Courtney Mares

Courtney Mares

Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees. She is the author of “Blessed Carlo Acutis: A Saint in Sneakers” (Ignatius, 2023), https://ignatius.com/carlo-acutis-sscap/.

Articles by Courtney Mares

Singer Michael Bublé called meeting Pope Leo XIV on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, “one of the greatest moments of my life,” adding that as he prepares to headline the Vatican’s annual Christmas concert for the poor, he hopes his example will encourage more people to speak openly about their faith. Credit: Vatican Media

Michael Bublé calls meeting Pope Leo XIV ‘one of the greatest moments of my life’

Dec 5, 2025 / 15:08 pm

Michael Bublé called meeting Pope Leo XIV on Friday “one of the greatest moments of my life” as he prepares to headline the Vatican’s Christmas concert for the poor.

Bishop Mario Avilés. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Brownsville

Pope Leo appoints Mexican-born Oratorian as bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas

Dec 1, 2025 / 13:44 pm

Pope Leo XIV on Monday appointed Bishop Mario Avilés as the new bishop of Corpus Christi, selecting the Mexican-born Oratorian to lead the south Texas diocese.

Pope Leo XIV receives a Thanksgiving pie on board the papal flight to Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. Credit: Photo courtesy of Claudio Lavanga

Pies and a baseball bat: The gifts Pope Leo XIV received on the papal flight to Turkey

Nov 27, 2025 / 09:25 am

“To the Americans here, happy Thanksgiving!” Leo said as he greeted about 80 journalists aboard the chartered ITA Airways flight to Ankara on Thursday morning.

A cross stands in Montse Sole Historical Park in memorial of the victims of the massacres carried out there by Nazis in 1944. Credit: Francesco de Marco/Shutterstock

Pope Leo XIV recognizes martyrdom of 2 priests killed by Nazis

Nov 21, 2025 / 15:50 pm

The killings marked the first day of what is now known as the Marzabotto Massacre, a large civilian massacre in which Waffen-SS units murdered at least 770 civilians.

Pope Leo XIV addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Sunday Angelus on Nov. 9, 2025, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV warns AI could fuel ‘antihuman ideologies’ in medicine

Nov 10, 2025 / 16:06 pm

Pope Leo XIV warned Monday that artificial intelligence could exacerbate “antihuman ideologies” in medicine as doctors and theologians raise alarms about AI in health care.

Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025 Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Pope Leo XIV calls on Catholics to lead in ethical AI development

Nov 7, 2025 / 14:41 pm

In a message to the Builders AI Forum at the Vatican in Rome, Pope Leo said the development of AI “cannot be confined to research labs or investment portfolios.”

Pope Leo XIV prays during a Mass on Oct. 27, 2025, marking both the start of the academic year at Rome’s pontifical universities and the opening day of the Jubilee of the World of Education. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Pope Leo XIV to offer All Souls’ Day Mass at Rome’s largest cemetery

Oct 30, 2025 / 13:05 pm

The Vatican announced that Pope Leo XIV will offer Mass at Campo Verano Cemetery near the Basilica of St. Lawrence Outside the Walls on Sunday, Nov. 2, at 4 p.m.

Kao Chih Hao, a recent Taiwanese convert to Catholicism, at Holy Rosary Parish in Taipei, Taiwan, in October 2025. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Meet St. John Henry Newman’s biggest fan in Taiwan

Oct 30, 2025 / 07:00 am

St. John Henry Newman has inspired many “Newman converts,” including a 24-year-old Taiwanese man who is an ardent devotee of the English saint.

Pope Leo XIV arrives in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience on Oct. 29, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN News

Pope Leo XIV: ‘The Church does not tolerate antisemitism’

Oct 29, 2025 / 08:55 am

Pope Leo XIV condemned antisemitism during his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 29 and also prayed for those affected by Hurricane Melissa.

Pope Leo XIV addresses the audience in his homily at a Mass on Oct. 27, 2025, marking both the start of the academic year at Rome’s pontifical universities and the opening day of the Jubilee of the World of Education. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Pope Leo XIV urges university students to feed ‘hunger for truth and meaning’

Oct 27, 2025 / 14:53 pm

Pope Leo XIV urged university students to feed their “hunger for truth and meaning,” lamenting that modern education often loses sight of the “big picture.”

