Meeting hundreds of Nigerian Catholics who live, work and study in Rome, Pope Francis asked them to make their Rome parishes places where cultural, ethnic and linguistic differences are respected and shared.

Media outlets have a responsibility to share the truth, not spread ideologies, Pope Francis said.

Dressed in red vestments, the color of the Passion, Pope Francis presided over the Mass, the solemn beginning of Holy Week, but he skipped the homily and did not have an aide read any prepared remarks.

The Palm Sunday procession at the foot of an 85-foot-tall Egyptian obelisk in St. Peter’s Square recalls the martyrdom of many early Christians and the fast-thinking foresight of an Italian Renaissance sea captain.

The Holy Spirit is like a line prompter at a theater, behind the scenes and constantly whispering to Christians the words of Jesus, said the preacher of the papal household.

The Catholic Church’s “established, dogmatic models of the theological approach to sexuality have become anachronistic,” a moral theologian told a conference on sexuality and culture at the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences in Rome.

The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church has insisted his countrymen will “never surrender” to Russia’s invasion and that the pope’s recent call for a negotiation of terms with Moscow was “deeply hurtful” for his nation.

The Catholic Church needs people and pastors capable of walking alongside refugees to respond to the reality of forced migration across the Americas, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis has not accepted an invitation to travel to Moscow in June to meet with Vladimir Putin, the director of the Holy See press office said.

“War is always a defeat,” Pope Francis said, urging people at his general audience to pray that leaders in war-torn nations would have the courage to negotiate for peace.