Religious leaders have called on decision-makers to use COP28 to usher in a rapid transition to clean energy sources, and for nations to establish accountability mechanisms to hold them to climate action pledges.
For weeks Pope Francis has been calling for peace in Ukraine. The Vatican's secretary of state has offered assurances of solidarity with the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the country. But one word has been missing: Russia.
"It's good to be back," President Joe Biden said as he arrived at the Vatican, where he met privately with Pope Francis for about 75 minutes. The visit comes as U.S bishops prepare for a meeting in which they will review a document some say could deny Biden the Eucharist because of his support for legal abortion.
Commentary: In an emboldened turn in Francis' papacy, the Vatican is opening criminal proceedings on July 27 against Cardinal Giovanni Becciu and nine other defendants on charges of embezzlement and other finance-related crimes.
As Biden searches for his new Vatican diplomat, experts say the world's smallest state and one of the world's last superpowers are well-situated to have a relationship marked by collaboration, rather than contention.
In an online message to grassroots community organizers on April 15, Pope Francis criticized a modern form of politician that he said "turns their back on the poor," and he laid out his vision for a "politics with a capital P."
Just Catholic: The "no-change" folks have a lot of clerical support. Some "change" folks continue to speak, but many walk away. But we know the church can change because it has, usually to maintain clerical power.
In a recent interview, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the second-highest official at the Vatican, addressed the institution's recent financial scandals, the pope's upcoming trip to Iraq and the Vatican's controversial deal with China.
Climate change is a global problem that requires the commitment and collective response of all humanity, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.
