Perspective: As faithful Catholics committed to full equality, we came to speak, to listen, to be seen and to be heard. The buttons we passed out said it best: "It's our church too."
The joyous harmony of people coming together from so many different nations for World Youth Day stands in sharp contrast to today's "sad" situation of confrontational nationalist feelings, Pope Francis said.
At the Intersection: Mary's position at the Annunciation struck me as unfair. She was poor, a teenager and a girl, all together a social position lacking any privilege or authority.
The pope hopes the encounter helps Catholic bishops "take consciousness" of the issue, but says problems of abuse will continue in the church. He also addressed abortion, saying of women who abort, "she needs to be in the confessional."
The pontiff stated firmly that he is not in agreement with making celibacy optional, but noted that there are areas of the world where Catholics are deprived of the Eucharist.
Reflecting on the parable of the Good Samaritan, the pope said Jesus calls on all people to "move from our fixed ways of doing things and our priorities" and take a moment to stop to care for one's neighbor.
"Are you willing to be an 'influencer' like Mary, who dared to say, 'Let it be done'?" Pope Francis asked. "Only love makes us more human and fulfilled; everything else is a pleasant but useless placebo."
Recounting her experience at table with the pope and nine other young people from various countries, Mexican-American Brenda Noriega said the church in the U.S. is "going through a crisis right now that we cannot avoid to talk about."
A church wounded by sin can paralyze, confuse and tire the hearts of Catholic clergy and laypeople, causing them to doubt their mission in the modern world, Pope Francis said.
Life can produce moments of great pain, moments that can paralyze us with fear, Cardinal Blase Cupich told English-speaking World Youth Day pilgrims Jan. 25 during a catechetical session in Panama City.
In a Via Crucis prayer service during World Youth Day, Pope Francis told crowds packed along Panama City's Pacific shoreline that the church should help create societies that welcome those leaving their homelands due to violence.
Choosing to spend the morning of his third of five days in Panama with the 192 young people held at the Las Garzas Juvenile Detention Center in the small town of Pacora, Pope Francis advised them: "Each of us is more than our labels."
Youth in the church can bring the joy of the Gospel to the world by showing that God's love excludes no one, Francis says during the ceremony welcoming him to World Youth Day in Panama.
Pope Francis called on the Catholic bishops of Central America Jan. 24 to emulate the ministry of Archbishop Oscar Romero, exhorting them to follow his example by listening to the needs of their people and embracing a church of the poor.
As Pope Francis was arriving in Panama Jan. 23, bishops from the United States wasted no time addressing the sex abuse scandal back home during a popular event aimed at American and other English-speaking World Youth Day pilgrims.
Archbishop Ulloa said it was his hope that the church's teachings, the sacraments, the kinship of the upcoming days would bring about an encounter with Jesus Christ for those facing challenges and help them confront certain feelings within, particularly the "anti-values" of a system that offers a false sense of happiness.
Pope Francis framed panic over the arrival of migrants as irrational Jan. 23 as he was headed to Central America for a five-day visit and as a second migrant caravan is headed to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Young people attending World Youth Day called attention to the world's environmental problems, issuing what they called a "manifesto" for the "care of the common home."
Two abuse survivors are asking Pope Francis to meet with them during his January trip to Panama, hoping to press him on his appointment of an archbishop in neighboring Costa Rica who they say covered up for their abuser.
