Vatican

Pope Francis has directed Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the longtime personal secretary of the late Pope Benedict XVI, to leave the Vatican and return to his home diocese in Germany without a new assignment.

Pope Francis’ message of hope for humanity encased in a small satellite blasted off into space June 12 and soon will beam his words back to Earth.

While the Catholic Church does not promote a single political party or legislative agenda, it does insist that Christian politicians always work to promote human dignity and advance the common good, Pope Francis said in a message to the European People’s Party.

As Pope Francis continued a smooth recovery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, he was back to work and shared a Sunday meal with his closest collaborators, the Vatican said.

Pope Francis had a restful, peaceful first night at Rome’s Gemelli hospital after a successful three-hour operation June 7 for a hernia.

Pope Francis was scheduled to undergo surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital June 7 to treat a hernia that had developed at an incision of a previous operation, the Vatican said.