Pope Francis prayed that the Jubilee Year may become “a season of hope” and reconciliation in a world at war and suffering humanitarian crises as he opened the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve.

In Francis’ 12th Christmas address to the Roman Curia, he reminded them, “An ecclesial community lives in joyful and fraternal harmony to the extent that its members walk the path of humility.”

In a new autobiography, Pope Francis revealed that he escaped two assassination attempts during his visit to Iraq in March 2021, including one involving a young woman who was believed to be attempting a suicide bombing.

Pope Francis, on his first visit to Corsica, praised the island people's deep faith and tradition of popular piety. On December 5, thousands of Corsicans gathered in Ajaccio to welcome the first pope ever to visit the island.

Pope Francis’ visit to Corsica will be his third visit to France, though he has yet to visit Paris.

Pope Francis offered a heartfelt appeal for death row prisoners in the United States, which significantly comes as Joe Biden, the second Catholic president in the country’s history, nears the end of his term.

When Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi receives the red hat and cardinal’s ring from Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 7, he will be the seventh Japanese cardinal in the history of the Catholic Church.

“In Hong Kong, we have our wounds that we need to heal,” Cardinal Stephen Chow, S.J., the bishop of Hong Kong, told America’s Vatican correspondent in this exclusive interview.

“The Roman Curia can no longer say, ‘The law is set here, and it is to be obeyed out there,’” Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta told America’s Vatican correspondent in this exclusive interview.

In “a note of accompaniment” to the final document, the pope made clear that Catholic bishops throughout the world are to lead their churches in building a synodal and missionary church in the 21st century.