CNS photo/Vatican Media Pope Leo XIV greets U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. at the end of an audience in St. Peter's Square Sept. 20, 2025, as part of the Jubilee of Justice. ROME (CNS)–In a frescoed hall of a building housing the Catholic Church’s highest courts, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. spoke about faith, mercy, tradition and hope. Laurence Spiteri, a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and a judge on the Roman Rota, a Vatican court. The justice quoted Pope Francis who would often talk about how there are more martyrs today than in the first centuries of Christianity. Alito was asked about the current composition of the Supreme Court and the frequently floated idea of changing the number of justices from its current nine members.