The first American pontiff in the 2,000-year history of the Roman Catholic Church offers a simple vision for the future: build bridges and receive each other with open arms.
It’s a message grown from the roots of 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost’s consecration to the Order of St. Augustine, a 4th century bishop revered for his blend of contemplative prayer and public ministry.
And now, as Pope Leo XIV, the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics – and beyond – wonder how the Chicago native turned Peruvian bishop will navigate the ever-blurring line between secular politics and doctrinal authenticity.
His first remarks from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome favored the latter. He opened his brief and emotional speech with the first words of the “risen Christ, the good shepherd who gave his life for the flock of God.”
“Peace be with you,” he said. “I, too, would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts, to reach your families and all people, wherever they are; and all the peoples, and all the earth: Peace be with you.”
Like Pope Francis before him, Prevost values a synodal church in which the ordained lead with humility and weigh the needs of its members equally, as opposed to two millennia of hierarchical structure based in scripture and tradition.
This viewpoint drew sharp criticism and dented Francis’ legacy. The former pontiff’s penchant for choosing political sides that many conservative critics viewed as borderline Marxist drove partisan divisions deeper.
Coupled with his “radical” commitment to synodality, many argued that Francis led the church astray by pushing progressive views on immigration, LGBT inclusion, climate change and anti-capitalism.
It was Francis himself who tapped Prevost to serve as Bishop of Chiclayo, in northwestern Peru, and a cardinal just last year. He also ascended to an influential role in the Holy See: running the Dicastery of Bishops, which oversees the selection and management of bishops worldwide.
Prevost’s harshest critics believe his administrative oversight is lacking. In March, the Survivors Network of Abused by Priests said that he’d failed to investigate sexual misconduct claims against two priests serving in the Diocese of Chiclayo.
The network sent a letter to Prevost on Thursday asking him to hold disgraced priests accountable.
“While the priest and other offenders may have stolen our bodies, it is the cardinals and bishops of the church, along with three successive popes before you, who have stolen our voices,” the network wrote. “Imagine our heartbreaking disappointment and despair if we discover that this includes you.”
Vatican observers note that Prevost, however, favors more conservative social and political values, though he remains “open to dialogue.”
He said as much himself on Thursday.
“God loves us, all of us, evil will not prevail. We are all in the hands of God,” Pope Leo XIV said. “Without fear, united, hand in hand with God and among ourselves, we will go forward. We are disciples of Christ, Christ goes before us, and the world needs His light. Humanity needs Him like a bridge to reach God and his love. You help us to build bridges with dialogue and encounter so we can all be one people always in peace.”
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With 30 nations enrolled, the UN and Gates Foundation’s digital ID campaign signals accelerating efforts to create a global digital infrastructure that centralizes identity and data.
The 50-in-5 campaign to accelerate digital ID, fast payment systems, and data exchanges in 50 countries by 2028 reaches a 30 country milestone.
DPI is a civic technology stack consisting of three major components: digital ID, fast payment systems, and massive data sharing between public and private entities.
30 countries have now joined the UN/Gates 50-in-5 DPI campaign to rollout Digital ID, Fast Payment Systems & Massive Data Exchanges between public & private entities https://t.co/dOYCfQHObtpic.twitter.com/yP6V7zxnUD
50-in-5 started with 11 first-mover countries, and with the count now at 30 the participating countries include:
Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Guatemala, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Malawi, Mexico, Moldova, Nigeria, Norway, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, South Sudan, Somalia, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Zambia.
The 50-in-5 campaign celebrated its 30-country milestone during a sideline event at the U.N. General Assembly in New York on September 22.
There, government officials, like Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, praised the work of 50-in-5 while the ministers of digital economy from Nigeria and Togo called for an interoperable digital identity system for the entire African continent.
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Bosun Tijani said that each country could build their own digital identity scheme, but that they should all be interoperable with one another – demonstrating both the digital ID and data sharing as good potential use cases for DPI.
