NATION/WORLD

In encouraging the peaceful resolution of conflicts and in promoting the common good on the international stage, the Vatican embraces a strategy of "positive neutrality," which allows it to dialogue with all sides, Pope Francis said.

Peace is urgently needed in today's world, and women should be more greatly appreciated, Pope Francis told hundreds of Catholic women.

After literally hundreds of public prayers for peace in Ukraine and 443 days after Russia launched an all-out war on the Eastern European country, Pope Francis welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Vatican.

Starting a family and having children has become a kind of herculean task when instead it should be valued and supported by everyone, Pope Francis said at a meeting in Rome on Italy's severe decline in population growth.

The Catholic Church's charitable mission must share the Gospel message of unity, justice and peace or risk becoming "merely a semblance of goodness," Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis has continued his predecessors' serious commitment to ecumenical dialogue, but he also makes ecumenical gestures that underline that seriousness.

Eliminating the root causes of forced migration means ensuring everyone has an equal share in the common good, their fundamental rights are respected and their lives can flourish through integral human development, Pope Francis said.

Two popes sat side by side before a crowd of rain-soaked pilgrims in St. Peter's Square May 10.

Punishing and condemning those guilty of abuse is an act of charity, Pope Francis said.

Questioned by the confreres of a Hungarian Jesuit kidnapped with another priest and imprisoned during Argentina's murderous military dictatorship, Pope Francis said, "I did what I felt I had to do to defend them. It was a very painful affair."