The Vatican has approved the promotion of devotion to the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje but did not make any declaration on the alleged supernatural character of the Marian apparitions there.

At a press conference today, Cardinal Grech made clear that there’s no point in returning to these hot-button topics this October since they were already discussed at the first session and are now being studied in-depth.

Will he visit Argentina? Why didn’t he denounce the death penalty in Singapore? Is he satisfied with the results of the Vatican-China deal? Pope Francis answered these questions and more on the flight back to Rome.

Asked about the U.S. presidential election, Pope Francis weighed in on the choice between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

On the final leg of his 12-day journey to the East, Pope Francis moved from three countries struggling with poverty to a world of opulence in Singapore, the world’s third-largest financial hub.

Pope Francis is “popular among Catholics here, but may also be [seen as] influential among the general public, which sees him as an international leader for peace, harmony and equality,” Francis Lim, S.J., said.

Some 600,000 Catholics in Timor Leste, almost half the population of the majority-Catholic country, attended the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis on the evening of Sept. 10.

Pope Francis is the first pope to visit Timor Leste since the country won independence in 2002.

Pope Francis' 12-day trip continued with a visit to the remote city of Vanimo in Papua New Guinea.

Arriving in Papua New Guinea, Pope Francis called for greater efforts toward material development and lasting peace in the rural country, which has been plagued by economic underdevelopment and violence.