Reaffirming their fidelity to the pope and the Gospel, Catholic bishops in Africa have released a common response to a recent Vatican declaration, saying they “generally prefer” not to offer blessings to same-sex couples.

The priest detailed the qualities of “real priests” versus those who side with “Bergoglio and his mercenaries.” He said the See of Peter is occupied by a “masonic Jesuit tied to a group of globalists, an antipope usurper.”

The huge advances in new information technologies, the pope said, “offer exciting opportunities and grave risks, with serious implications for the pursuit of justice and harmony among peoples.”

In a “note” from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican has upheld a rule mandating that the ashes of the deceased be preserved in a consecrated place.

The Catholic Church has long denounced Freemasonry; in particular, Pope Leo XIII, in the late 19th century, insisted “Christianity and Freemasonry are essentially irreconcilable.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has reached out to known victims of Slovenian Father Marko Rupnik, asking to meet with them.

Many Catholics overcame their antisemitic prejudices to rescue and save Jewish people in danger, “sometimes at the cost of their lives,” some Jewish and Catholic historians said at an international conference.

Israel’s Embassy to the Holy See underlined the need for the church to condemn “the hideous crime,” name the perpetrators and acknowledge “Israel’s basic right to defend itself against the atrocity.”

“The reality of sexual abuse in our church goes to the heart of the synod’s agenda,” a statement by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors said.

The world and the Catholic Church today need to take a leap forward “in faith, charity and hope,” Pope Francis said in his homily at a late afternoon Mass in Marseille’s open-air stadium.