Catholic News Service

Humanity must have more direct contact with nature to counter the modern lifestyles that are destroying the planet, Pope Francis told members of the Italian Catholic Movement of Adult Scouts during a meeting at the Vatican April 13.

Today's "growing culture of indifference and individualism" must be countered with prayer and adoration, which inspires solidarity with those in need, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis took over the catechism classes at St. John Vianney parish on the far eastern edge of Rome to inaugurate his "School of Prayer." The pope went, unannounced, to the parish after school April 11 and met with about 200 children, Vatican News reported.

In the Bible, Jesus never explains suffering, but he reaches out to those who are hurting, heals them and ultimately, on the cross, shares and redeems the suffering of all humanity, Pope Francis said.

Today's "throwaway culture," driven by "profit, efficiency and success," marginalizes people with disabilities and threatens their God-given dignity, Pope Francis said.

The 2024 edition of the Vatican yearbook has inserted "Patriarch of the West" as one of the historical titles of the pope.

While intense feelings or drive — passions — are natural, Christians know they must be tamed and channeled toward what is good, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis has made major changes to the Diocese of Rome, giving new positions to both Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, his vicar for the diocese since 2017, and Auxiliary Bishop Daniele Libanori, a Jesuit who has served as auxiliary for the past six years.

His conversation with the cardinals appeared to calm their nerves, since they elected Francis pope that evening.

In a world filled with "bellicose rhetoric," religious leaders must make extra efforts to speak of peace and to nurture every action and attitude that lessens tensions and increases dialogue, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis expressed his closeness to and solidarity with all those affected by a deadly earthquake in Taiwan.

Governments must eliminate laws discriminating against women and help guarantee women's human rights, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis voted for Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, in the 2005 conclave that followed the death of St. John Paul II.

For the second year in a row, Pope Francis followed the nighttime Way of the Cross service from his Vatican residence as 25,000 people gathered outside Rome's Colosseum.

As Pope Francis poured water over their feet, dried them with a towel and kissed their feet, 12 women inmates at Rome's Rebibbia prison wept.

Pope Francis told Catholics in the Holy Land that he knows Holy Week this year is "so overshadowed by the Passion and, as yet, so little by the Resurrection."

For the first time in his 11-year papacy, Pope Francis has chosen to write his own meditations for the Good Friday Way of the Cross service at Rome's Colosseum, the head of the Vatican press office said.

Pope Francis' planned visit to Venice will include a Mass in the city's famous St. Mark's Square, a meeting with young people from the archdiocese and a meeting with female detainees at an island prison where the Vatican has set up its pavilion for a major international contemporary art exhibition.

The Catholic Church can draw closer to Jesus by accompanying migrants in their pursuit of a better life, Pope Francis said.

"War is always a defeat," Pope Francis said, urging people at his general audience to pray that leaders in war-torn nations would have the courage to negotiate for peace.