Chicago’s mayor plans to praise Pope Leo XIV during a Vatican visit, a reminder that the papacy can be a tool for local moral critique and political theater (report). [P]Civic leaders from Tamil Nadu to Lagos used Eid and memorials to cast unity and consolation through faith, while Christian writers argue religious conviction reframes entrepreneurship and public responsibility. The significance of ritual and memory is underscored by an explainer on the Hajj and a look at how Berlin’s Jewish Hospital survived WWII — showing how pilgrimage, remembrance, and resilience keep communities anchored (Hajj explainer, Berlin Jewish Hospital).