Cindy Wooden

U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, a former top Vatican official, met privately with Pope Francis Dec. 29, about a month after reports that Pope Francis wanted to stop giving him a monthly salary and would ask him to pay the market rate for his Vatican apartment.

The Christian community and society need young people to live out their dreams of a world where people listen to one another, accept each other and build bridges with members of different cultures and religions, Pope Francis told young Europeans meeting to “pray in” the new year.

The devil is sly and sneaky like a serpent and subtly entices people to sin, Pope Francis said at his weekly general audience Dec. 27.

Officials of the Roman Curia must learn how to really listen to others, not treating a discussion as a game of “ping pong” where everything another says is met with a speedy and automatic response, Pope Francis said.

A Catholic priest can bless a gay or other unmarried couple as long as it is not a formal liturgical blessing and does not give the impression that the Catholic Church is blessing the union as if it were a marriage, the Vatican doctrinal office said.