Most of the 18 Catholic missionaries murdered in 2022 were not carrying out high-risk missions when they were assassinated but were simply “immersed and submerged in the ordinariness of their lives and their apostolic work,” said the editor of Fides, the Vatican’s missionary news service.

The day after Pope Francis told people retired Pope Benedict was “very sick” and in need of prayers, the Vatican said he had had a restful night and described him as being in serious, but stable condition.

The birth of Jesus in a stable “shows us God’s ‘style,’ which is closeness, compassion, and tenderness,” Pope Francis told visitors and pilgrims at his weekly general audience.

The most important question a Christian can ask when making any decision in life is “where the greatest love is to be found,” Pope Francis wrote in a letter marking the 400th anniversary of St. Francis de Sales, a doctor of the church.

Saying that retired Pope Benedict XVI was “very sick,” Pope Francis asked people to offer special prayers for him.

While 2022 finally saw the publication of Pope Francis’ constitution reforming the Roman Curia, the biggest news and the biggest changes in his ministry came from Russia’s war on Ukraine and from the pope’s own problems walking.

The day after Christmas the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, which emphasizes how the story of Jesus’ birth is not a “fairy tale,” but a call to live as witnesses of the Gospel, Pope Francis said.

With the birth of Jesus, God became flesh to share the joys and sorrows, hopes and fears of all people, especially the poor and those living daily amid danger, Pope Francis said in his Christmas message.

Christ was born to touch people’s hearts and show that love is the power that changes the course of history, Pope Francis said.

The names of the prisoners were given in the hope that the pope “may be able to facilitate their liberation or at least an improvement in their conditions of detention,” the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, reported.