The Catholic Church must plead for forgiveness for the crime of the abuse of minors by its members and everything must be done to prevent such “a disgrace” from ever happening again, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis’ message for World Communications Day 2025 will look at how to “disarm” aggressive communication and share the hope of Christ with gentleness.

A new survey indicates that many Catholics in Latin America and the U.S. favor allowing women to become priests, with a number also supporting marriage for priests, birth control, same-sex marriage recognition and holy Communion for unmarried couples living together.

As the pope was departing to Luxembourg, not only were the homeless there but so was a little barking companion.

Calling St. John Paul II “one of the men who most shaped the last century,” Pope Francis encouraged Catholics to get to know him better, especially through what he did and wrote before being elected pope Oct. 16, 1978.

Following an investigation into an influential Peru-based Catholic movement that has expanded across Latin America and the United States, Pope Francis has expelled 10 members from its ranks for physical and spiritual abuse.

Whatever the outcome of America’s Nov. 5 presidential election, migrant and refugee advocates are predicting a challenging environment, said participants in a Sept. 24 video conference tackling the topic of how election results may impact Central America and those who are migrating through the region or coming from there to reach the U.S.-Mexico border.

Humanity needs to be motivated by spiritual values if it is to avoid being thrown into dangerous exploits and useless massacres, Pope Francis said.

With many of the concrete, hot-button issues removed from the agenda and turned over to study groups, some people wonder what members of the Synod of Bishops on synodality will be doing when they meet at the Vatican in October.

Following the death of an American woman in a so-called suicide capsule in Switzerland and the arrest of several people involved in her death, a Swiss bishop said the device is “dangerous” and that people willing to use the capsule should be deferred to palliative care instead.