The Catholic Church must take great care to avoid rites or blessings that suggest marriage is anything other than a sacramental bond between one man and one woman, the incoming prefect of the Vatican’s doctrinal office said.

Any book that is considered sacred by its people must be respected out of respect for the human person who holds it sacred, Pope Francis said.

Catholics must place the Eucharist at the center of their lives to transform their relationships with God and their neighbors, Pope Francis said.

The Vatican will establish a new commission to identify and catalogue Christians who have died for their faith in the last 25 years, Pope Francis said.

In order to eradicate hunger in the world, committed and experienced action must be taken that includes local and traditional cultures and peoples, Pope Francis said.

As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine hit the 493-day mark June 30, OSV News sat down with Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, papal nuncio to Ukraine, to discuss his experiences of the war.

The Vatican is developing a plan to return to Ukraine children illegally deported to Russia but is not jockeying to mediate the war, Pope Francis’ peace envoy said upon his return from his mission to Moscow.

Christians are called to be modern-day prophets who guide others to see the Holy Spirit at work in everyday life and not to be superstitious people who try to predict or control the future, 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, were down in 2022, but the amount of money the fund distributed increased significantly thanks to the proceeds of property sales, the Vatican said.

All wars are “utter disasters” for everyone, especially families, children, the elderly, refugees, communities and creation, Pope Francis said.