Pope Leo XIV is embarking on his first foreign trip. His pilgrimage to Turkey and Lebanon would be delicate under any circumstances but is even more fraught given Mideast tensions and the media glare that will document history's first American pope on the road. Leo is fulfilling a trip Pope Francis had planned to make. In Turkey, he'll mark an important anniversary with the Orthodox church. In Lebanon, he'll try to boost a long-suffering Christian community and country still demanding justice from the 2020 Beirut port blast. Leo, who spent 12 years as the global superior of his Augustinian religious order and two decades as a missionary in Peru, says he loves to travel. In recent weeks he has shown diplomatic dexterity in answering questions on the fly from reporters.

Pope Leo XIV has met with an organization of clergy abuse survivors and advocates for the first time. Participants on Monday said he agreed to maintain a permanent dialogue with them. The Ending Clergy Abuse group is pushing for a zero-tolerance policy for abuse in the Catholic Church. The policy would require the permanent removal of any priest who abuses a child. A co-founder of the group said Leo acknowledged resistance to a universal law but expressed willingness to work with them. Previous popes had met with individual victims but kept activist organizations at a distance.

The Vatican's child protection board says the Catholic Church has a moral duty to help victims of clergy sexual abuse heal. Financial reparations and sanctions for abusers and their enablers are seen as essential. The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors focused on reparations in its second annual report. It highlights the need for monetary settlements to provide victims with therapy and assistance. The report also calls for accountability, transparency, and effective prevention strategies. It emphasizes that the church must listen to victims, apologize, and implement concrete measures to prevent future abuse.

Pope Leo XIV has urged labor union leaders from Chicago to advocate for immigrants and welcome minorities into their ranks. Leo weighed in as the Trump administration crackdown on immigrants intensifies in the pontiff's hometown. The audience on Thursday was scheduled before the deployment of National Guard troops to protect federal property in the Chicago area. The sites include a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building that has been the site of occasional clashes between protesters and federal agents. Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich accompanied the labor leaders. Cupich said that Leo was well aware of the situation on the ground and has made clear that migrants and the poor must be treated in ways that respect their human dignity.

Pope Leo XIV has spoken publicly about his childhood in Chicago for the first time as pontiff. Leo recalled Thursday that from the age of six he used to get up early to serve as an altar boy at the 6:30 a.m. Mass before going to school. Leo shared the memories during an unscripted visit with the children of Vatican employees who are attending the Holy See's summer camp. The visit, which was not announced in advance, took place in the Vatican's main audience hall, which was decked out with huge inflatable bouncy castles.

Pope Leo XIV has affirmed that priests must be celibate. And he has insisted that bishops take "firm and decisive" action to deal with sex abusers. Leo met Wednesday in St. Peter's Basilica with about 400 bishops and cardinals from 38 countries attending this week's special Holy Year celebrations for clergy. He gave them marching orders on what bishops must do to lead their flocks. It's an issue the former Cardinal Robert Prevost would have long pondered given his role as the prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Bishops. In that job from 2023 until his election in May, Prevost vetted bishop nominations for Pope Francis, identifying the type of leader who would further Francis' view of a church where all are welcome and dialogue is the decisive form of governance.

Pope Leo XIV is warning that artificial intelligence could negatively impact the intellectual, neurological and spiritual development of young people. History's first American pope sent a message Friday to a conference of AI and ethics, part of which was taking place in the Vatican. In the message, Leo said any further development of AI must be evaluated according to the "superior ethical criterion" of the need to safeguard the dignity of each human being. Leo has identified AI as one of the most critical matters facing humanity, saying it poses challenges to defending human dignity, justice and labor.

Pope Leo XIV has met with members of the Vatican's child protection advisory commission for the first time amid questions about his past handling of abuse and demands from survivors that he enact a true zero tolerance for abuse policy across the Catholic Church. The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is made up of religious and lay experts in child protection, as well as abuse survivors. The commission called the hourlong audience a "significant moment of reflection, dialogue, and renewal of the church's unwavering commitment to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable people." The Vatican did not provide the text of Leo's remarks or make the audio of the audience available to reporters.

Pope Leo XIV has affirmed core Catholic teaching on marriage and the unborn in his first meeting with the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See. He said Friday the family is founded on the "stable union between a man and a woman" and that the unborn and elderly enjoy dignity as God's creatures. Leo also called for reviving multilateral diplomacy and promoting dialogue between religions in the search for peace. The encounter with the Vatican diplomatic corps is one of the protocol requirements after a conclave, allowing a new pope to greet representatives of world governments ahead of his formal installation Mass this Sunday.