The pope has named Francesca Di Giovanni, an Italian lay woman, to be the second undersecretary of the secretariat’s Section for the Relations with States.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI did not co-author the book ‘From the Depths of Our Hearts’ with Cardinal Robert Sarah and asked to have his name removed as co-author, according to Archbishop Georg Gänswein.

They call on the church “not to be impressed” by “the bad advocacies, the diabolical lies, the erroneous ways by which they wished to devalue priestly celibacy” in the media reporting of that synod.

Pope Francis stressed the need for reform and a new approach to evangelization in his annual Christmas address to the Roman Curia. America‘s Vatican correspondent, Gerard O'Connell, reports.

Pope Francis has abolished the pontifical secret for sexual misconduct cases concerning clerics, reports America’s Vatican correspondent Gerard O'Connell, a decision long called for by survivors of abuse.

Francis had decided to present Father Fiorito’s writings in the Jesuit Curia as “a way to express my gratitude for all that the Society [of Jesus] has given me and done for me.”

On this 50th anniversary of his priesthood, Francis, who now sees himself as “the world’s parish priest,” continued working as usual with a long series of audiences in the morning, including singers and musicians who will perform in the annual Vatican concert for Christmas.

The congregation's task has always been “the transmission and dissemination of the faith throughout the whole world.”

In 2015, Francis had Tomasito laid to rest in the Teutonic cemetery in the Vatican, close to the place where St. Peter was executed.

Father Sosa said the Society of Jesus will also seek to respond to “the concrete requests of Pope Francis” in support of his work for the renewal of the church and its structures.