A number of nations—many of which already possess nuclear arms—were boycotting the negotiations to ban such weapons.

The invitation came amid increasingly closer relations between the Vatican and al-Azhar University, which is considered the most authoritative theological-academic institution of Sunni Islam.

The answer to the refugee crisis is continued assistance "not to close the gates of the countries where people are knocking for survival," Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi said.

Solutions should focus more on correcting unjust systems and selfish behaviors than population control.

Marie Collins, one of the founding members and the last remaining abuse survivor on the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, has quit.

Even the pope's own astronomers applauded the new discovery.

The charter "reaffirms the sanctity of life" as a gift from God and calls on those working in health care to be "servants" and "ministers of life."

Communities need to be saved from "corruption, extortion, the illegal trafficking of drugs and weapons," he said.

"That is how one builds peace, saying 'no' to hatred and violence—with action—and 'yes' to fraternity and reconciliation," Pope Francis said on Jan. 1.

The imbalance in the world, one Jesuit expert has said, reflects how years of papal pleas and Vatican mandates have not been received or implemented consistently everywhere.