Justin McLellan

Signaling the Vatican's growing engagement in efforts to ensure the ethical development of new technologies, the Vatican has announced that "Artificial Intelligence and Peace" will be the theme for the next World Day of Peace, which is scheduled for Jan. 1, 2024.

Vietnam will allow a papal representative to reside in the country and open an office there to support Vietnam's estimated 6.5 million Catholics in a sign of the country's improved relations with the Holy See.

Representatives of the Roman Curia and the German bishops' conference discussed theological and disciplinary issues related to the German church's Synodal Path in a "positive and constructive climate" during a meeting at the Vatican July 26.

Young people today must be open to love and let themselves be led and accompanied by God in the face of life's challenges, Pope Francis said.

The Gospel calls Christians to bring the elderly to the center of their lives and away from the margins of families, politics and financial markets that banish them as "unprofitable waste" in society, Pope Francis said.

Christians are called to be modern-day prophets who guide others to see the Holy Spirit at work in everyday life and not to be superstitious people who try to predict or control the future, Pope Francis said July 2.

The Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches should join efforts to promote peace before threats of a "major global armed conflict," the head of the Russian Orthodox Church told Pope Francis' envoy on a peace mission to Moscow.

In the mold of Sts. Peter and Paul, Catholics are called to be members of a church that constantly follows Jesus and proclaims his word by putting preaching at the center of its ministry, Pope Francis said. 

Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi was scheduled to meet with a Kremlin foreign policy adviser during the peace mission he is making to Moscow on Pope Francis's behalf, the Kremlin said.

Speaking to members of the International Commission for Dialogue between the Disciples of Christ and the Catholic Church at the Vatican June 28, the pope said that Christian unity comes from "walking together" while remaining open to the Spirit's role in creating harmony amid the differences between Christians.

Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi will go to Moscow on the second leg of a peace mission on behalf of Pope Francis, the Vatican said.

With a green light from his doctor, Pope Francis has assured young people that he will be with them in Portugal for World Youth Day despite his recent surgery.

Pope Francis told students of the Vatican Observatory Summer School that even as humanity better understands the vastness of space, "perhaps the most amazing thing about this universe is that it contains creatures like us, men and women who possess the ability to observe it with wonder."

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly referred to as Lula, gave Pope Francis a statue of Our Lady of Nazareth, patroness of the Amazon, and an invitation to attend the October festival that celebrates her.

The Vatican's criminal court ordered two climate activists to pay more than $30,000 in damages after they glued themselves to an ancient sculpture in the Vatican Museums to draw attention to the effects of climate change.

The Catholic Church's synodal process is an invitation to invest in the pastoral and professional formation of women in the church, said the newly elected president of a global network of Catholic women's associations.

A papal resignation should occur only in "truly extreme cases" and must not "become the norm," said the former head of the Vatican's doctrinal office.

A faster change of course away from today's throwaway culture and toward greater care for the common good is necessary to ensure the planet's livability for future generations, Pope Francis said on World Environment Day, June 5.

The flag of Vatican City, yellow and white with crossed keys under the papal tiara, is incorrect in many emojis, flying outside the United Nations and often even on Vatican buildings.

The Catholic Church's current Synod of Bishops should not be a "parliament for demanding rights," but a "journey in accordance with the Spirit," Pope Francis said. The synod, which seeks to gather input from all baptized Catholics on building a listening church, is not "an occasion for following wherever the wind is blowing, but the opportunity to submit to the breath of the Spirit," he said.