Catholic News Service

Seven weeks after announcing the new composition of his international Council of Cardinals, Pope Francis led a two-day meeting of the council focused on situations of conflict in the world and on progress in implementing his reform of the Roman Curia.

The life and ministry of the Catholic Church is enriched by listening to everyone, especially those who are often excluded by society, and by including their experiences and perspectives, Pope Francis said.

The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life affirms his opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide but believes that to end confusion in the country, the Italian Parliament needs to make clear laws about withdrawing end-of-life care, his office said.

The heads of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and a section of the Dicastery for Evangelization have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at improving assistance to victims of abuse, bishops and local churches both in mission countries and emerging communities.

Pope Francis has appealed for an end to violence in Sudan and a return to dialogue.

The ministry of lay Catholics, whether formally instituted by the church or simply inspired by the Holy Spirit to serve the needs of others, flows from baptism and a recognition that every Christian is called to take part in the mission of the church, Pope Francis said.

By calling itself the "Papal Foundation," members have an obligation to promote the unity of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis told a delegation of about 150 people from the U.S.-based group on April 21.

The world needs new economic models that respect human dignity and protect creation, Pope Francis told an interfaith delegation from England on April 20 at the Vatican.

Suffering and death are human realities that raise questions people need to ask themselves, Pope Francis said.

As Britain's King Charles III walks into Westminster Abbey for his coronation, he will walk behind a processional cross containing a relic of Christ's cross given to the king by Pope Francis.

In his first press conference since dramatically resigning from Pope Francis' commission on clergy sexual abuse, church safeguarding expert Jesuit Fr. Hans Zollner said there was a lack of transparency around the group's operations and that "many victims no longer expect anything" from the Catholic Church.

The Pontifical International Marian Academy has created a commission to study and monitor cases of alleged Marian apparitions and other mystical phenomena.

Everyone has gifts and talents that can be a public witness to God's love and mercy, Pope Francis told a group of people with intellectual disabilities and their teachers.

The wounds of Christ, still visible after his resurrection, are the greatest sign of God's love and mercy, Pope Francis said on Divine Mercy Sunday.

Pope Francis confirmed he will travel to Mongolia in September, becoming the first pope to visit the Asian nation, which is home to a cardinal and some 1,300 Catholics.

Pope John Paul II's longtime aide denied the "vile insinuations" that the former pope was maliciously involved in the case of Emanuela Orlandi, a Vatican schoolgirl whose 1983 disappearance is the focus of an ongoing Vatican investigation.

Failing to provide needed medication to elderly people is a "hidden and progressive euthanasia," Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis has chosen "His mercy is from age to age," a passage from the Gospel of Luke, as the theme for the 2023 celebration of the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.

In their discussions about the life of the church and "synodality," or walking together, Catholics in United States and Canada noted the negative impact "polarization" is having on the church, said Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas.

The idea that stopping the arms race is essential for stopping war is not utopian but is "healthy realism," Pope Francis wrote.