Pope Leo XIV, a tennis enthusiast, met with top-ranked player Jannik Sinner at the Vatican, seemingly burying the hatchet after a playful jab about Sinner's name. Sinner gifted the Pope a racket and jokingly suggested a match.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Monday called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the “precious gift of free speech and the press” in an audience with some of the 6,000 journalists who descended on Rome to cover his election as the first American pontiff.

Pope Leo is just beginning his papacy. The 69-year-old American was elected only last week, but already there are signs regarding the direction he wants the Catholic Church to take. While experts and even his

Vice President JD Vance will attend the inaugural mass of Pope Leo XIV following the pontiff’s historic election as the first American leader of the Roman Catholic Church.