While the release of the working document for the Synod of Bishops on synodality is expected sometime in early June, Pope Francis tried to respond to some of the questions and concerns about the synod process that already have been raised.

People must end the “senseless war against creation” and help victims of environmental and climate injustice, Pope Francis said.

People of faith and those working in the fields of science, economics and politics need to work together to help care for life and humanity’s common home, said Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Christians should pray on Pentecost that the Holy Spirit would give them the courage and strength to share the Gospel, Pope Francis said.

At a time when Vatican-Chinese relations are strained because of apparent differences over an agreement to name bishops, the pope publicly marked the annual World Day of Prayer for the Catholic Church in China May 24, the feast of Mary, Help of Christians, “venerated and invoked at the Shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan in Shanghai.”

“War is a pandemic. It involves us all,” said Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Italian prelate chosen by Pope Francis to lead an initiative for peace in Ukraine.

Argentina’s Catholic Church is going through a process of soul-searching as the country gets ready for general elections in October, four decades after the end of the last military dictatorship.

Although she died centuries ago, the English mystic Julian of Norwich continues to remind people of the importance of “faith in God’s loving providence and holiness of life expressed in generous service to our brothers and sisters in need,” Pope Francis said.

The Vatican has pulled from circulation a World Youth Day stamp of Pope Francis with young people in an image that resembles propaganda from Portugal’s former dictatorship.

Asking European leaders for “creative efforts for peace” in Ukraine, the Vatican secretary of state said the Holy See “will continue to do its part.”