The pope will create 20 new cardinals on Aug. 27. Sixteen of them are eligible to vote in a papal conclave, and 11 are from or based in countries outside Europe and North America.

Although Pope Francis repeatedly has spoken out on behalf of the Ukrainian people, this was not the first time Ukrainian officials have been upset with Pope Francis for what they see as equating the actions of the aggressor with the victim.

The pope told the patriarch that “we are not clerics of the state, we cannot use the language of politics, but of Jesus.”

“Today, in a special way, six months since the start of the war, let us think of Ukraine and Russia, two countries I consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.... We need peace.”

Two state-sponsored church bodies in China have elected new leaders, who promised to invigorate the Catholic faithful pastorally in line with the socialist principles of the Chinese Communist Party.

Retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland, O.S.B. of Milwaukee, a leading Catholic intellectual who pushed for social justice and increased power for women in the church before he resigned amid a sexual and financial scandal, has died.