The pope recorded the messages in the spur-of-the-moment when he received the new bishop of Hong Kong, Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan, S.J., in a private audience at the papal library in the Vatican’s apostolic palace.

Some commentators have called this  “revolutionary,” but others say it has deep roots in church tradition.

“I invite every community and every one of the faithful to join with me next Friday, March 25, the solemnity of the Annunciation, in making this solemn act of consecration of humanity.”

“Praedicate Evangelium” allows for greater involvement of lay men and women in church governance and assigns the protection of minors a central place in the Curia’s structure. 

The first Protestant ever to be employed as an editor by L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican daily newspaper, has published a 367-page book on the ecumenical journey of the first Latin American pope.

America has learned the meeting between the two religious leaders was first planned a week ago. It was not confirmed who initiated the exchange, but it was the first time the two have spoken since this war broke out.

On the 17th day of the war in Ukraine, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, repeated Pope Francis’ call for “an immediate ceasefire” in Ukraine.

“The people who come are not dead in a technical sense, but they have lost their lives. And they don’t have a new one yet, so they are terribly beaten, and terribly vulnerable.”

Sister Lucía departed from Manresa at 6 a.m. on March 4 and arrived in Romania the following evening. On the morning of March 6, she set out on the return journey to Spain, bringing six refugees with her.

“Faith can move mountains, not to mention a stupid war,” Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner whom Pope Francis sent to Ukraine, told journalists in Lviv.