Recognizing how war and political differences can increase Christian divisions, believers must keep their focus on Christ and his Gospel, said members of a delegation of the World Council of Churches that met with Pope Francis.

Clericalization led to the separation of the clergy from the faithful in the church’s liturgy celebrated before the Second Vatican Council, said Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household.

The Community of Sant’Egidio, which cares for the basilica and the shrine, hosted an event March 23 to dedicate a new exposition space among the ruins in the crypt as a museum and memorial to the new martyrs of both the 20th and 21st centuries.

Pope Francis has advanced the sainthood causes of five women and a priest.

When presenting its moral teachings on bioethics, the church needs to avoid falling into the “extremist dynamics of polarization” seen in media debates, Pope Francis said.

The “distorted” thought that one person is better than another goes against Catholic teachings and flies in the face of universal principles laid out in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Holy See’s United Nations envoy told a U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York.

According to Father Phillip Larrey, dean of the philosophy department at the Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University, Silicon Valley techies are posing those questions to ethicists and religious leaders as artificial intelligence develops rapidly and is used in myriad ways impacting people’s daily lives.

While promoting dialogue and building relationships with leaders of the European Union contribute to peace, bishops in EU countries also must be prophetic in denouncing war and encouraging all possible efforts to restore peace, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis has invited Catholics worldwide to renew the act of consecrating the church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine, to Mary every March 25, the feast of the Annunciation.

The Catholic Church’s ministry of granting absolution for sins and indulgences to remove the punishments those sins deserve is a ministry that builds communion, said speakers at a Vatican course.