“Peace requires before all else the defense of life,” which is threatened by the “alleged ‘right to abortion,'” Pope Francis told ambassadors accredited to the Holy See.

– Telling parents and godparents to teach their little ones to pray from the time they are small, Pope Francis baptized 13 babies in the Sistine Chapel as their older brothers and sisters looked on — or got away and ran around.

Father Federico Lombardi said that the pope’s message was a “very refined and profound” tribute to his predecessor that respected the liturgy of a funeral Mass.

With the same spirit and aims that behind his recent reform and reorganization of the Roman Curia, Pope Francis, as Bishop of Rome, has overhauled the Vicariate of Rome.

Faith is a journey inspired by restless questioning, fraught with risk, powered by perseverance in prayer and charity, and culminating in the awe, wonder and worship of the Lord, Pope Francis said.

In what looks like a continuation of pontifical legacy, Pope Benedict XVI was buried in the crypt where his Polish predecessor, St. John Paul II, was first buried.

Among the more than 50,000 people in St. Peter’s Square Jan. 5 for the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, who said the subdued nature of the liturgy was at the request of the retired pontiff, the first to resign the papacy in more than 600 years.

The mood in St. Peter’s Square in the hours leading up to the historic funeral for Pope Benedict XVI was much more festive than somber.

Pope Benedict XVI was a renowned theologian, a “recognized authority,” who left “a rich legacy of studies and research on the fundamental truths of the faith,” said the official summary of his life and papacy.

Pope Benedict XVI “spread and testified to” the Gospel his entire life, Pope Francis told tens of thousands of people gathered Jan. 5 for his predecessor’s funeral Mass.