The elevation is a call to "reflect more deeply on the dignity of women, the new evangelization and the greatness of the mystery of divine mercy."

The pope will attend two ecumenical events and celebrate Mass with Catholics when he visits on Oct. 31.

Pope Francis and Ahmad el-Tayeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar University, met at the Vatican on May 23.

Authorities arrested six people who have maintained contact with a couple that left Italy to join the Islamic State in Syria.

The pope signed 12 decrees, including one recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Jesuit Father John Sullivan.

"The climate right now is causing disasters and making it difficult for people to live wholesome, decent lives."

Spanish Msgr. Lucio Vallejo Balda cited a Whatsapp conversation in which Francesca Chaouqui told him: "I will destroy you in all the newspapers and you know that I can do it."

"Pedophilia and the attachment to money are the two behaviors of the clergy that have most wounded and angered the Christian people," Servite Father Ermes Ronchi said during the retreat on March 9.

The meeting of cardinals and promoters of the sainthood causes, also known as an "ordinary public consistory," formally ends the process of approving a new saint.

The number of baptized Catholics reached 1.27 billion or 17.8 percent of the global population.