Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former nuncio to the United States, has been excommunicated after being found guilty of schism, the Vatican said.

Public debate on end-of-life issues seems more widespread every time states and nations consider new laws dealing with bioethics and because of social media, the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life said.

The mosaics prominently featured in the Marian sanctuary in Lourdes, France, created by Father Marko Rupnik — accused of abusing dozens of women over his decades of ministry — must eventually be removed from the basilica where they are currently displayed, the bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes said.

The Vatican’s first-ever auditor general said false information given to the pope is what led to his wrongful termination, a claim he said will be central to his appeal scheduled to be heard before a Vatican court July 3.

The sacrament of the anointing of the sick is not just for those who are nearing the end of their life, Pope Francis said.

Donations to the annual Peter’s Pence collection, which supports the work of the Roman Curia and funds the charitable activity of the pope, went up in 2023, with increased donations from dioceses, foundations, private donors and religious orders, the Vatican said.

Pope Francis prayed in thanksgiving for the release of two Ukrainian Catholic priests who were held in Russian captivity for more than 19 months, calling on Christians to pray for the release of all prisoners of war.

Heaven is not a secure vault protected from outsiders but a “hidden treasure” that is reached by cultivating virtues, Pope Francis said.

Reflecting on the Apostle Peter’s liberation from prison after an angel opened his cell, the pope said God “is the one who sets us free and opens the way before us” in his homily during Mass for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul June 29.

Despite tensions with Pope Francis which have sometimes boiled over into public view, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Pope Benedict XVI’s longtime secretary, will become the pope’s representative to the Baltic states.