Hannah Brockhaus

Hannah Brockhaus

Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency’s senior Vatican correspondent. After growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, she earned a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri. In 2016, she moved to Rome, Italy, where in her spare time she enjoys reading and going on adventures with her husband and son.

Articles by Hannah Brockhaus

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn (left) shakes hands with now Archbishop-elect of Vienna Josef Grünwidl at the time of his appointment as apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Vienna on Jan. 22, 2025. Credit: Archdiocese of Vienna/Stephan Schönlaub

Pope Leo XIV appoints Cardinal Schönborn’s successor to lead the Archdiocese of Vienna

Oct 17, 2025 / 06:02 am

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Father Josef Grünwidl to succeed Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, OP, as head of the Archdiocese of Vienna, Austria.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin speaks at an Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) press conference in Rome on Sept 28, 2017. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Catholic nonprofit’s global religious freedom report to be released Oct. 21

Oct 16, 2025 / 07:00 am

International Catholic nonprofit Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will release its religious freedom report on Oct. 21 in Rome.

Father Marko Rupnik, SJ, in an interview with EWTN in 2020. Credit: EWTN

Vatican appoints judges to decide Rupnik sexual abuse case

Oct 13, 2025 / 12:23 pm

The judges, appointed Oct. 9, do not hold any position in the Roman Curia to ensure their autonomy and independence in the penal judicial procedure.

Pope Leo XIV meets with Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich at the Vatican on Oct. 9, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV addresses immigration policies in meeting with Chicago labor leaders

Oct 9, 2025 / 12:25 pm

Pope Leo XIV addressed immigration and respect for vulnerable migrants in a meeting with Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago and labor leaders at the Vatican. 

Pope Leo XIV waves from the popemobile during an audience in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 4, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV commends Catholic Charities USA’s ministry to migrants, refugees

Oct 9, 2025 / 09:12 am

Pope Leo XIV sent a letter commending Catholic Charities USA for being “agents of hope” to vulnerable people, especially migrants and refugees.

Pope Leo XIV blesses pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square during an audience for the Jubilee of Hope on Oct. 4, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV, in his first major document, says the poor evangelize us

Oct 9, 2025 / 06:01 am

Pope Leo XIV, in first apostolic exhortation, “Dilexi Te,” writes that the Church, if it wants to belong to Christ, must give the poor a privileged place.

Pope Leo XIV answers questions from the media outside Castel Gandolfo in Italy on Oct. 7, 2025. Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/CNA

UPDATE: Pope Leo XIV recalls Palestinians killed since Oct. 7 Hamas attack

Oct 7, 2025 / 11:58 am

Addressing a group of journalists just outside his Castel Gandolfo residence, Villa Barberini, on Oct. 7, the pope said: “Two years ago it was a terroristic attack.”

Pope Leo XIV shakes hands with Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly during an audience with Knights of Columbus leadership at the Vatican on Oct. 6, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo thanks Knights of Columbus for generosity to Vatican, service to communities

Oct 6, 2025 / 12:24 pm

Pope Leo XIV also expressed his “profound gratitude” for the Knights of Columbus’ funding of restorations in St. Peter’s Basilica completed last year.

Pope Leo XIV waves from the popemobile at the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square for Mass on Pentecost Sunday on June 8, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Pope Leo XIV allows outside banks to manage Holy See investments

Oct 6, 2025 / 09:35 am

Pope Leo XIV issued “Coniuncta Cura” to allow the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See to use banks outside the Vatican for investments.

Swiss Guards model the new military dress uniform in a courtyard of the Swiss Guards’ Vatican barracks during an Oct. 2, 2025, presentation. The uniform, an updated version of a historic uniform used from the late 1800s to 1976, will be used at important events. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Swiss Guards, protectors of the pope, don new uniforms

Oct 3, 2025 / 10:00 am

The 135 Swiss Guards will don the new uniforms for the first time at a dinner the night before the Oct. 4 ceremony to swear in this year’s recruits.

