Catholic News Service

Pope Francis said he wrote a resignation letter in 2013, his first year in office, to be used in case he became physically or mentally impaired and unable to fulfill the duties of the papacy.

Leaders from nearly 200 nations are meeting for the Dec. 7-19 U.N. Biodiversity Conference known as COP15. With scientists warning that the loss of nature is accelerating at dangerous speeds, Catholic activists are urging nations at the biodiversity conference in Montreal to act to protect life on earth at all levels.

Catholic and other opponents of the death penalty applauded Oregon Gov. Kate Brown's decision to commute the sentences of the state's 17 inmates on death row, changing their sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The interconnected "moral, social, political and economic crises" facing the world cannot be solved if individuals and nations continue to focus only on their own, immediate interests, Pope Francis said in his message for World Peace Day 2023.

The only way "to protect the dignity and human rights of all, to promote justice, reconciliation and dialogue for the sake of enduring peace and to care for our common home" is to strengthen diplomacy and collaboration among nations, Francis said.

The Vatican has had diplomatic contact with Russia regarding comments Pope Francis made about Russian minorities being responsible for the worst acts of cruelty in the country's war on Ukraine.

As representatives from nearly 200 countries gather for the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, environmental activists living in the Amazon region hope the conference's proposals will generate new projects in favor of the forest and the populations that live in the region.

Celebrating Christmas is important and beautiful, Pope Francis said, but he asked people to spend less on their celebrations this year and donate the savings to help the people of Ukraine.

Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet announced he is filing a defamation lawsuit in Quebec against a woman who accused him of sexual assault.

Recent popes have used the concept of a "Petrine principle" and a "Marian principle" to describe the important role women and men together play in the Catholic Church, but a biblical scholar writing in the Vatican newspaper said it is time to talk about the discriminatory and stereotypical notions behind it.

Disarmament is the only way to build a peaceful future, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

During this "bitter time" of war, hunger, injustice and poverty, Our Lady of Guadalupe invites everyone to open their lives to her son, Jesus, and to learn to love others like he does, Pope Francis said.

The 90-minute documentary, "The Letter," a film on the pope's 2015 encyclical Laudato Si', is currently on YouTube and will air Dec. 21 on PBS. 

Decrying what he described as "hostile times" when antisemitism and violence against Christians are on the rise, Pope Francis said a renewed commitment to Catholic-Jewish dialogue is needed.

Even the most fervent believers go through moments of doubt and questioning about God, and it is a good thing, Pope Francis said, because it helps one see that God does not fit into the little box people make for him.

A provision in the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law this summer by President Joe Biden, increases the size of the tax credit for conversions to renewable energy and makes nonprofit entities, like parishes, eligible to receive the tax benefits themselves.

Pope Francis asked Catholics around the world to join him in entrusting to Mary "the universal desire for peace, especially for the martyred Ukraine, which is suffering so much."

While many people involved with the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative continue to hope Pope Francis will issue an encyclical promoting nonviolence as a spirituality and way of life, they also know that Catholics already are engaged in teaching and supporting nonviolence in situations of conflict and exploitation around the globe.

Catholic bishops from four dioceses in the southern Philippines have called on the country's lawmakers to draft a law to impose a ban on mining across the entire Mindanao region.

Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals met in-person at the Vatican Dec. 5-6, discussing the continental phase of the synod process, safeguarding and the U.N. climate change summit, the Vatican press office said.