Cindy Wooden

Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals continued their discussions about the role of women in the church, listening to women experts, including a professor who spoke about how culture impacts women's roles and status.

The morning after Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel, Pope Francis pleaded with nations to avoid a further escalation of the violence.

Pope Francis took over the catechism classes at St. John Vianney parish on the far eastern edge of Rome to inaugurate his "School of Prayer." The pope went, unannounced, to the parish after school April 11 and met with about 200 children, Vatican News reported.

In the Bible, Jesus never explains suffering, but he reaches out to those who are hurting, heals them and ultimately, on the cross, shares and redeems the suffering of all humanity, Pope Francis said.

The 2024 edition of the Vatican yearbook has inserted "Patriarch of the West" as one of the historical titles of the pope.

While intense feelings or drive — passions — are natural, Christians know they must be tamed and channeled toward what is good, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis has made major changes to the Diocese of Rome, giving new positions to both Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, his vicar for the diocese since 2017, and Auxiliary Bishop Daniele Libanori, a Jesuit who has served as auxiliary for the past six years.

In a world filled with "bellicose rhetoric," religious leaders must make extra efforts to speak of peace and to nurture every action and attitude that lessens tensions and increases dialogue, Pope Francis said.

As Pope Francis poured water over their feet, dried them with a towel and kissed their feet, 12 women inmates at Rome's Rebibbia prison wept.

Pope Francis told Catholics in the Holy Land that he knows Holy Week this year is "so overshadowed by the Passion and, as yet, so little by the Resurrection."

For the first time in his 11-year papacy, Pope Francis has chosen to write his own meditations for the Good Friday Way of the Cross service at Rome's Colosseum, the head of the Vatican press office said.

"War is always a defeat," Pope Francis said, urging people at his general audience to pray that leaders in war-torn nations would have the courage to negotiate for peace.

At the request of Pope Francis, three Jesuit-run institutions of higher learning in Rome — the Pontifical Gregorian University, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Oriental Institute — will formally become one university in May.

The respect religions have for the dignity and value of human life should help them convince their followers that "war must be rejected and peace cherished," leaders of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue said in a message to Muslims around the world.

Pope Francis has decided that some controversial issues raised at the first assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality will be examined by study groups that will work beyond the synod's final assembly in October. 

The Vatican City appeals court upheld the conviction of two Italian climate activists who glued their hands to an ancient sculpture in the Vatican Museums. 

Pope Francis paid a brief visit to Rome's Gemelli Isola Hospital Feb. 28 for "diagnostic tests," the Vatican press office said, without providing specifics.

Saying Pope Francis was continuing to experience "mild flu-like symptoms," the Vatican announced he had canceled his appointments again Feb. 26.

The second assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality will meet Oct. 2-27 and will be preceded by several formal studies coordinated by the synod general secretariat working with various offices of the Roman Curia.

The vice of "acedia," often translated as "sloth," can cause laziness, but it is much more than that; it is a lack of caring for anything and being bored with everything, even one's relationship with God, Pope Francis said.