“Nations want to maintain their own ID databases, but I think we have a unique opportunity to apply strong data exchange system interoperability,” said Tijani.
“I think a digital identity system that can go with you wherever you are going on the African continent would be a fantastic example,” he added.
Nigeria's minister of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy Bosun Tijani calls for Digital ID to be interoperable across all Africa: "A digital identity system that can go with you wherever you go on the African continent will be fantastic." 50-in-5 https://t.co/dOYCfQHObtpic.twitter.com/KB380uQrmd
In March 2025, the Nigerian government published a framework to develop national Digital Public Infrastructure that would leverage digital ID to track and trace “key life events” of every citizen from the cradle to the grave.
“Throughout a citizen’s life, from birth to old age, there are marked moments of significant life events requiring support or service from the government,” the paper begins.
“Some of these services include registration of births, antenatal healthcare, vaccines, school enrollment, scholarships, health insurance for business registrations, filing of taxes, etc.”
These “life events” require every citizen to have a digital ID:
The Federal Government of Nigeria is on a mission to appropriately deploy digital technology to support Nigerians through these significant and profound moments so they can integrate into the state and enjoy the benefits of citizenhood from cradle to old age.
Back at the 50-in-5 milestone event, Togo’s Minister of Digital Economy and Transformation Cina Lawson called for a free, cross-border, interoperable digital ID powered by the Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP).
MOSIP is a Gates-funded platform that “helps govts & other user organizations implement a digital, foundational identity system.”
Said Lawson, “We’ve initiated conversations with our neighbors, namely Benin, to have interoperability of our ID systems, but also Burkina Faso and other countries such as Senegal, because we’re using MOSIP platform, so what we do is that we host meetings of countries that are interested the platform, so that we could see how we [are] operating it and so on.”
“Our ID system, using the MOSIP platform, is really the ID that the majority of the Togolese will have because first of all it’s free, it doesn’t require to show proof of citizenship, and so on, so that is the ID card of the poorest of the Togolese,” she added.
Togo’s Minister of Digital Economy & Transformation Cina Lawson calls for free, cross-border, interoperable Digital ID using Gates-funded MOSIP platform. UN/Gates 50-in-5 event https://t.co/dOYCfQHObtpic.twitter.com/wPC4vpms9l
Lawson also spoke at the 50-in-5 launch event in November 2023, where she explained that Togo’s DPI journey began with the arrival of COVID-19.
First, the government set up a digital payments system within 10 days.
“We deployed it, and we were able to pay out 25 percent of all Togolese adults, and we distributed $34 million that the most vulnerable Togolese received directly through their mobile phones,” said Lawson.
Then, came vaccine passports.
“We created a digital COVID certificate. All of a sudden, the fight against the pandemic became really about using digital tools to be more effective,” she added at the time.
Today, Togo became the first sub-Saharan African country whose digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate is recognized by the @eu_commission. Travelers with a Togolese certificate will be able to validly present it in the EU & vice versa. @AmbUETogo@KoenDoenspic.twitter.com/Uy9mRF8bkU
To get an idea where DPI is heading, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Myhailo Fedorov gave a pre-recorded speech for the 50-in-5 milestone event, saying that his country was successful in building “the state in a smartphone” via the DIIA app, which had reached 23 million users.
“For every citizen, government should be simple, convenient, nearly invisible, and accessible in just a few clicks,” said Fedorov.
“Today, 23 million people use the DIIA app […] Since the launch of DIIA in 2020, Ukrainians and the state have saved about $4.5 billion to date.”
“This is the combined anti-corruption and economic effect of digitalizing services.”
“For us, it’s powerful proof of DIIA’s efficiency and the real impact of building a digital state,” he added.
