Vatican

Knowledge and “enlightenment” are needed especially where there is the “darkness of hatred,” which often stems from forgetting and indifference, Pope Francis said.

Religious rules are good and necessary, but Jesus wants his disciples to go beyond the letter of the law and fully live out its meaning, Pope Francis said.

Just days after Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, was sentenced to 26 years in prison, Pope Francis expressed concern over his condition.

Pope Francis urged all people to be in solidarity with the regions of Turkey and Syria struck by two powerful earthquakes early Feb. 6 and that are “in part already martyred by a long war.”

Pope Francis expressed his “spiritual closeness” and “solidarity” with those affected by a pair of powerful earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria Feb. 6.