While sharing a private lunch with pilgrims from around the world, Pope Francis expressed his solidarity with victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy and emphasized the need for unity and prayer, a U.S. pilgrim said.

The pope said the road to Calvary is "a way of suffering and solitude" that is "prolonged in a society that has lost the ability to weep and to be moved by suffering."

Speaking to young detainees at a penitential liturgy in Las Garzas de Pacora Juvenile Detention Center in Panama Jan. 25, the pope said society creates "an adjective culture" that prefers to immediately label people as good or bad rather than truly getting to know them.

In meeting a delegation from the International Commission against the Death Penalty on December 17, 2018, Pope Francis urged nations to work toward its abolition and defend the dignity of life.

While greeting new ambassadors accredited to the Holy See in an audience on December 13, 2018, Pope Francis, in observance of the 70th anniversary of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, urged governments and world leaders to secure peace and promote the "development of each individual

"By beatifying our 19 brothers and sisters, the church wishes to bear witness to her desire to continue to work for dialogue, harmony and friendship."

The martyrs, who were murdered nine years after St. Romero was killed while celebrating Mass, were believed to have been targeted due to their outspoken calls for a cease-fire between government and rebel forces.

The book, titled "Il Giorno del Giudizio" ("Judgment Day"), was released Nov. 6 and reconstructs the events leading to Archbishop McCarrick's rise in the hierarchy while countering claims made by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, former nuncio to the United States.

As the Christmas season draws near, the Vatican postal service prepared a unique set of commemorative stamps designed by a talented, yet unlikely, artist: a prisoner serving a life sentence.

Six bishops representing episcopal conferences on five continents issued a joint statement calling on the international community to take immediate action against climate change.