Pope Francis appealed for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza after the killing of seven aid workers and the bombing of the Iranian consulate, warning against the war’s escalation.

It appears Pope Francis did not want the story of his relationship with Benedict XVI to be told by others, least of all by Archbishop Georg Gänswein.

The pope called for specific, concrete, immediate steps that political leaders could take to end the wars and bring peace to the Holy Land and to Ukraine.

Does the Holy See think Israel is conducting a genocide in Gaza? Did Pope Francis call on Ukraine to surrender? Gerard O’Connell asks these questions and more in an exclusive interview with Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

Though Pope Francis skipped over his prepared homily at today’s Palm Sunday Mass, he used the opening of Holy Week to condemn terrorism and war in Moscow, Ukraine and Gaza.

Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera and Teresa Morris Kettelkamp will lead the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Pope Francis has asked the October synod to focus not on single issues but on one key question: “How to be a synodal church in mission?”

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmitro Kuleba, said on Sunday that Ukraine will “never” raise the white flag to negotiate with Russia, and criticized the pope’s remarks for asking to do just this.

“We have to make ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ a reality,” Archbishop García Cuerva tell Gerard O’Connell. “We must make a reality Francis’ words, his documents, his vision of the church as a field hospital.”

At the noon prayer on Sunday, Pope Francis called for a cease-fire and for “the continuation of negotiations” to bring about the release of hostages taken by Hamas and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.