Ukraine Deputy PM Mykhailo Fedorov praises DIIA Digital ID app, with 23M users, for being a "STATE IN A SMARTPHONE" & "BUILDING AN (INVISIBLE) DIGITAL STATE." An "ANTI-CORRUPTION/ECONOMIC EFFECT OF DIGITALIZING SERVICES." Includes "ONLINE MARRIAGE" 50-in-5 https://t.co/dOYCfQHObtpic.twitter.com/MUFwbW4Yyy
Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Technology Governance Summit on April 7, 2021, Fedorov told the panelists of the “Scaling Up Digital Identity Systems” session, that it was Ukraine’s goal to “enable all life situations with this digital ID.”
“The pandemic has accelerated our progress […] People have no choice but to trust technology,” Fedorov said at the time.
“We have to make a product that is so convenient that a person will be able to disrupt their stereotypes, to break through from their fears, and start using a government-made application,” he added.
The 50-in-5 campaign is a collaboration between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the United Nations Development Program, the Digital Public Goods Alliance, the Center for Digital Public Infrastructure, and Co-Develop; with support from GovStack, the Inter-American Development Bank, and UNICEF.
The Digital Public Goods Alliance lists both the Gates and Rockefeller foundations in its roadmap showcasing “activities that advance digital public goods,” along with other organizations and several governments.
All 20 surviving Israeli hostages were freed by Hamas on Monday under President Trump’s peace plan, returning to Israel after more than two years in captivity. The exchange, part of Trump’s 20-point peace plan, marks the official end of the Gaza war.
Key Details:
The first seven hostages were released around 2:30 a.m. ET Monday, with the remaining 13 freed hours later. All 20 were reportedly able to walk to Red Cross vehicles without assistance.
Families were reunited through emotional video calls after 738 days apart. Among those freed were twin brothers Gali and Ziv Berman, who had been separated in captivity.
The bodies of 28 deceased hostages are expected to be transferred to Israel in the coming days, while nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners will be released as part of the exchange.
Watch the moments that Rom Broslavski, Nimrod Cohen, and Eitan Horn were welcomed back home into Israel by the IDF 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/panFrDZfoI
All surviving Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza were released Monday following the implementation of President Donald Trump’s cease-fire agreement — a sweeping deal that has brought an end to the war and set in motion plans for Hamas’ disarmament.
The International Committee of the Red Cross oversaw the transfer of all 20 living hostages, who emerged from Gaza under their own power and were handed over to Israeli forces before being transported to hospitals for medical evaluation. Emotional scenes followed as families connected with their loved ones for the first time in more than two years. In one particularly poignant moment, twin brothers Gali and Ziv Berman — who had been held separately since October 2023 — embraced in a tearful reunion.
The exchange also includes the return of 28 bodies still held by Hamas. Their repatriation will take place in stages throughout the week, according to Israeli officials. The release fulfills a major milestone in Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, which was brokered with the support of Egypt, Qatar, and Jordan. The agreement requires Hamas to surrender its remaining weapons, disband its militant wings, and cede control of Gaza to an international transitional authority.
The hostage crisis began during the October 7, 2023, terror attacks on southern Israel, when Hamas militants stormed across the border, kidnapping more than 250 civilians. Survivors of earlier exchanges described brutal conditions in captivity, including torture, starvation, and psychological abuse. Some hostages were executed when Israeli troops approached Hamas strongholds, including six victims shot at point-blank range last September.
The war left much of Gaza in ruins, with Israeli operations dismantling Hamas’s tunnel networks and command infrastructure. According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 67,000 Palestinians were killed — a figure that does not distinguish between militants and civilians.
Trump’s cease-fire framework, announced last week, called for a complete Israeli withdrawal from most of Gaza, an end to rocket fire, and an international effort to oversee the territory’s reconstruction. In return, Israel secured the unconditional release of all living hostages and the recovery of the dead. The plan’s next phase will focus on humanitarian coordination, economic stabilization, and the eventual formation of a demilitarized Palestinian administration.
For the families of those held captive, it marks the end of a long nightmare — and, as many said Monday, the start of long-awaited healing.