Pope Leo XIV and actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger address the opening day of the “Raising Hope for Climate Justice” conference held at a center near the papal villa of Castel Gandolfo on Oct. 1, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Pope Leo XIV, Arnold Schwarzenegger promote care for the earth at climate conference

Oct 1, 2025 / 14:05 pm

“We are one family, with one Father, who makes the sun to rise and sends rain on everyone,” Pope Leo said Oct. 1 at a conference center in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass at the Parish Church of St. Anne in the Vatican on Sept. 21, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV restores custom of Christmas Day Mass

Sep 30, 2025 / 12:26 pm

The Vatican has announced Pope Leo’s Mass schedule for Nov. 1 through the end of the Christmas season in January 2026.

Pope Leo XIV waves to pilgrims gathered for the Mass for the Jubilee of Catechists on Sept. 28, 2025, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

Catholics must respond to AI threat to authentic, human communication, Vatican says

Sep 29, 2025 / 10:50 am

The pope’s choice of theme for the 60th World Day of Social Communications 2026, published Monday, is “Preserving Human Voices and Faces.”

AI-generated photographs of Pope Leo XIV appearing to fall down a flight of stairs outside St. Peter’s Basilica circulated on the internet in June. Credit: CNA/Screenshot

Vatican struggles against spread of ‘deepfake’ images of Pope Leo XIV

Sep 25, 2025 / 09:57 am

The Vatican communications team said it has reported hundreds of accounts, mostly on YouTube, posting deepfakes of Pope Leo XIV.

A 13th-century fresco of St. Francis of Assisi by the Florentine painter Cimabue, one of the earliest depictions of the saint, is located in the lower church of the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Assisi, Italy.  Credit: Jacob Stein/Crux Stationalis

Italy moves to make feast of St. Francis of Assisi a national holiday

Sep 24, 2025 / 13:02 pm

The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Italy’s Parliament, voted to pass the bill on Sept. 23, with 247 votes in favor of the proposal and two against.

Bishop James Checchio of Metuchen, New Jersey, on Sept. 24, 2025, was named coadjutor bishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Credit: Leo Song, Seminarian, Pontifical North American College

Bishop Checchio to join troubled Archdiocese of New Orleans as coadjutor

Sep 24, 2025 / 06:25 am

Bishop James Checchio of Metuchen, New Jersey, will assist Archbishop Gregory Aymond in the leadership of over half a million Catholics in New Orleans.

Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. shares his perspective on how a legal system can provide for mercy during a conversation with Monsignor Laurence Spiteri (left) at the Vatican’s judicial headquarters on Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/CNA

Justice Alito speaks at the Vatican about justice and mercy

Sep 21, 2025 / 14:24 pm

United States Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr. spoke about the role that mercy can play in the legal system during an event at the Vatican.

Pope Leo XIV waves to those gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray the Angelus and listen to his Sunday message on Sept. 21, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV on Palestinians: ‘Those who truly love them work for peace’

Sep 21, 2025 / 10:34 am

Pope Leo XIV expressed his closeness to those living in the Gaza Strip during his weekly Angelus message on Sept. 21.

Then-Archbishop Van Thuan meets St. Teresa of Calcutta during her first visit to Vietnam as mother superior of the Missionaries in Charity in 1991. Credit: Photo courtesy of Elisabeth Nguyen

Vatican urges faithful to revive efforts for sainthood cause of Cardinal Van Thuan

Sep 21, 2025 / 06:00 am

The beatification cause of Venerable Francis-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan is being revived 50 years after he was imprisoned by the communists in Vietnam.

Pope Leo XIV addresses thousands of Church and civil lawyers, judges, and others who work in the legal environment during the Jubilee of Workers of Justice, part of the yearlong Jubilee of Hope, in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

Forgiveness is fundamental to justice, Pope Leo XIV tells legal professionals at jubilee

Sep 20, 2025 / 10:30 am

Pope Leo XIV addressed thousands of lawyers, judges, and other legal professionals gathered in Rome for the Jubilee of Workers of Justice on Saturday.