Francis has long desired to visit Malta where, according to the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul was shipwrecked in 60 A.D. while en route to Rome, where he had asked to be judged.

God is in all things. But in moments of pain and tragedy, we want that extra wink, that hand of comfort.

Attempts are being made to challenge the bishops’ authority to interpret church doctrine, Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer wrote in the newspaper Tagespost.

A Reflection for the Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent, by James Martin, S.J.

Pope Francis on Friday made a historic apology to Indigenous Peoples for the “deplorable” abuses they suffered in Canada’s Catholic-run residential schools.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” survivors explain their hopes for what healing can look like when the church and indigenous people face the truth together.