Pope Francis has named Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, a member of the Congregation for Bishops, the office that advises the pope on the nomination of bishops around the world.

Although it took obvious effort to pronounce each word and sometimes his secretary repeated what he said to make it clear, retired Pope Benedict XVI spoke to an Italian newspaper about his retirement and about Pope Francis’ planned trip to Iraq.

A special working group of the U.S. bishops formed last November to deal with conflicts that could arise between the policies of President Joe Biden, a Catholic, and church teaching has completed its work, Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez said in a March 1 memo to all the U.S. bishops.

Pope Francis said he believes he will die in Rome, either in office or retired, and will not be buried in his native Argentina.

The new pathway to canonization puts the focus on the nature of the candidate’s death — that it was a free and willing offer of one’s Christian life and a heroic acceptance, out of love, of a certain and early death.

A priest related to Princes William and Harry took a major step closer to sainthood when Pope Francis declared him venerable.

A month after reading an interview in the Vatican newspaper with Edith Bruck, an author and Holocaust survivor, Pope Francis decided to pay her a visit at her home in the center of Rome.

Pope Francis accepted the resignations of 75-year-old Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, and 77-year-old Cardinal Angelo Comastri, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and vicar for Vatican City State.

Pope Francis told attendees at this year’s all-virtual Los Angeles Religious Education Congress to look for hope amid the pandemic — “a difficult time for all” — in the very theme of their gathering: “Proclaim the Promise!”

“Seeing the results and the images that come out of missions like Perseverance, I hope these will be an inspiration to the next generation of young scientists,” said Jesuit Brother Robert Macke.