The “most beautiful gift” the Catholic Church and its members can give the world is a reason to live with hope, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis prayed that Advent would be a time of spiritual renewal to build up a civilization of love.

Three months after the murder of Juan López, a Honduran church worker and environmental activist whose death was publicly mourned by Pope Francis, the bishops of Latin America are raising awareness on attacks against those fighting for social justice in the continent.

Pope Francis and the country’s bishops in exile prayed for Nicaragua as the Central American country observed the Immaculate Conception of Mary amid persecution.

With the city of Rome presenting a gauntlet of major roadworks and construction projects ahead of the opening of the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis used the disruptions as an opportunity to encourage people to do some spiritual renovation before the jubilee.

Climate change, war, immigration and other global challenges can only be resolved with the input and cooperation of the entire global community, Pope Francis told a group of new ambassadors to the Holy See.

Moments after Pope Francis placed red hats on the heads of 21 new cardinals, the newest members of the College of Cardinal, many far from their places of ministry, were united with friends, family and their flock to celebrate.

Becoming a cardinal is an insistent call to put Jesus at the center of one’s life, to love the poor as he did and to strengthen the bonds of unity within the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said as he created 21 new cardinals from 17 nations.

Prayer has the power to transform today’s Catholics into modern-day apostles who can respond to what the world truly needs, said the new acting international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

The study of theology must include reference to the context in which its students live and will minister, Pope Francis said, so in Sicily that means it must have something to say about the Mafia.