In an age when even one’s most intimate thoughts and feelings can become fodder for social media, Lent is a time to cast aside appearances and to find God at work in the depths of the heart, Pope Francis said.

The Israeli Embassy to the Holy See has defined as “regrettable” remarks by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, saying that Israel’s attacks on Gaza have been excessive.

The vice of “acedia,” often translated as “sloth,” can cause laziness, but it is much more than that; it is a lack of caring for anything and being bored with everything, even one’s relationship with God, Pope Francis said.

The Albanian cardinal who endured decades of imprisonment, torture and forced labor during his country’s crackdown against religion is a “living martyr” who continues to serve Christ at 95 years old, Pope Francis said.

Scientific and technological abilities, which are the product of human creativity, are accelerating at such a rapid pace that people must decide how to use their creativity responsibly, Pope Francis said.

Artisans teach the world that every material thing contains beauty, and that work gives people a little share in the creative action of God, Pope Francis said.

Months after throwing verbal jabs at Pope Francis along the campaign train, Argentine President Javier Milei brought smiles and cookies to the Vatican for his highly anticipated meeting with the pope Feb. 12.

St. María Antonia de Paz Figueroa, known as Mama Antula, devoted herself completely to helping others experience God’s closeness and compassion, Pope Francis said after he declared the 18th-century consecrated laywoman a saint.

While memories of the shocking moment when Pope Benedict XVI resigned Feb. 11, 2013, are still fresh for the German pope’s collaborators, it is Pope Francis who reflects on Benedict’s historic decision in a newly published book interview.

In Blessed Maria Antonia de Paz Figueroa, known affectionately as “Mama Antula,” Christians can “find an example and inspiration that revives a preference for the least, for those who society discards and casts aside,” the pope told a group of Argentine pilgrims during a meeting at the Vatican Feb. 9.