United Arab Emirates

2019 Year in Review: For Pope Francis, 2019 included his sixth anniversary as pope, his 83rd birthday and his 50th anniversary as a priest, but it also was a year that saw him still confronted with the clerical sexual abuse crisis and with Vatican financial scandals.

A year after the United States' withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, analysts say Iran is taking retaliatory steps to show that the U.S. economic war on the country will not be cost-free and to gain leverage for any new negotiations between it and the Trump administration.

Experts say the May 5-7 papal visit to Bulgaria and North Macedonia could be particularly sensitive, as Francis will be facing individual, historic difficulties with the countries' separate Orthodox communities.

The leaders of three branches of the French religious Community of St. John insist their order has enacted strong protections against clerical sexual abuse, including the abuse of its nuns.

The declaration signed by Pope Francis and Sheik Ahmad el-Tayeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar, during the pope's trip to the United Arab Emirates "is a clarion call for robust dialogue that leads to peace."

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: A must-read for liberals and presidential candidates; voter fraud in the name of preventing voter fraud in Texas, but nothing from DiNardo

Francis Chronicles: The pope said that the joint document signed by him and Egyptian Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar and chair of the Muslim Council of Elders, was a step forward in promoting dialogue and brotherhood.

Pope Francis has expressed openness to the Vatican stepping in to mediate in Venezuela, where the head of the country's national assembly has declared himself interim president after months of unrest