By MARIA SELENE CLEMENTE, ANDREA ROSA and NICOLE WINFIELD

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV spent the last Sunday of his summer vacation with several dozen refugees, homeless and poor people and the church volunteers who help them, celebrating a special Mass for them and inviting them into the Vatican’s lakeside estate for a lunch of lasagna and roast veal.

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Welcoming them for the luncheon, Leo said he was happy to “break bread” with them “in such a beautiful place that reminds us of the beauty of nature, of creation, but also makes us think that the most beautiful creature is the one created in the likeness, in the image of God, which is all of us.”

The guests included around 110 people cared for by the local Caritas church charity, and the volunteers who run the diocese’s shelters, clinics and social service offices. Many had attended Mass with him in the nearby St. Mary sanctuary of Albano.

In his homily, Leo celebrated the “fire of charity” that had brought them together.

“And I encourage you not to distinguish between those who assist and those who are assisted, between those who seem to give and those who seem to receive, between those who appear poor and those who feel they have something to offer in terms of time, skills, and help,” he said.

In the church, he said, everyone is poor and precious, and all share the same dignity.

Leo, the former Robert Prevost, spent most of his adult life working with the poor people of Peru, first as an Augustinian missionary and then as bishop. Former parishioners and church workers say he greatly reinforced the work of the local Caritas charity, opening soup kitchens and shelters for migrants and rallying funds to build oxygen plants during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The luncheon was held at the Borgo Laudato Si’, the Vatican’s environmental educational center in the gardens of the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo. The center is named for Pope Francis’ 2015 landmark environmental encyclical, Laudato Si (Praised Be).

Local caterers provided a menu of lasagna, eggplant parmesan and roast veal. For dessert, the menu called for fruit salad and sweets named for the pope, “Dolce Leone.”

Guests at Leo’s table included Rosabal Leon, a Peruvian refugee who has been in Italy for a few months, along with her husband and two children. One of his other luncheon companions was an 85-year-old Roman, Gabriella Oliveiro, who lives on her own, organizers said.

Leo is expected to wrap up his vacation Tuesday and return to the Vatican, but there are indications he plans to use the Castel Gandolfo retreat regularly as an escape from Rome, resuming the tradition that Pope Francis had eschewed in favor of staycations at the Vatican.

Leo’s older brother, John Prevost, told NBC’s Chicago affiliate that the pope found the getaway relaxing and had actually hoped to read a book during his vacation — the pope likes legal thrillers — but hadn’t found the time. He did, however, make use of the estate’s tennis court and swimming pool, he said.

Prevost, who speaks daily with the pope to compare notes on the New York Times daily Wordle puzzle, said he understood the thing Leo missed most about being pope was not being able to drive.

“Driving to him is totally relaxing,” Prevost said, adding that when they were together, his little brother would always insist on driving himself. “Absolutely, because otherwise then he would criticize my driving,” Prevost said, chuckling.

In the interview, Prevost revealed the pope’s favorite pizza — pepperoni — and candy: Peeps.

Rosa reported from Albano, Italy, and Winfield from Rome.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

By MICHAEL R. SISAK

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Mexican cartel kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada is set to plead guilty next week in a drug trafficking case that accuses him of ordering torture, plotting murders and flooding the U.S. with cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs.

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A Brooklyn federal judge on Monday scheduled an Aug. 25 change of plea hearing for Zambada, a longtime leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. The development comes two weeks after federal prosecutors said they wouldn’t seek the death penalty against him.

Zambada, 77, pleaded not guilty last year to drug trafficking and related charges, including gun and money laundering offenses.

Under Zambada and co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s leadership, prosecutors allege, the Sinaloa cartel evolved from a regional player into the largest drug trafficking organization in the world.

Judge Brian M. Cogan’s order on Monday didn’t provide details about Zambada’s guilty plea and didn’t list the charges he’s expected to plead guilty to. The same judge sentenced Guzmán to life behind bars after he was convicted on drug trafficking charges in 2019.

Messages seeking comment were left for Zambada’s lawyers. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn declined to comment.

Zambada was arrested in Texas last year after what he has described as a kidnapping in Mexico.

Sought by U.S. law enforcement for more than two decades, he was taken into custody after arriving in a private plane at a Texas airport with Guzmán’s son, Joaquín Guzmán López. Guzmán López has pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in Chicago; his brother, Ovidio Guzmán López, pleaded guilty last month.

