While rumours and debates have swirled regarding the future of the traditional Mass under Leo XIV, this week also saw the Pope resume weekly audiences, visit Assisi and have his South America voyage finally confirmed.
If the Herald Dispatch is a reader’s first foray into the world of Vatican news from the past week, then a recap of the past seven days might be useful. Last weekend, Leo XIV sent a message to Cardinal Ernest Simoni, as the 97-year-old cardinal offered Mass in the former Soviet prison camp where he himself had been imprisoned for nearly two decades. “The blood of those who suffered and died among those mountains has watered that land, making it a silent witness to fidelity, courage and hope,” wrote the Pope. During his own years in the prison camp of Spaç, Simoni had said Mass from memory, offering it in secret at the risk of his life.
