More than 2 billion people in over 50 countries were set to go to the polls in 2024, according to the Center for American Progress, but Pope Francis has said he is worried that people are more disconnected than ever from the governments that are meant to provide for their well-being.

The Vatican expressed its concern about the violence waged at a political rally in the United States and it offered its prayers for the nation, the victims and peace.

St. Peter’s Basilica hired two women to its team of “sanpietrini,” the church’s specialized artisans and workers, for the first time since the basilica’s maintenance office was established 500 years ago.

Pope Francis met July 11 with Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, head of external church relations for the Moscow Patriarchate, the Vatican announced.

The working document for the October assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality has called for responses to how all the baptized can better serve the Catholic Church and help heal humanity’s “deepest wounds.”

The Vatican has made public its 1974 decision denying the authenticity of Marian apparitions alleged to have occurred in Amsterdam between 1945 and 1959.

The General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops released the names of members of two sets of study groups that have been conducting an in-depth look into several themes that emerged during the first assembly of the synod on synodality in 2023.

Pope Francis called on representatives from the world’s religions to unite behind the defense of human dignity in an age that will be defined by artificial intelligence.

The Catholic Church can only teach the faithful if it is an institution that listens, but that does not mean it should take to heart every opinion uttered, according to the head of the church’s synod.

Catholics are called to be active participants in political life and be a force against the decline of democracy worldwide, Pope Francis said.