Pope Leo XIV marked his 71st birthday with his first visit as pope to the Vatican Apostolic Library, while debates over artificial intelligence and the dignity of work, the witness of modern Christian martyrs, and new statistics on the Traditional Latin Mass also made Vatican headlines this week.

Pope Leo XIV Celebrates 71st Birthday at Vatican Apostolic Library

Pope Leo XIV celebrated his 71st birthday on Sept. 14 by inaugurating a new exhibition at the Vatican Apostolic Library titled “AQVA. Catastrophe and Wonder.”

The exhibition explores water as both a source of life and a force capable of destruction and is the first in a new cycle of exhibitions under the theme “Catastrophe and Wonder.”

The visit was Pope Leo’s first to the Apostolic Library since his election in May 2025. In an unscripted remark, the Pope noted a personal connection to the institution: his mother was a librarian.

During his address, Pope Leo described the Apostolic Library as a “heart,” comparing its mission to the two movements of a heartbeat: one toward the center and the other toward the periphery.

The Pope stressed both the importance of preserving the Library’s extraordinary cultural patrimony and its mission of making knowledge available to the wider world through scholarship, dialogue and digital access.

He also announced that he had given instructions to address the need for additional space for the Vatican Apostolic Library and Apostolic Archives.

Labor and Church Leaders Call for Workers to Have a Voice on AI

As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes the workplace, labor and Church leaders meeting in Rome called for workers to have a direct voice in how the technology is introduced and used.

The issue was discussed during the Fourth Fratelli Tutti Synodal Meeting, held in Rome from Sept. 10–12 and focused on dialogue between the Global North and South on social and environmental questions.

At a Vatican press conference, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler warned against allowing consequential decisions about workers to be made without their participation.

“Right now, we have CEOs who want to play God to make decisions that affect hundreds of millions of working people without our input and consent,” Shuler said.

Participants, including Bishop Daniel Flores, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Cardinal Jaime Spengler, emphasized collective bargaining, social dialogue and human oversight as safeguards for human dignity as AI is deployed in the workplace.

The discussion also drew parallels with Pope Leo XIII’s landmark 1891 social encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed the rights and dignity of workers amid the upheavals of the Industrial Revolution.

Cardinal Michael Czerny Named First Recipient of Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal

Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., has been named the inaugural recipient of the Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal, a new distinction established by Villanova University, Pope Leo’s alma mater.

The award recognizes global leadership at the intersection of sustainability, ethics and integral human development.

Cardinal Czerny, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, has spent decades working on issues including social justice, migration, human rights and care for creation.

Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to personally confer the medal on Cardinal Czerny on Oct. 13 at Borgo Laudato Si’ in the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo during Villanova University’s 2026 International Sustainability Conference.

Speaking about emerging environmental challenges, Cardinal Czerny has also raised questions about the ecological impact of the rapidly expanding infrastructure needed to support artificial intelligence, including data centers, and the effects such projects can have on local communities.

The Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal will be awarded every two years as part of Villanova’s international sustainability conference.

Pope Leo XIV Honors the Church’s Modern Witnesses to the Faith

Pope Leo XIV also highlighted the witness of Christians who have given their lives for the Gospel in the 21st century.

Speaking to participants in the conference “The 21st century: a new time of martyrs?”, organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and the Commission for New Martyrs – Witnesses to the Faith, the Pope described their evangelizing strength as one of the Church’s greatest resources for proclaiming the Gospel today.

The conference examined contemporary Christian witnesses from around the world, including men and women who died while defending justice, truth, peace and human dignity.

Pope Leo emphasized that these witnesses do not simply present an ideology. Instead, they demonstrate “a faith lived out in everyday life.”

In societies often marked by religious indifference, the Pope said, “holiness next door” and quiet heroism can become powerful arguments capable of reaching “even the most sceptical.”

The Commission for New Martyrs – Witnesses to the Faith was established by Pope Francis in 2023 to preserve the stories of Christians who lost their lives for Christ, including those whose cases may not fall within the canonical definition of martyrdom used in causes for beatification and canonization.

Vatican Traditional Latin Mass Permissions Remain Steady

Newly published Vatican statistics also show that permissions for celebrations according to the 1962 Roman Missal in parish churches remained steady during the transition between Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV.

According to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments’ 2025 Summarium Decretorum, 34 dioceses received such decrees during the year, the same number recorded in 2024.

Of the 34 decrees, 24 concerned dioceses in the United States.

Seven were issued during the pontificate of Pope Francis, while 27 were issued after Pope Leo XIV’s election on May 8, 2025. Twenty-nine of the decrees renewed existing permissions for an additional two years.

The figures provide a glimpse into the Holy See’s continued case-by-case implementation of Traditionis Custodes, Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio regulating celebrations according to the 1962 Roman Missal.