Cindy Wooden

With the biggest two days of celebration and costume parades left, the famous pre-Lenten "Carnevale" of Venice was canceled as were Ash Wednesday services and even funeral Masses throughout the diocese.

The only acceptable form of extremism for a Christian is an "extremism of love," Pope Francis said, concelebrating Mass with bishops from throughout the Mediterranean basin.

When the U.S. bishops began their "ad limina" visits in early November, many of them were wearied by dozens of challenges, but especially a sense of responsibility for the victims of clerical sexual abuse and knowing how they and their brother bishops failed so many of them.

The 12-year process of updating the Code of Canon Law section dealing with crimes and penalties was necessary "to make it more organic and responsive to new situations and problems," Pope Francis said.

The decade-long process of updating the laws of Vatican City State is part of the Vatican's support for international commitments to protect people and safeguard vulnerable groups, who are "frequently the victims of new, odious forms of illegality," Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis, adopting a suggestion made at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, has decided that every priest preparing for service in the Vatican diplomatic corps must spend a year in ministry as a missionary.

Jesus wants his followers to move from a formal observance of God's commands to an interior acceptance of them and, in that way, to no longer be slaves to sin and selfishness, Pope Francis said.

Everyone, including the pope, has someone they should thank God for and someone they should apologize to, Pope Francis said.

After meeting Pope Francis, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted that he was inspired by their discussions about peace.

Bishops from the northwestern United States ended their "ad limina" visit praying at the tomb of St. Paul after being reminded that a renewal of their ministry would come only with a renewal of their relationship with Jesus Christ.

During a general chapter meeting largely devoted to their order's sexual abuse crisis, the Legionaries of Christ elected U.S. Father John Connor as superior general for the next six years.

The loss of the papal states and the declaration of Rome as the capital of a united Italy 150 years ago was a "providential" event that changed the city and the church, Pope Francis said.

Old age "is not a disease, it's a privilege," and Catholic dioceses and parishes miss a huge and growing resource if they ignore their senior members, Pope Francis said.

As Christians work and pray for the restoration of full unity among them, they must be willing to learn from one another, even from the smallest of the Christian communities, Pope Francis said.

Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, said he asked Pope Francis about the Vatican investigation into Theodore E. McCarrick and the release of a promised report on how the former cardinal managed to rise through the church ranks.

Jesus healed people of all sorts of physical ailments, but he always started with the essential — forgiving their sins, Pope Francis said.

Most Christians would agree it is wrong to hate someone, but it is also wrong to be indifferent, which is a camouflaged form of hatred, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis began the New Year with an apology for losing his patience the night before with a woman who grabbed his hand and yanked him closer to her in St. Peter's Square.

God sent his only begotten son into the world, where he continues to dwell in the hearts of men and women, "urging them to believe, to hope despite everything, and to love by working for the good of all," Pope Francis said.

Maltese Cardinal Prosper Grech, an Augustinian priest and expert on the fathers of the early church, died Dec. 30 at the Santo Spirito Hospital near the Vatican. He was 94.