Pope Francis has continued to push for changes in the church, braving daunting opposition and several medical scares.

Cardinal Burke met privately with Pope Francis Dec. 29, about a month after reports that Pope Francis wanted to stop giving him a monthly salary and would ask him to pay the market rate for his Vatican apartment.

One must never dialogue, brothers and sisters, with the devil. Never!

Pope Francis urged people to pray and work for peace in no less than ten conflict situations worldwide.

"Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world."

In his annual Christmas address to cardinals and bishops who work at the Vatican, Pope Francis said the real division in the church since Vatican II is “between lovers and those who have lost that initial passion.”