During a press conference on the flight from Panama to Rome, the pope spoke on a variety of topics, including the situation in Venezuela, the issue of married priests, sex education in schools and the Vatican's sex abuse summit.

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley believes that Venezuela’s interim president, Juan Guaido, “has come up with a formula that could avoid a civil war, could avoid bloodshed” in the country, and he regrets that the country’s military have “not yet” sided with him.

The U. S. Conference of Catholic bishops in a statement issued on January 20, 2019, urged President Trump and the Congress to come to an agreement to end the government shutdown which is hurting many people.

Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, Washington's retired archbishop, apologized Jan. 15 for what he called a "lapse of memory," clarifying that he knew of at least one abuse allegation against former U.S. Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, but he had "forgotten" about it.

The Catholic church would benefit if bishops felt more like local leaders and less like regional managers in a Rome-based nonprofit. One way to move in that direction would be to have the clergy elect their bishops.

There is no question that the process for the appointment of bishops should be updated. But the election of bishops with procedures similar to democratic elections would only exacerbate all kinds of rifts in the Catholic Church today.