Cindy Wooden

As a worldwide religious order, Franciscan friars need to find new and better ways to welcome the diversity of their members and allow it to challenge the ways they live the Gospel in the world, said Fr. Michael Perry, the order's minister general.

The organization of the universal Catholic Church has a precise hierarchy, but there is no such thing as a "vice pope," who steps in when the reigning pontiff is traveling abroad, ill or under anesthesia.

With the approval of Pope Francis, the Vatican has ordered the dissolution of an Italy-based lay movement, citing problems with the group's origins, catechesis, governance and finances.

Pope Francis is moving closer to a broad embrace of nonviolence and a declaration that modern warfare is so deadly and sophisticated that the traditional "just war" theories cannot apply.

When a popular Italian rapper slammed the Vatican for opposing a proposed anti-homophobia bill, he told his more than 12.5 million Instagram followers that the Vatican owed Italy some 5 billion euros ($5.9 billion) in back property taxes, which the Vatican said was incorrect.

The president of the German bishops' conference said he personally assured Pope Francis that the Catholic Church in Germany does not want "to go its own way."

Those who proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ are humble and trust in God, they do not heap conditions upon others or promote themselves as the only "keepers of the truth," Pope Francis said.

Writing to his peers, Catholics who have reached a venerable age like he has, Pope Francis told older Catholics that God is close to them and still has plans for their lives.

Reaffirming the principles that led the Vatican to severely limit private celebrations of Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti said exceptions would be made for specific groups.

Pope Francis has named Oblate Fr. Andrew Small secretary "pro tempore" of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Small, 53, had served two terms as national director for the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States.

While acknowledging Vatican-mandated reforms in the handling of clerical sexual abuse, four U.N. special rapporteurs urged the Vatican to make it mandatory that church officials everywhere report abuse allegations to civil authorities.

While the U.S. bishops authorized the drafting of a teaching document on the Eucharist and insisted its planned section on "eucharistic consistency" was not aimed at denying Communion to any specific group of people, the bishops' online debate led many Italian media outlets to a different conclusion.

Archbishop Augustine Di Noia, adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said a letter he sent in late May to the president of the U.S. bishops' conference was simply "a letter of acknowledgment" of the receipt of communication from him.

The gathering of representatives of the world's religions is set for Oct. 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and just a month before the critical U.N. climate summit.

After issuing revised guidelines for preparing for the next world Synod of Bishops, leaders of the synod's general secretariat held online meetings with the presidents and general secretaries of national and regional bishops' conferences.

Participants logged more than 370,000 miles in symbolic solidarity walks with migrants over the past four years, but the leaders of Caritas Internationalis know there are many miles to go in changing attitudes toward immigration.

Pope Francis seems to have no trouble using the word "sorry" and recommending others use it often. Then why, people wondered, did he not use the word when speaking about the horrific discovery of the remains of as many as 215 children in unmarked graves at a Catholic-run school for Indigenous children in Canada?

To protect the members of Catholic lay movements from possible abuse by leaders, the Vatican has imposed term limits on leadership and ordered the groups to ensure all members have a voice in choosing their leaders.

As he did before naming a new prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, Pope Francis has asked a bishop to conduct an official visit of the Congregation for Clergy.

Pope Francis told a group of priests studying in Rome that if they do not want to be pastors, spending time with the faithful, they should request dismissal from the priesthood and concentrate on academics instead.