Asked Thursday if there have been times when he had to resolve legal questions that conflict with his Catholic faith, Thomas said it has not been a problem for him.

It was 100 years ago—on Sept. 12, 1921—when the Maryknoll Sisters assigned its first group of sisters to China, the order’s first mission.

Rocco Buttliere cobbled together 67,000 tiny, plastic Lego pieces to create an improbably realistic 3D replica of Vatican City State.

“Even in the College of Cardinals, there are some negationists,” Francis said Wednesday, en route home from Slovakia.

Celebrating Mass on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, the pope encouraged Slovak Catholics to open their hearts to a faith that “identifies with those who are hurting, suffering and forced to bear heavy crosses.”

This year’s National Catholic Prayer Breakfast had no political speakers and only a small political contingent in attendance, and there was little mention of an upcoming Supreme Court case involving a Mississippi abortion ban.