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More than 100 journalists from over 40 countries gather for four days of dialogue on ecology, innovation, and responsible communication.

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Responding to questions by journalists on the sidelines of a book presentation, Cardinal Pietro Parolin shares what he would say if face-to-face with U.S. President Trump: "Put an end to it as soon as possible because the real danger is that an escalation is just around the corner."

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The Apostolic nuncio, Paolo Borgia, meets with Shiite religious authorities in the south of Lebanon, and encounters a group of refugees hosted by a Maronite community,.

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Israel says Iran's intelligence minister Esmail Khatib has been killed in an overnight strike and intensifies its attacks on Beirut following an escalation between Hezbollah and Tel Aviv.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- All baptized Christians share in the Church's mission and, guided by the Holy Spirit, are fit for renewing and building up the Church, Pope Leo XIV said at his weekly general audience.

Every person who has been baptized is called to bear witness to Christ, and the whole Church, beyond its leaders, has a role in preserving the truth of the faith, the pope said March 18 in St. Peter's Square.

Continuing his series of reflections on the Second Vatican Council, the pope focused on the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church ("Lumen Gentium"), and the participation of the lay faithful in Jesus Christ's "priestly, prophetic and royal offices," that is, the offices of teaching, sanctifying and governing.

Everyone enters the Church as a layperson, he said. Through Baptism and Confirmation, the faithful are "more perfectly bound to the Church" and are endowed "with special strength" by the Holy Spirit, so that they are "more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith, both by word and by deed, as true witnesses of Christ," he said, quoting the document.

"This consecration is at the root of the common mission that unites the ordained ministries and the lay faithful," Pope Leo said. In fact, everyone is called to bear witness to the truth of the faith. 

The Doctrinal Commission of the Council specified that the sense of faith "belongs to individual believers not in their own right, but as members of the People of God as a whole," the pope said.

The function of the Holy Spirit is to lead Christians to the truth, and because the entire body of the faithful is anointed by "the holy one," he said, "the Church, therefore, as the communion of the faithful -- which naturally includes the pastors -- cannot err in matters of faith."

"From this unity, which the Magisterium of the Church safeguards, it follows that every baptized person is an active agent of evangelization, called to bear consistent witness to Christ in accordance with the prophetic gift which the Lord bestows upon His whole Church," he said. 

The Holy Spirit, who comes from the Risen Christ, he said, distributes"special graces" among all the faithful, who are then able to contribute to the renewal and building of the Church. 

"Dear friends, let us rekindle in ourselves the awareness of and gratitude for having received the gift of being part of God’s people; and also the responsibility that this entails," he said.

Approximately 240 students from across the U.S. travel to Italy for a 10-day pilgrimage and in Rome, attend Pope Leo’s General Audience in St. Peter's Square. Their chaplain says their mission is to “be a sign of contradiction” to the voices that “do not appreciate the truth of the Gospel.”

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Nearly 200 participants gathered in Rome for a conference organized by four pontifical universities dedicated to reflecting on the pastoral, spiritual, human, and intellectual formation needed for the emerging mission field of digital evangelization.

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Pope Leo XIV reflects on situations of poverty, loneliness and isolation experienced by many people in Europe today and decries increasing inequalities and injustice in the field of healthcare which he warns, can also lead to conflict.

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The Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations issues a statement calling to ensure access to justice for women and girls across the world by addressing structural barriers and tackling discrimination.

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