Pope Leo XIV and King Charles III walk together in the Sistine Chapel during a historic meeting that included a prayer service at the Vatican, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV and King Charles III make history with first joint prayer since Reformation

Oct 23, 2025 / 09:34 am

History was made in the Sistine Chapel on Thursday as Pope Leo XIV and King Charles III prayed side by side, the first such meeting since the Protestant Reformation.

A Venezuelan priest who concelebrated the canonization Mass with Pope Leo XIV celebrates his country’s first saints in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 19, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN

Pope Leo XIV canonizes 7 new saints, including first from Venezuela and Papua New Guinea

Oct 19, 2025 / 08:15 am

Pope Leo XIV declared seven new saints before an estimated 70,000 people in St. Peter’s Square at the canonization Mass on Oct. 19.

Pope Leo XIV hugs a man during the Jubilee of Roma, Sinti, and Travelers on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV hails Roma, Sinti, and Travelers’ faith amid marginalization

Oct 18, 2025 / 13:10 pm

About 4,000 pilgrims from more than 70 countries in Europe and beyond took part in the Vatican’s Jubilee of Roma, Sinti, and Travelers.

Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin. Credit: Public domain

Pope Leo XIV says first canonized couple give example of ‘marriage as a path to holiness’

Oct 18, 2025 / 10:00 am

In a message marking the 10th anniversary of the canonization of St. Louis and Zélie Martin on Oct. 18, Pope Leo XIV said their lives show “marriage as a path to holiness.”

Pope Leo XIV will canonize seven new saints on Sunday including an Italian lawyer who renounced Satanism and became “an apostle of the Rosary,” a martyred Armenian archbishop, and a Venezuelan considered the “doctor of the poor.” Banners of the new saints are on display on St. Peter's Basilica for all to see in St. Peter's Square. Credit: Courtney Mares / CNA

Meet the 7 saints Pope Leo XIV will canonize on Oct. 19

Oct 18, 2025 / 06:00 am

Pope Leo XIV will canonize seven new saints on Sunday, Oct. 19.

Britain’s King Charles III stands with Britain’s Princess Michael of Kent (left); Britain’s Prince Michael of Kent (second left); Britain’s Lord Frederick Windsor; Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales; Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales; Britain’s Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh; and Britain’s Princess Anne, Princess Royal, following a Requiem Mass for the late Katharine, Duchess of Kent, at Westminster Cathedral in London on Sept. 16, 2025. Credit: JORDAN PETTITT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

King Charles and Pope Leo XIV to pray together in historic ecumenical moment at Vatican

Oct 17, 2025 / 09:58 am

King Charles III will join in ecumenical prayer presided over by Pope Leo XIV for the care of creation inside the Sistine Chapel on Oct. 23.

The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Library. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Vatican and other Catholic libraries turn to AI and robotics to digitize collections

Oct 6, 2025 / 06:00 am

As the Vatican Apostolic Library digitizes some of its historic collection, other historic Catholic institutions in Rome are going even more high tech.

Catherine Miles-Flynn, who has served as director of Christian formation for the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia for twenty years, spoke at an EWTN news conference on Sept. 26, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN

American mother of 8 to receive catechist ministry from Pope Leo XIV

Sep 26, 2025 / 16:58 pm

An American mother of eight who has spent nearly 30 years as a catechist in the Arabian Peninsula will receive the ministry of catechist from Pope Leo XIV.

Archbishop Filippo Iannone speaks at a press conference presenting the reform of canon law on June 1, 2021. Pope Leo XIV on Sept. 26, 2025, appointed Iannone as prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Bishops, a department the pope himself once led. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Pope Leo XIV names first head of major Vatican department

Sep 26, 2025 / 07:00 am

Pope Leo XIV made his first appointment of a head of a major Vatican office since his election: Archbishop Filippo Iannone as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.

Taiwanese Catholic artist Hsieh Sheng-Min drew inspiration from traditional Chinese woodblock printing to create this depiction of the Sermon on the Mount, which includes a large Chinese character of the word “blessing” at its center. Credit: Embassy of the Republic of China to the Holy See

Catholic artist’s Taiwanese-inspired Christian art on display near the Vatican

Sep 23, 2025 / 14:42 pm

Among the works on display in a new art exhibition by Catholic artist Hsieh Sheng-Min near the Vatican is a Chinese-style depiction of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.