The pontiff met with several American bishops from Oct. 1–5, and three U.S. cardinals are set to be in Rome for a major fall conference on the family.
Pope Leo XIV met on Monday at the Vatican with several prominent U.S. bishops and the leadership of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
From Oct. 1–5, the U.S.-born pontiff held private audiences with six U.S. bishops and is scheduled to meet with three U.S. cardinals in a Vatican conference marking the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical Amoris Laetitia, to be held from Oct. 7–14.
On Oct. 5, Leo met separately with four U.S. bishops, including the USCCB president, Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, and the vice president, Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas. They will represent the USCCB at the meeting “Ten Years After Amoris Lætitia: Proclaiming the Gospel with Families Today.”
Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, met with Leo on Oct. 1. The evangelist and founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries also served as a keynote speaker at a conference at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See in Rome on Sept. 30, where he described Catholicism as deeply aligned with American ideals. He also ordained 18 deacons for the Pontifical North American College at St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 1, the same day as his private audience with the pontiff.
Three U.S. cardinals will also join Coakley and Flores on the U.S. delegation. Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago, Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C., and Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, will be present at the meeting as the only three U.S. cardinals who are diocesan bishops.
Leo XIV also met with Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria, Illinois, 11 days after the bishop participated in the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, also of Peoria. Tylka also announced the first-ever parish named after Sheen in Peoria on Sept. 26.
Tylka said he presented the pope with a relic of Sheen.
“To place a relic of this son of the Diocese of Peoria into the hands of the first American pope, both of whom are from Illinois, was an especially moving moment. My hope is that this relic will serve as a reminder of who Fulton Sheen was and of the mission he embraced so completely: to bring Jesus Christ to the world,” Tylka said in a statement.
The pope also met with Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle and Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami. As required by canon law, Wenski submitted his resignation to the pope upon reaching his 75th birthday in October 2025.
This story was updated at 1:43 p.m. ET on Oct. 5, 2026, to include a statement from Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria, Illinois.
This article was originally published by EWTN News English.
