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Different Holy Fathers have used the Wednesday Angelus address as an opportunity to present their thoughts on significant topics. Pope St. John Paul II used the audiences as an opportunity to develop his now famous series on the Theology of the Body. Pope Benedict XVI used the Wednesday audience as a time to talk about the Apostles, the Fathers of the Church, Doctors of the Church, important Women in Church history. I have regularly assigned Benedict’s series on the Fathers and Doctors of the Church in my class on Patristics to those who are studying for the diaconate. I have been very impressed with how Pope Leo XIV is using his Wednesday talk to meet a real pastoral need as the years since the Vatican Council have increased and knowledge of what was taught in the various documents of Vatican II has diminished.

Pope Leo presided over Mass on August 29, 2026, at the Church of Maria Santissima del Lago in Castel Gandolfo—near his summer residence and place where he goes regularly on Tuesday (his day off). In his homily on that day, the Holy Father reflected on the beauty of “simple gestures” of devotion. He stressed that believing in God can become a pathway toward peace in a world that dismisses forgiveness as being naïve.