Young people today must be open to love and let themselves be led and accompanied by God in the face of life’s challenges, Pope Francis said.

The Gospel calls Christians to bring the elderly to the center of their lives and away from the margins of families, politics and financial markets that banish them as “unprofitable waste” in society, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis’ special envoy went to Washington to explore what the Vatican’s role could be in bringing about an end of hostilities in Ukraine, said the president of the U.S. bishops’ conference.

The top priority for Pope Francis’ peace envoy in his meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden was the repatriation of children forcibly deported from Ukraine to Russia, the papal nuncio to the United States said.

Pope Francis has sent Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, his special envoy, to Washington as part of his ongoing humanitarian efforts to help Ukraine.

Treated to songs, gifts and a paper medallion designating him “hero,” Pope Francis visited children attending a summer camp at the Vatican.

Pope Francis has rectified an irregularly appointed bishop in China for the “greater good of the diocese,” said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

Even if the fruits are not immediately visible, Christians are called to sow seeds of faith in the world and people around them in their daily lives, Pope Francis said.

On behalf of the bishops of the United States, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of Military Services, USA, and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, offered his congratulations and prayers July 9 upon Pope Francis’ announcement of the creation of 21 new cardinals.

Pope Francis named 21 new cardinals, including U.S.-born Archbishop Robert F. Prevost, who took the helm at the Dicastery for Bishops in April, and French Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States.