Pope calls for 'merciful compassion' for world's poor, victims of tyranny and wars

Pope Leo XIV called Sunday for “merciful compassion” for the world’s poor, victims of tyranny and wars, as he celebrated Mass in a parish church that has special spiritual ties to Leo’s own Augustinian religious order.

- 

Leo is on vacation and resuming the papal tradition of summering at the papal estate of Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, and celebrated Mass in the St. Thomas of Villanova church.

St. Thomas of Villanova was a 16th-century Spanish teacher who was a local and regional superior of the Augustinian order, a mendicant order inspired by the teachings of St. Augustine of Hippo. The saint is the patron and namesake of Leo’s alma mater outside Philadelphia, Villanova University, and is known for his care for the poor and for having given away his wealth to those in need.