Pope Francis hopes to visit Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan in July, with possible trips to Ukraine and Lebanon before that. But this past weekend, the pope struggled to move around during his trip to Malta.
The world is witnessing “ever-more horrendous acts of cruelty done against civilians, unarmed women and children, whose innocent blood cries out to heaven and implores, ‘End this war.’”
By tempering his rhetoric on Ukraine, the pope is protecting his role as a peacemaker. He is also downplaying any conflict between Western Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.
It had been rumored for some time that Pope Francis would appoint the internationally well-known and much-liked Ghanaian cardinal to another high-level position in the Holy See.