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The 2026 Elections are upon us, and news was released at the end of the week that Pope Leo XIV became the first pope to vote in an election in the United States. Multiple reports stated that he received an absentee ballot and cast his vote in elections in his native state of Illinois. So if the pope can vote from 5000 miles away, those of us stateside have no excuse to not vote!  Later this week, Pope Leo XIV embarks on an 11-day pilgrimage voyage to South America. His itinerary includes stops in Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. His time in Peru will likely be the most emotional since he served as a missionary in this country and as Archbishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023. On October 28, Poste Vaticane issued a press release illustrating the special postmarks being used to commemorate the visits of the pope during his trip. Click on this COMMUNICATI LINK to view the special postmarks. But before leaving Rome, this weekend the pope had a rooting interest in the opening of the 2026-2027 collegiate basketball season. For the first time in its history, the NCAA began a season outside the United States with the "Eternal City Tip-Off", with two games yesterday in Rome featuring the men's and women's teams from Villanova University (the pope's alma mater) and the University of Notre Dame. The weekend of activities included welcome receptions for the teams and their fans on Friday and a private Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica on Saturday morning. Following the Mass, Pope Leo met with the teams and their supporters in a packed Pope Paul VI Audience Hall. The men's and women's games took place on Sunday afternoon and, for the record, the pope went 0-for-2, with Notre Dame winning both the men's game (74-70) and women's game (99-75).  This past Thursday, October 29, the Governate of Vatican City, in cooperation with German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz, opened an exhibition tracing the history of the papal automobiles. On Wednesday, Pope Leo met with executives from Mercedes in a room adjacent to Paul VI Audience Hall to thank them for their collaboration with the Holy See. Entitled “A Century of the Popemobile”, the exhibit is scheduled to run through January 31, 2027, and is being presented in the Giardino Quadrato (Square Garden) of the Vatican Museums. The show will feature eight models of the Popemobile from the last 100 years. The principal sponsor of the exposition, Mercedes-Benz, has supplied vehicles to the Vatican since 1930. Click on this LINK to view the announcement presented on the Vatican State website last week, and HERE for a link to the Vatican Museums page. Continue reading the article below, which looks back at the Vatican stamp release from 1997 celebrating the history of Papal Carriages and Automobiles. |
