There have not been many reactions from bishops about the congressional results, although the Colorado Catholic Conference — which represents all of the state’s bishops — put out a statement congratulating all winners and urging them to support the common good.

“We call upon our elected leaders to implement policies that defend and uplift the most vulnerable members of our human family,” the statement read, according to the Denver Catholic.

“We also urge you to firmly protect the religious liberty of all individuals and faith-based organizations, safeguarding their right to serve the community according to their convictions,” it added. “May your governance be guided by a steadfast commitment to justice, peace and the flourishing of our entire state.”

Some pro-life organizations have expressed concern about the Democrats’ congressional wins due to the pro-abortion stances of the bulk of the party’s candidates.

Tobias said in a statement that many pro-life politicians were “replaced with rabidly anti-life candidates” but noted “we’ve faced difficult times before — and we’re still here.”

“We will continue to push for laws that protect babies and help their moms, while looking for new and innovative ways to love them both,” she said. “We will work to make sure that every pregnant woman knows she is not alone. And we will continue to promote the value of innocent human life so that, even if abortion is legal, no woman will want one.”

Three weeks after lung cancer surgery, Pope Leo XIV is embarking on the longest and farthest trip of his pontificate: a 12-day, three-nation tour of Latin America that carries more personal and historic weight than any of his voyages to date.

The U.S.-born Leo is returning home to Peru, where the former Robert Prevost lived for two decades as a missionary priest and learned to be the pastor he is today. Leo holds Peruvian citizenship and is so attached to Peru’s people he gave them a shoutout in Spanish from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on the night of his election.

Leo is also going to Argentina, the home of his predecessor, Pope Francis, to whom Leo owes his pontificate. It will be a homecoming of sorts there, too, since Francis never returned to Argentina after his 2013 election, leaving a complicated legacy that Leo will now have to navigate.

Leo starts his trip Friday in Uruguay, the least Catholic, most secular country in all of Latin America, where not even the big Catholic feast days get their due: Christmas in Uruguay is officially “Family Day” and Holy Week is “Tourism Week.”

Leo is nevertheless expected to draw huge crowds throughout his trip and will likely raise issues of concern to his still-young pontificate: economic injustice, the plight of Indigenous peoples and the Amazon, and the church’s dreadful legacy of clergy sexual abuse.

But many eyes will be on Leo himself for having confirmed this grueling trip at all so soon after surgery Oct. 13 to remove a cancerous tumor from his lung.

Pope Leo XIV will speak about justice in the light of the Church’s social doctrine, not to set himself against one government or another – the Successor of Peter does not act as a politician – but to call for unity in the face of polarization and to encourage the building of a more just and inclusive society.

Such a society must take into account the needs of the most vulnerable and those living in the most remote peripheries, including the peoples of the Amazon, who feel abandoned but will receive a visit from the Pope during his stop in Pucallpa.

The central message Pope Leo is bringing to Latin America is well summed up in the three mottos chosen for the three stops: “I proclaim to you a great joy” for Uruguay; “Everyone is welcome. Go and proclaim” for Argentina; and “Let us open our hearts” for Peru.

These words are a call to faith and to the Church’s evangelizing mission, aimed at fostering unity and encounter.

In the coming days, particular emphasis will be placed on highlighting the hidden treasures of these countries: the many saints and blesseds who have inculturated Christ’s message in different contexts, and popular piety, which plays a fundamental role in the faith experience of Latin American peoples.