VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV encouraged international news agencies on Thursday to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation, as he strongly backed a free, independent and objective press.
History’s first American pope called for imprisoned journalists to be released and said the work of journalists must never be considered a crime. Rather, journalism is a right and a pillar upholding “the edifice of our societies" that must be protected and defended, he said.
“If today we know what is happening in Gaza, Ukraine and every other land bloodied by bombs, we largely owe it to them,” Leo said of journalists. “These extraordinary eyewitness accounts are the culmination of the daily efforts of countless people who work to ensure that information is not manipulated for ends that are contrary to truth and human dignity. “
Leo’s comments came in a speech to executives of international news agencies belonging to MINDS International, a consortium of leading agencies including The Associated Press.
In his five months as pope, the Chicago-born Leo has spoken out strongly on the need to protect freedom of expression and the rights of journalists. In his first meeting with reporters right after his election, Leo called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the “precious gift of free speech and the press.”
More recently, he insisted that journalism was “not only an act of justice, but a duty of all those who long for a solid and participatory democracy.” In a letter to a crusading Peruvian journalist repeatedly sued for her work, Leo affirmed the freedom of the press was an “inalienable common good.”
On Thursday, he strongly encouraged news agencies amid a double crisis they are facing, with economic pressures threatening their survival and consumers increasingly unable to distinguish truth from lies.
“I urge you: Never sell out your authority!” Leo said.
He quoted Hannah Arendt’s “The Origins of Totalitarianism” in asserting that the world needs free and objective information. He cited her warning that “the ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist.”
Leo said even with the challenges posed today by artificial intelligence, news agencies must stand firm.
“With your patient and rigorous work, you can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing," he said. "You can also be a bulwark of civility against the quicksand of approximation and post-truth.”
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Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
ANTWERP, Belgium (AP) — Getting ready for the holiday season has never been stressful for Christel Dauwe — after all, her holiday period lasts all year long in her Christmas ornament shop in the Belgian city of Antwerp.
Her collecting began in her teenage years, and she now has more than 64,000 ornaments in her personal collection and another 18,000 displayed in her shop, the Christel Dauwe Collection.
“My personal wish is to have a Christmas museum, where ornaments and the idea of Christmas can be on permanent display,” she told The Associated Press. But until that day comes, her small shop uses every corner to display its vast inventory.
Its wares include birds of every feather, fruit arrangements, cars, angels, snowmen and other figurines, ranging from a few euros for a wood laser-cut Cathedral of Antwerp to more than 500 euros ($580) for a special ornament of Alexander the Great on horseback.
The store began 35 years ago as an antiques shop, selling a few ornaments on the side, but Dauwe wanted to try selling more.
On the suggestion of a Polish au pair, Dauwe and her husband traveled to Poland and found a factory that could produce exactly the ornaments she wanted. The only catch was that 200 pieces of each design had to be ordered at a time.
They returned home deflated.
“After second thoughts though, we decided to order 20 shapes of 200 each, and one day they arrived -- all 4,000 of them. We gave some away and the rest we put in the shop and, well … That’s the story from there,” she said.
The original Polish factory still supplies many of the shop’s ornaments, in addition to 32 other European companies.
“There is an ornament here for everyone. We’ve had people come in who say they have a new pet or even a new car and we try to match an ornament to them. In the end the goal is not to have some kind of posh tree decorated all with the same colors and Christmas balls. The goal of ornaments is to make you smile,″ she said.
Some ornaments are more personal. And one year there was an ornament of Christel herself, designed by her husband as a surprise.
She’s been asked to provide ornaments for weddings and other events as well.
As far as having Christmas all year round, Dauwe says she is never bored with it. Twice a year she goes around the shop and dusts each ornament individually. She has met people from all over the world, and entertains die-hard locals who stop into the store just for a morning chat.
“There are two ways to go with Christmas. It’s either the nostalgia of the past or the hope for the future,″ she said. ″Hope is what is the most important to me. It’s what keeps you going.”
Owner of the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop, Christel Dauwe, shows an ornament of the Horse Bayard, a folkloric Belgian event, at her shop in Antwerp, Belgium, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Owner of the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop, Christel Dauwe, takes a holiday ornament out of a display case at her shop in Antwerp, Belgium, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
A holiday ornament of a British phone cabin hangs on a shelf in the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop in Antwerp, Belgium, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Holiday ornaments are seen through the window of the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop in Antwerp, Belgium, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Owner of the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop, Christel Dauwe, wraps boxes of holiday ornaments at her shop in Antwerp, Belgium, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
