Pope Francis has appointed two Washington archdiocesan priests, Msgr. Juan R. Esposito-Garcia and Father Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, as auxiliary bishops of their archdiocese.

Pope Francis said he wrote a resignation letter in 2013, his first year in office, to be used in case he became physically or mentally impaired and unable to fulfill the duties of the papacy.

– In a live morning broadcast on Twitter Dec. 18, Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said he was not told directly by the Vatican that he has been laicized.

The interconnected “moral, social, political and economic crises” facing the world cannot be solved if individuals and nations continue to focus only on their own, immediate interests, Pope Francis said in his message for World Peace Day 2023.

According to Pope Francis, it takes courage and the grit of a “revolutionary” not only to follow Christ in today’s world, but also to be genuinely happy along the way.

Bianca Jagger, a native of Nicaragua who heads her own human rights commission, said she had pleaded with the pope to condemn the regime of Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua’s president since 2007, and also has appealed to Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes of Managua and to the country’s conference of bishops.

Expressing his desire to bear witness to “the truth,” Pope Francis is returning three marble fragments that were originally from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, according to the Vatican.

The Vatican has had diplomatic contact with Russia regarding comments Pope Francis made about Russian minorities being responsible for the worst acts of cruelty in the country’s war on Ukraine.

Welcoming new ambassadors to the Vatican from Belize, Bahamas, Thailand, Norway, Mongolia, Niger, Uganda and Sudan Dec. 15, the pope thanked the nations they represent for the many ways they contribute “to the common good not only of their citizens but of our entire human family.”

Pope Francis encouraged youngsters to put down their phones to spend time praying and looking at other people to see their needs.