“My fragility, the fragility of each one of us, is a theological place of encounter with the Lord. The ‘superman’ priests end up badly, all of them,” Pope Francis said.

John Kerry, Biden’s special envoy for climate, gave a keynote address at the Vatican and will have a private meeting with Pope Francis.

While millions of laypeople around the world are recognized as catechists in their parish or diocese, Pope Francis is preparing to formally institute the “ministry of catechist.”

“Be poor like the holy, faithful people of God are poor,” he told nine men just before ordaining them to the priesthood for the Diocese of Rome. “Don't be climbers” seeking some kind of “ecclesiastical career.”

The pope, who was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, marked the Feast of St. George April 23 by visiting people who came to the Vatican for the second dose of their Covid-19 vaccinations.

The Vatican conference will seek to move away from a theology of the priesthood based on ‘ecclesiastical power’ toward one rooted in the priesthood of all believers conferred at baptism.

The countries in the world with the most people baptized Catholics continue to be, in order: Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, the United States and Italy.

German and Swiss bishops who knew and worked with Father Hans Küng described him as a man who loved the Catholic Church, even though the theologian sometimes went beyond the limits of Catholic doctrine and criticized the decisions of church leaders.

Three days after the preacher of the papal household called on Catholics to repent for the ways they are dividing the church, the Vatican secretary of state said the divisions are real and they are harmful.

"Fraternity among Catholics is wounded," Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa said. "Divisions between churches have torn Christ's tunic to shreds.”