Pope Leo Calls for a United Church at His Inauguration Mass
VATICAN CITY—Pope Leo XIV, in his inaugural Mass as pontiff, called for a united and open Catholic Church before an audience that included political and religious leaders looking for smoother relations with the Vatican.
'Brothers and sisters, I would like this to be our first great wish: a united church, a sign of unity and communion,' said Leo, speaking in Italian. 'Let us build a church founded on God's love, a sign of unity, a missionary church that opens its arms to the world.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
UK economy shrunk by worse-than-expected 0.3% in April, ONS reveals, in bitter blow to Rachel Reeves
The UK economy shrank by 0.3% in April, it was revealed on Thursday, in a blow to Chancellor Rachel Reeves as her spending review comes under growing scrutiny. The latest GDP figures revealed by the Office for National Statistics is worse than the 0.1% fall expected by economists. Responding to the news, Ms Reeves acknowledged they were 'clearly disappointing' but insisted her spending review, delivered to MPs on Wednesday, would help deliver growth. The Chancellor said: 'Our number one mission is delivering growth to put more money in people's pockets through our Plan for Change, and while these numbers are clearly disappointing, I'm determined to deliver on that mission. 'In yesterday's spending review we set out how we'll deliver jobs and growth - whether that's improving city region transport, a record investment in affordable homes or funding Sizewell C nuclear power station. We're investing in Britain's renewal to make working people better off.' Speaking on Sky News, the Chancellor admitted April was a 'challenging month' but said the data was 'perhaps not entirely unexpected' given uncertainty around tariffs. Breaking news. This article is being updated.
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Britain morphing into ‘National Health State', says think tank
Britain is turning into a 'National Health State', a think tank has said after the Chancellor gave the NHS a major funding boost in her spending review. The health service was the big winner of Wednesday's spending review, receiving an extra £29 billion per year for day-to-day spending and more cash for capital investment. Overnight, the Resolution Foundation said Rachel Reeves's announcements had followed a recent trend that saw increases for the NHS come at the expense of other public services. Ruth Curtice, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, said: 'Health accounted for 90% of the extra public service spending, continuing a trend that is seeing the British state morph into a National Health State, with half of public service spending set to be on health by the end of the decade.' Defence was another of Wednesday's winners, Ms Curtice said, receiving a significant increase in capital spending while other departments saw an overall £3.6 billion real-terms cut in investment. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) made similar arguments about 'substantial' investment in the NHS and defence coming at the expense of other departments, although the think tank's director Paul Johnson warned the money may not be enough. He said: 'Aiming to get back to meeting the NHS 18-week target for hospital waiting times within this Parliament is enormously ambitious – an NHS funding settlement below the long-run average might not measure up. 'And on defence, it's entirely possible that an increase in the Nato spending target will mean that maintaining defence spending at 2.6% of GDP no longer cuts the mustard.' Ms Curtice added that low and middle-income families had also done well out of the spending review 'after two rounds of painful tax rises and welfare cuts', with the poorest fifth of families benefiting from an average of £1,700 in extra spending on schools, hospitals and the police. She warned that, without economic growth, another round of tax rises was likely to come in the autumn as the Chancellor seeks to balance the books. She said: 'The extra money in this spending review has already been accounted for in the last forecast. 'But a weaker economic outlook and the unfunded changes to winter fuel payments mean the Chancellor will likely need to look again at tax rises in the autumn.' Speaking after delivering her spending review, Ms Reeves insisted she would not have to raise taxes to cover her spending review. She told GB News: 'Every penny of this is funded through the tax increases and the changes to the fiscal rules that we set out last autumn.' Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
German defence minister visits Ukraine for talks on weapons support
BERLIN (Reuters) -German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has arrived in Kyiv to discuss military support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, the DPA news agency reported on Thursday. Pistorius plans to hold talks with Ukrainian government representatives about further weapons aid from Berlin, according to the report. "We are doing everything we can to support Ukraine so that it can defend itself and get into a position where Russia is prepared to enter into serious negotiations," Pistorius said ahead of his departure. The German defence ministry was not immediately available for comment. Germany is Ukraine's second-biggest military backer after the United States, whose commitment to Kyiv has been called into question, putting pressure on Europe to step up. Russia and Ukraine met for peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month in a renewed push to settle the conflict, which began with Russia's invasion in February 2022. However, fighting has raged on while the two sides disagree over a number of central issues, such as territorial concessions and the prospect of Ukraine's future NATO membership. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has already travelled to Kyiv and hosted President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Berlin since taking office in May, recently gave Ukraine the green light for "long range fire" with weapons supplied by Germany and others, angering Moscow.