With a soft and raspy voice, Pope Francis began his weekly general audience by making the sign of the cross and explaining that “I’m still not well with this flu, and my voice isn’t great,” so he would have an aide read his catechesis and greetings.

Making places more accessible for people with disabilities requires removing physical barriers and adjusting attitudes to be more open and inclusive, Pope Francis said.

For Father Edward Looney, president of the Mariological Society of America, said the St. Andrew Novena is “prayerful preparation” for Christmas.

“With great regret,” Pope Francis has accepted his doctors’ advice to not travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Dec. 1-3 and is looking at alternative ways the Vatican can participate in the U.N. Climate Change Conference, the director of the Vatican press office said.

Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, is expected to sign an immigration bill that would make it a state crime to cross into Texas from Mexico. Catholic organizations including the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops have opposed the legislation.

Ukrainian church leaders have joined anniversary commemorations of the 1932-1933 Holodomor, or Great Famine, in which millions died in a disaster deliberately engineered by Soviet Union rulers.

If upholding a nation’s laws is dependent on the politics of those in power or on their opinion about who is and is not deserving of protection, then democracy and justice are threatened, Pope Francis said.

As Vatican workers continued to decorate the Christmas tree in St. Peter’s Square and to erect a platform for the Nativity scene, the office of papal liturgical ceremonies published the list of holiday Masses and prayer services Pope Francis would celebrate.

An important part of the mission of Catholic media is to forgo the shocking, sensational or superficial when such stories present the people involved as less than human and unworthy of respect, Pope Francis said.

Kalderon spends most days in Tel Aviv now joining other hostage family members in telling their stories to the media in order to keep the focus on those being held captive amid a destructive air and ground campaign being waged that has also killed thousands of innocent Palestinians caught in the crossfire.