurizio Bevilacqua , C.M.F., Principal of the Pontifical Institute of Theology of Consecrated Life “ Claretianum ” ad instar Facultatis of the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome; Benjamin James Earl , O.P. coordinator for the revision of the Constitutions of Dominican Nuns; Flavien Zolabi Mambueni , S.J., Rector of the Institut de Théologie de la Compagnie de Jésus in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire; the Reverend Brothers Antoine Kazindu , F.M.S., counsellor at the Lycée de Kigali , Rwanda, and Emili Tutú Rofes , F.M.S., director of Faith and Praxis for Global Leadership ; the Reverend Mothers Chiara Lorenzato , Superior General of the Clarissan Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, and Marian Nirmalini , Superior General of the Sisters of the Apostolic Carmel; the Reverend Sisters: María Rosaura González Casas , S.T.J., pro-Directo of the Institute of Psychology of the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome; Mary (Makamatine) Lembo , Vicar General of the Sisters of Saint Catherine Virgin and Martyr; Patricia Murray , C.J., former secretary of the International Union of Superiors General; and Maria do Disterro Rocha Santos , F.C.I.M., President of the Conferência dos Religiosos do Brasil.