“Even if you leave the ordination question aside for a moment, there is still a great need to explore ways of engaging women in all other levels of the life of the church in significant roles. There is still a lot of work to be done.”

“More than objects, they are human beings.” said Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State.

The “Doctrine of Discovery” is the leveraging of the idea of discovery to argue for and put into law a claim on and right to indigenous lands. It has no current and actively sustained legal connection.

Indigenous groups have pressured Catholic leaders to denounce a series of papal bulls dating back to the 15th century that granted the monarchs of Portugal and Spain the right to colonize non-Christian lands.

Chileans will get to vote on Sunday as to whether or not to adopt a new constitution. Chilean Catholics face a document that supports some Catholic ideas of equality and community yet also codifies abortion and euthanasia.

Gerry Desnomie, 74, suffered verbal, emotional and sexual abuse in a church-run residential school. He welcomed the pope’s apology in Canada—but says three points were missing.