Pope Francis will not preside over the traditional end-of-the-year prayer service nor the New Year’s Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica due to “painful sciatica,” the Vatican said.

The Vatican’s coronavirus commission and the Pontifical Academy for Life issued a joint statement calling for a coordinated international effort to ensure the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.

Discalced Carmelite Father Reginald Foster — a world-renowned teacher of Latin, former longtime Vatican Latinist and colorful character who intrigued journalists — died in Milwaukee Dec. 25 at the age of 81.

As the fifth anniversary of his apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” approaches, Pope Francis announced that the Catholic Church will dedicate more than a year to focusing on the family and conjugal love.

On a Christmas like no other, Pope Francis prayed for people who could not be with their families because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he urged everyone to recognize and help those who are suffering even more.

The birth of Christ is a gift from God that brings people hope and courage in troubled times, Pope Francis said Christmas Eve.

While Christmas has become a universal holiday, even for many nonbelievers, its celebration always should focus on the reality that God sent his son into the world to save humanity, Pope Francis said.

Two top Vatican officials — Cardinal Konrad Krajewski and Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello — have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, Italian media reported, and a Vatican source confirmed.

The Vatican’s doctrinal office said that when alternative vaccines are not available, it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines developed or tested using cell lines originating from aborted fetuses.

Reaching out to and helping the poor “is to imitate God; it is to make oneself small out of love in order to raise up the other,” the preacher of the papal household told Pope Francis, officials of the Roman Curia and Vatican employees.