Carol Glatz

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of State, visited Ukraine to hold high-level meetings, meet local Catholics and represent Pope Francis at the final stop of a pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Berdychiv.

"My presence in Ukraine (is) to bring in person the closeness of the pope," the cardinal said July 22 on the Secretariat of State's official X account.

Pope Francis expressed his condolences for the death of Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of the Communist Party, and his appreciation for his role in fostering improved relations with the Vatican.

There is a danger that "can threaten us when, for instance, our enthusiasm in carrying out our mission or our work, as well as the roles and tasks entrusted to us, make us fall victim to a kind of activism which is overly concerned with things to do and with results, and this is a bad thing," Pope Francis said.

With world peace under serious threat, Pope Francis called on all nations to observe the Olympic truce and cease all conflicts for the traditional period before, during and after the Olympic Games in Paris.

Pope Francis' visit to Luxembourg and Belgium Sept. 26-29 will come just 13 days after wrapping up the longest trip of his pontificate. After visiting Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore Sept. 3-13, the pope will travel to the tiny European nation of Luxembourg Sept. 26 and neighboring Belgium Sept. 26-29, traveling to Brussels, Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve.

Any Catholic who participates in the celebration July 28 of the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly can receive a plenary indulgence, the Vatican announced.

St. Peter's Basilica hired two women to its team of "sanpietrini," the church's specialized artisans and workers, for the first time since the basilica's maintenance office was established 500 years ago.

Francis said communion, harmony and sobriety are "indispensable values for a church to be missionary at all levels."

The General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops released the names of members of two sets of study groups that have been conducting an in-depth look into several themes that emerged during the first assembly of the synod on synodality in 2023.

In accordance with new Vatican norms on alleged supernatural phenomena, an Italian bishop has given his "nihil obstat" acknowledging the pastoral and spiritual value of devotion to Our Lady of the Mystical Rose of Montichiari and allowing for any eventual pilgrimages to related sites in his diocese.

God is present in the "dark corners" of local communities and in people's lives, Pope Francis said. "His presence reveals itself precisely in the faces marked by suffering and where degradation seems to triumph," the pope said in his homily at Mass in the northern Italian city of Trieste July 7.

The 12-day Asian tour will be the longest trip of his papacy. He intends to visit: Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, Sept. 3-6; Port Moresby and Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, Sept. 6-9; Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, Sept. 9-11; and Singapore Sept. 11-13.

Being obedient to God's commandment and spirit of love can radically change attitudes and actions to convert people from "predators" of natural resources to "tillers" of God's great garden of planet Earth, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis appointed two special commissioners to start work on building an agrivoltaic system on a Vatican property outside of Rome that could supply the whole of Vatican City's energy needs.

Pope Francis called on world leaders to avoid any actions or words that could fuel current conflicts and instead to push for negotiations and peace.

Mental health, discrimination against minorities, including LGBTQ+ people, and a desire to be included more in church life were some of the concerns young college students shared with Pope Francis on a Zoom conference call.

The pope's remarks came during an audience at the Vatican June 20 with cosmologists, theoretical physicists, astronomers and other experts who were attending a June 16-21 conference organized by the Vatican Observatory and dedicated to the latest questions, theories and research being done regarding black holes, gravitational waves and space-time singularities.

There is a prayer for every state of mind and spiritual need in the Book of Psalms, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals continued their discussions about the role of women in the church, listening to women experts and discussing the possibilities according to canon law.

The group included 25 CEOs who are part of the Sustainable Markets Initiative. Established in 2020 by King Charles III, the initiative brings together leaders from different sectors to commit to concrete action that supports sustainable economic growth and caring for the environment.