According to prosecutors, Zambada presided over a vast and violent operation, with an arsenal of military-grade weapons, a private security force akin to an army, and a corps of “sicarios,” or hitmen, who carried out assassinations, kidnappings and torture. Just months before his arrest, he ordered the murder of his own nephew, prosecutors said.

On Aug. 5, prosecutors told Cogan in a letter that Attorney General Pam Bondi had directed them not to pursue the death penalty for Zambada.

Associated Press reporter Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Norwegian prosecutors on Monday announced that they have indicted the eldest son of Norway’s crown princess on multiple charges including rape after a lengthy investigation.

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Oslo state attorney Sturla Henriksbø said Marius Borg Høiby could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, broadcaster NRK reported. The indictment filed in Oslo district court includes 32 counts, among them rape, abuse in a close relationship against one former partner and acts of violence against another. Other charges include making death threats and traffic violations.

Høiby, the 28-year-old son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and stepson of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon, has no royal title or official duties. He has been under scrutiny since he was repeatedly arrested last year on various allegations of wrongdoing. He is free pending trial, and Henriksbø said there is currently no reason to arrest and jail him.

Henriksbø estimates the trial could begin in mid-January and take around six weeks, NRK reported.

Defense attorney Petar Sekulic said in an emailed response to the indictment that “our client denies all charges of sexual abuse, as well as the majority of the charges regarding violence.” He added that Høiby “will present a detailed account of his version of events before the court.”

The royal palace said that it was up to the courts to handle the case and reach a decision, and it had nothing to add beyond that.

By ALEXANDRA OLSON

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a law strengthening the rights of pregnant workers, vacating a judge’s earlier order that had stripped those protections from Texas state employees.

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The ruling was a victory for advocates of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, a law that passed with bipartisan support in 2022 but quickly became embroiled in controversy over whether it covers workers seeking abortions and fertility treatments.

A federal judge last year blocked enforcement of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act for Texas state employees, ruling that its passage was unconstitutional because a majority of House members were not physically present to approve the law as part of spending package in December 2022.

In a 2-1 decision, the Fifth Circuit appeals court disagreed, finding that the law was properly passed under a COVID-19 pandemic-era Congressional rule allowing members to vote by proxy to meet the quorum requirement.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act strengthens the rights of women to receive workplace accommodation for needs related to pregnancy and childbirth, such as time off for medical appointments and exemptions from heavy lifting. Its passage came after a decades long campaign by women’s advocacy groups highlighting the struggles of pregnant workers, especially those in low-wage roles, who were routinely forced off the job after requesting accommodations.

The Texas case differed from other lawsuits that have narrowly focused on federal regulations stating that abortion, fertility treatments and birth control are medical issues requiring protection under the new law. The lawsuit, filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, instead took aim at the entirety of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, drawing opposition from Republican lawmakers including former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who defended the pandemic-era proxy voting rule.

Under the Trump administration, the Department of Justice has continued to fight Paxton’s lawsuit, which if successful, could help open the door to legal challenges of other pandemic-era laws passed by proxy.

Paxton’s office did not reply to emails seeking comment, and it was not clear whether he would appeal Friday’s ruling. The Justice Department declined to comment.

“This is a big win for women’s rights. We are really happy to see that the Fifth Circuit agreed with us that the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act was passed constitutionally and will continue to fight for the PWFA to stay legal,” said Inimai Chettiar, president of a Better Balance, an advocacy group that spearheaded the campaign for passage of the law.

Texas state employees are not immediately protected, however, because the appeals court ruling doesn’t become final for several weeks to give time for a possible appeal, Chettiar said.

Conservative officials and religious groups, meanwhile, have been largely successfully in challenging the regulations passed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which established that workers seeking abortions are entitled accommodations.

In May, a federal court struck down the abortion provisions of the EEOC regulations in response to lawsuits brought by states of Louisiana and Mississippi, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic University and two Catholic dioceses.

The Trump administration is almost certain to comply with that ruling. President Donald Trump in January fired two of the EEOC’s democratic commissioners, paving the way for him to quickly establish a Republican majority at the agency. EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas, a Republican, has signaled her support for revising the regulations, arguing the agency exceeded its authority by including not only abortion but fertility treatments and birth control as medical needs covered by the law.