Cindy Wooden

The Taizé community's annual end-of-year ecumenical prayer gathering, which moved online Dec. 28-31 and was supported by prayers and messages from Pope Francis, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and other leaders.

Christians cannot close their eyes to the fact that too many people in the world today also feel forced to flee their homelands, Pope Francis said.

Preparations for the Holy Year 2025 have already begun, and Pope Francis has asked the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization to take charge of the efforts.

From a vaccination clinic in the Vatican to a visit to the ancient Iraqi city of Ur and later to a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece, Pope Francis demonstrated throughout 2021 what he means by seeing all people as brothers or sisters.

The Francis Chronicles: The COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on families, but with extra patience and faith, bonds can grow stronger, Pope Francis wrote in a letter released on the feast of the Holy Family.

Cardinal Peter Turkson said he offered Pope Francis his resignation because he was at the end of his five-year appointment as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Pope Francis told children that Christmas is a sign of how much God loves them, and they are called to share that love.

A group of Catholic and Anglican theologians has called on the Vatican to review and overturn a papal document that declared Anglican ordinations "absolutely null and utterly void."

Bishops' conferences will be responsible for translating the rite into their local languages and seeking Vatican approval for local adaptations.

The best way to overcome indifference to the suffering of migrants and refugees is to look in their faces, Pope Francis said.

Celebrating Mass Dec. 5 in Athens' Megaron concert hall, Pope Francis spoke of the blessing and spiritual advantage of being a small community without power and without pretenses.

In a meeting with Archbishop Chrysostomos II, head of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, Pope Francis assured him that "your sorrows and your joys are also ours."

Concerned at the slow pace of adopting his reforms of the marriage annulment process, Pope Francis has established a Vatican commission to encourage and verify progress in the dioceses of Italy.

Pope Francis expressed his ongoing concern for the political and economic turmoil Lebanon is experiencing and his conviction that Lebanon has a special role to play in the Middle East.

The classical Christian understanding of what it means to be human provides a clear affirmation of the sacredness and uniqueness of human life, but to answer new questions posed by modern culture and technology, dialogue and compassion are needed.

To protect the sacrament of reconciliation as a "channel of grace" for victims of sexual abuse, the Catholic Church must do a better job instructing priests on what to do if a victim recounts his or her abuse in the confessional and in the unlikely case that an abuser confesses.

Honoring two reporters who have covered the Vatican for more than 40 years, Pope Francis paid tribute to all journalists who work to explain what is going on in the world and "make it less obscure."

The pope's pilgrimage to Assisi Nov. 12 was dedicated totally to the poor in preparation for the celebration Nov. 14 of the World Day of the Poor.

In times of trouble, Christians must be like the disciples in the boat on the stormy sea, calling out to Jesus and waking him up, Pope Francis said.

Blessed Charles de Foucauld and six other candidates for sainthood finally will be canonized May 15, 2022, the Vatican announced Nov. 9.