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Pope Francis

Pope Francis greets families of Vatican City employees Dec. 21, 2017. Credit: Vatican Media.

Pope Francis asks families to put down their phones on Holy Family feast

Dec 29, 2019

On the feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth Sunday, Pope Francis encouraged families to get off their cell phones and talk to one another.

Pope Francis gives the Urbi et Orbi blessing from the center loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica Dec. 25, 2019. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

Pope Francis on Christmas: Christ's light is greater than the darkness of world's conflicts

Dec 26, 2019

On Christmas, Pope Francis prayed for Christ to bring light to the instability in Iraq, Lebanon, Venezuela, Yemen, Ukraine, Burkina Faso, and other parts of the world experiencing conflict.

Pope Francis and UN Secretary General António Guterres in the Vatican Apostolic Palace Dec. 20, 2019. Credit: credit: EWTN-CNA/Evandro Inetti/Vatican Pool

Pope Francis and UN Secretary General record video urging religious freedom, climate protection

Dec 20, 2019

Pope Francis and the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres recorded a video message together at the Vatican Friday in which the two leaders urge the importance of religious freedom, human dignity, and environmental protection.

Pope Francis greets pilgrims after the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square, Dec. 4, 2019. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.

Pope Francis Urges "community of solidarity" Between Young and Old

Dec 16, 2019

The elderly are crucial in a society respectful of the rights of all, Pope Francis told leaders and members of Italy’s National Association of Elderly Workers on Monday.

Bishop Alfred Rotich, retired Local Ordinary of Kenya's Military Ordinariate, appointed as Bishop of Kericho Diocese in Kenya on December 14, 2019 / ACI Africa

Newly Appointed Kenyan Bishop Rotich: Early Desires, Military Apostolate, Returning Home

Dec 16, 2019

Appointed Saturday, December 14 to shepherd the people of God in Kenya’s Kericho Diocese by the Holy Father, Bishop Alfred Rotich, the retired Military Ordinariate Local Ordinary was born in the same diocese 62 years ago to a family of 13 children. This is part of the Rift Valley region, a place whose weather pattern, warm temperate climate and slightly acidic soil is appropriate for agriculture, with inhabitants engaged in large scale tea farming as their main cash crop.

Pope Francis celebrates Gaudete Sunday Mass with Rome's Filipino community Dec. 15, 2019. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

Pope Francis Celebrates a Filipino Christmas Tradition at the Vatican

Dec 15, 2019

On Gaudete Sunday, Pope Francis celebrated a Filipino Christmas tradition in St. Peter’s Basilica -- the Simbang Gabi Christmas novena.

Christmas tree in St. Peter's Square on December 9, 2016. Credit: Vatican Media/CNA.

Pope Francis: Advent is a Time of Conversion

Dec 15, 2019

As Pope Francis blessed children's nativity scene figurines Sunday, the pope said that the Advent season is a time of conversion to make space in one’s heart for Christ to come and fill it with joy.

A young Fr. Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Credit: Society of Jesus

Pope Francis Celebrates 50th Ordination Anniversary by Honoring his Mentor

Dec 13, 2019

Fifty years ago on Dec. 13, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was ordained a Jesuit priest in Argentina. As pope, he will celebrate his ordination anniversary Friday by honoring one of his early spiritual mentors, Fr. Miguel Angel Fiorito.

Papal appointments of December 12, 2019: from left, Archbishop-elect Stephen Ameyu of Juba in South Sudan, Bishop-elect Daniel Nzika of Congo-Brazzaville’s Impfondo, and Bishop-elect Julius Yakubu Kundi of Kafanchan in Nigeria.

Pope Transfers Bishop in South Sudan, Appoints New Bishops in Congo-Brazzaville, Nigeria

Dec 13, 2019

On Thursday, December 12, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of two African Prelates and made three Episcopal appointments for the Church in Africa that included the transfer of the Local Ordinary of South Sudan’s Torit diocese, Bishop Stephen Ameyu to Juba Archdiocese and the naming of Fr. Daniel Nzika and Fr. Julius Yakubu Kundi as new Bishops in the Congo and Nigeria respectively.

Pope Francis celebrates Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez (ACI)

Pope Francis: Our Lady of Guadalupe is 'woman, mother, and mestiza'

Dec 12, 2019

Pope Francis celebrated Dec. 12 Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, at which the pope mentioned that through the apparition, Mary revealed herself to be the mother of all humanity.

