The Catholic Church’s inability to make victims of abuse their top concern is a cause for intense shame, Pope Francis said.

A complete rebuild and expansion of the living quarters for the Swiss Guard will not only improve life for guards and their families, it will also allow for the future possibility of recruiting women.

Pope Francis praised his predecessor's courage in denouncing the danger of people no longer respecting or understanding the sacredness of human life in the introduction to a new book.

“Pope Francis invites the entire church to reflect on a theme that is decisive for its life and mission: ‘It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the church of the third millennium,’” the document says.

The chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan was due in part to a lack of foreseeing all possible eventualities, Pope Francis said in a new interview.

Pope Francis held a private audience with Nadia Murad, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and survivor of the Islamic State-led genocide in Iraq, Aug. 26 at the Vatican. She is the first Iraqi and Yazidi to be awarded a Nobel Prize.

The donation is meant to be “an immediate expression” of Pope Francis’ “feeling of spiritual closeness and paternal encouragement” for the people there.

U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke remains hospitalized, on a ventilator, “in serious but stable condition” with COVID-19, a spokesman said late Aug. 17.

The video insists that vaccines are safe, effective and an “act of love.” It features Pope Francis as well six cardinals and archbishops from North, Central and South America.

The Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican bank, showed a net profit of 36.4 million euros ($44.1 million) in 2020, according to its annual report.