Vatican

As the new year begins, Pope Francis will be the oldest reigning pope since the early 1900s and the third oldest in history.

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.