Pope Francis greets religious sisters at a general audience Oct. 30, 2019. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

Pope Francis: 'Holiness is the true light of the Church'

Dec 12, 2019

Pope Francis said Thursday that the often hidden holiness lived out in everyday life is a true light within the Church.

Fr. Sibusiso Zulu (left) and Fr. Owen Wilcock (right)  from South Africa who died in a car accident on December 3 / SACBC

Pope Francis Condoles with Families of Seminary Formators in South Africa

Dec 10, 2019

Pope Francis has expressed his condolences to the families of the two priests, formators at Saint John Vianney Seminary in Pretoria, South Africa, who died in the December 3 road accident and made known his prayerful solidarity with the two others who survived the Tuesday afternoon tragedy.

Archbishop-elect Gabriel Sayaogo of Koupéla

Burkina Faso’s Koupéla Archdiocese to Have A New Shepherd: Papal Transfer

Dec 10, 2019

Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Gabriel Sayaogo, who has been the Local Ordinary of Burkina Faso’s Manga diocese, the new Archbishop of Koupéla, an Archdiocese in the Eastern region of the West African country where Archbishop Séraphin François Rouamba has been the Shepherd.

Statue of the Immaculate Conception in Rome's Piazza di Spagna Dec. 8, 2019. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

"You never stop loving your children": Pope Francis' Prayer for the Immaculate Conception

Dec 8, 2019

For the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Pope Francis Sunday venerated a statue of the Virgin Mary located in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna, reciting a prayer he wrote for the occasion.

Religious Leaders and other stakeholders at the end of a 3-day workshop in Kinshasa to Launch the interfaith initiative for the preservation of the tropical forest in DR Congo on Thursday Dec 5, 2019

Churches Partner to Preserve Tropical Forest in DR Congo, Appreciate Laudato Si’

Dec 7, 2019

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Catholic Church has partnered with the Church of Christ of Congo (ECC) to preserve the tropical forest in line with Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter ‘Laudato si’ which calls on the Church and the world to acknowledge the urgency of our environmental challenges and to join him in embarking on a new path.

Blessed Isidore Bakanja (left) and Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta,(right) the two Congolese Blesseds awaiting canonization

The Two “Blesseds” Congolese Community in Rome Want Pope Francis to Canonize

Dec 6, 2019

On Sunday, December 1, at the three-in-one event marking 25 years since the inauguration of the Congolese Catholic Chaplaincy in Rome, 25th anniversary of the beatification of Catechist and martyr Isidore Bakanja, and the feast of Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta, citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) residing in the Italian capital pleaded with Pope Francis, who had joined them for a special Mass, to have Blessed Anuarite and Blessed Bakanja canonized.

The 2019 Vatican nativity scene and Christmas tree. Credit: Vatican Media.

Pope Francis: Don't Forget the Real Meaning of Christmas

Dec 5, 2019

Ahead of the Vatican Christmas tree lighting Dec. 5, Pope Francis expressed hope that the nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square will serve as a reminder of what Christmas is truly about.

Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square Nov. 13, 2019. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

Pope Francis Tells Jesuits He is Shocked by Anti-immigration Narratives in Europe

Dec 5, 2019

Pope Francis decried the mistreatment of migrants and said that he is shocked by anti-immigration narratives within Europe during a conversation with Jesuits in Thailand published Thursday.

Pope Francis with Peter Lombardi at the General Audience in St. Peter's Square, March 28, 2018. Credit: Vatican Media.

Pope Francis: Disabled People are not in Humanity's Minor 'leagues'

Dec 3, 2019

Pope Francis said Tuesday that disabled people make important contributions to humanity, and called discrimination against them a sin. The pope added that disabled people are not members of humanity's minor “leagues.”

Heads of Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties in Africa joined by the Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, Archbishop Angelo Vincenzo Zani at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), Nairobi, Kenya to present Pope Francis' Veritatis Gaudium Nov. 29-30, 2019. / ACI Africa

Heads of Church Universities in Africa Strategize Aligning with Pope’s “Veritatis Gaudium”

Dec 3, 2019

With the legal effect of the new Apostolic Constitution governing institutions that offer Vatican-approved degrees into its second academic year for many such academic and formation entities in Africa, heads of these Church institutions of higher learning across the continent including Chancellors, Rectors, Presidents and Deans of faculties met in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi to strategize the aligning of the administration of their respective facilities with the new norms contained in the document of Pope Francis, “Veritatis Gaudium” (the joy of truth).