Although it has publicly taken a neutral stance in the current political crisis in Venezuela, the Vatican has expressed its support for new elections in the country, said a member of a delegation representing the opposition leader.
Perspective: As faithful Catholics committed to full equality, we came to speak, to listen, to be seen and to be heard. The buttons we passed out said it best: "It's our church too."
The joyous harmony of people coming together from so many different nations for World Youth Day stands in sharp contrast to today's "sad" situation of confrontational nationalist feelings, Pope Francis said.
Church leaders condemned bomb explosions that killed at least 20 people and injured about 100 others inside a Catholic church in the southern Philippines Jan. 27, calling the attack a "heinous and evil" act of terrorism.
"Are you willing to be an 'influencer' like Mary, who dared to say, 'Let it be done'?" Pope Francis asked. "Only love makes us more human and fulfilled; everything else is a pleasant but useless placebo."
A church wounded by sin can paralyze, confuse and tire the hearts of Catholic clergy and laypeople, causing them to doubt their mission in the modern world, Pope Francis said.
In a Via Crucis prayer service during World Youth Day, Pope Francis told crowds packed along Panama City's Pacific shoreline that the church should help create societies that welcome those leaving their homelands due to violence.
Choosing to spend the morning of his third of five days in Panama with the 192 young people held at the Las Garzas Juvenile Detention Center in the small town of Pacora, Pope Francis advised them: "Each of us is more than our labels."
