NATION/WORLD

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When it comes to inspiring people's actions, Jesus knew that being an example to others is more important than "a flood of words," Pope Francis said. Jesus washing his disciples' feet at the Last Supper "is undoubtedly an eloquent symbol of the Beatitudes proclaimed by the Lord in the Sermon on the Mount and of their concrete expression in works of mercy," the pope said in a written message March 7.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Making the world a better place for everyone starts with prayer and little steps like saying hello, sorry or thank you, Pope Francis said in a letter to the world's children. "Our world will change if we all begin with these little things, without being ashamed to take small steps, one at a time," he wrote in the letter that was released March 2.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Jesus did not teach his disciples to organize agencies and structures to help vulnerable people, but gave the example of encountering them, listening to them and helping them as individuals and not "categories" of people in need, Pope Francis said. "Jesus wanted to form his disciples in a style of living in contact with the vulnerable, in the midst of them," the pope wrote in a speech prepared for his meeting March 1 with a group of Italians attending a four-day seminar on "Vulnerability and Community: Between Welcome and Inclusion."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- This Lent, Christians should become "seekers of light" by keeping their sights set on the light of Jesus through prayer and participating in the sacraments, Pope Francis said. "This is a good Lenten resolution: cultivating a welcoming outlook, becoming 'seekers of light,' seekers of the light of Jesus, both in prayer and in people," he told visitors in St. Peter's Square before praying the Angelus with them Feb. 25.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Saying Pope Francis was continuing to experience "mild flu-like symptoms," the Vatican announced he had canceled his appointments again Feb. 26. The 87-year-old pope had led the recitation of the Angelus prayer as usual Feb. 25 and seemed to have no difficulty speaking or breathing, and he did not cough. The previous day, though, he canceled a meeting with transitional deacons from the Diocese of Rome. The Vatican press office had put out a note Feb. 24 saying, "Due to a mild flu-like condition, as a precautionary measure, the pope canceled his audiences scheduled for today."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- During Lent, Pope Francis said, Catholics -- and especially Catholic seminarians -- should rediscover the joy of simplicity, pay less attention to their appearance than to their prayer lives and make a special effort to get along with everyone they live with. Progress on the Lenten "path of conversion and renewal," the pope said, starts with "allowing oneself to be conquered by renewed awe at God's love," the foundation of every vocation.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Faith can help musicians, poets, sculptors, directors and other artists transmit truth and beauty to their audiences, Pope Francis said. "Believing in God the creator can only encourage a being to surpass him- or herself, to project him- or herself into divine life through artistic inspiration," the pope said Feb. 15 during a meeting with representatives of the Diakonia of Beauty, a French organization founded in 2012 to promote exchange between artists and the Catholic Church.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis will go to Venice in April to visit a women's prison where the Holy See has set up its pavilion for the Venice Biennale, a major international contemporary art exhibition. The pope will make the one-day trip April 28, according to a joint press release Feb. 13 from the Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Patriarchate of Venice. He will visit the Holy See pavilion at the Giudecca women's prison, and he will meet with the church community of the patriarchate, it said. Details of the final program were to be "announced soon."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Artisans teach the world that every material thing contains beauty, and that work gives people a little share in the creative action of God, Pope Francis said. Artisans bring together "the abilities of the hands, the passions of the heart and the ideas of the mind," the pope said Feb. 10 as he met with some 7,000 members of Confartigianato Imprese, an Italian confederation of artisans and small businesses.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Lent is a time to free oneself from slavery and take action to free others suffering from the multiple forms of slavery that afflict the world, Pope Francis said. Even though baptism has begun a process of liberation, "there remains in us an inexplicable longing for slavery. A kind of attraction to the security of familiar things, to the detriment of our freedom," the pope said in his message for Lent, which begins Feb. 14 for Latin-rite Catholics. Echoing the tragedy of the ancient Israelites, a modern-day Pharaoh "stifles dreams, blocks the view of heaven, makes it appear that this world, in which human dignity is trampled upon and authentic bonds are denied, can never change," the pope wrote.