NATION/WORLD

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis had a 40-minute private meeting at the Vatican with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel. Holding banners calling for the release of political prisoners and respect for human rights in Cuba, a dozen people rallied at the end of Via della Conciliazione, the main boulevard leading to St. Peter's Square, as the pope was meeting Díaz-Canel in the studio of the Vatican audience hall June 20.

Approaching his first week at Rome's Gemelli hospital after undergoing abdominal surgery June 7, Pope Francis' days were dedicated to working, reading, resting, praying and respiratory therapy, the Vatican said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the retired archbishop of Naples, celebrated his 80th birthday June 2 and, consequently, became ineligible to enter a conclave to elect a new pope.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis named Tracey Rowland, an Australian theologian; Justin Farrell, a U.S. sociologist; and Tongdong Bai, a Chinese philosopher, to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

Of the more than 1,300 Marian images crowned around the world, one of the first to receive this honor does not have a crown today.

Asserting that "it is in the family that many of God's dreams for the human community are realized," Pope Francis asked Catholic universities and Catholic couples around the world to support the "Family Global Compact."

The greatest way of life is serving others, and those in political power must see themselves as servants, too, Pope Francis said.

Catholic artists, poets, writers and filmmakers serve the church not by trying to "domesticate" Christ but by helping people challenge and expand their knowledge of the Lord, Pope Francis said.

Catholics should make an "examination of conscience" about how they use social media, how they allow it to influence them and about the opportunities it provides them to share the Gospel, build community and care for others, said the Vatican Dicastery for Communication.

The Catholic Church's current Synod of Bishops should not be a "parliament for demanding rights," but a "journey in accordance with the Spirit," Pope Francis said.