The path to building an inclusive society is one where every person is seen as a brother or sister and “where the weak, the poor and the least are no longer seen as undesirables that keep the ‘machine’ from functioning,” the pope said on May 31, the first day of his visit to Romania.

On the eve of Pope Francis’ visit to Romania, the Greek Catholic bishop of Bucharest, Mihai Fratila, spoke about the changes in his homeland since St. John Paul II’s visit in 1999 and the contemporary difficulties Romanians face.

“I come as a pilgrim and a brother,” Pope Francis said in a video message to the people of Romania on the eve of his visit to the largest of the Balkan states and a predominantly Orthodox country.

The logic of “me first and then the others,” sometimes cited by believers and frequently used by politicians to gain votes and power in European countries, the United States and elsewhere, is not the logic of Christ.

The Polish bishops' administrative council met in emergency session May 22 and later admitted the church failed to act against clerical sexual abuse.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Monday defended his invocation of God at a political rally, after Italy's Catholic establishment criticized it as a cynical exploitation of faith ahead of European Parliament elections this weekend.