Before departing on his flight to Africa on Tuesday morning, Pope Francis met with a group of refugees and migrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan at the Vatican.

The world's religious traditions and their followers are called to offer wisdom to the world and to "infuse it with a spirit of warmth, healing and fraternity," which requires the participation of women as well as men, Pope Francis said.

The media and the field of communications need to exercise more kindness and share the truth with charity, Pope Francis said.

Anti-abortion and abortion rights activists protest during the 50th [...]

While the Second Vatican Council gave the Catholic Church a "beautiful" document on the priesthood, "it did not face the fundamental question" of the difference between Catholic and Protestant understandings of ordained ministry, wrote Pope Benedict XVI in an essay published after his death.

Sister Andre Randon, a French nun and the oldest person in the world, has passed away at the age of 118.

No physical limitation or setback can diminish the value of any human being because each person is a unique and beloved child of God, Pope Francis said.

Encouraging Catholics to participate in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Pope Francis also announced that before the assembly of the Synod of Bishops opens in early October, there will be an ecumenical prayer vigil in St. Peter's Square.

Cardinal George Pell, prefect emeritus of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, died on Tuesday at the age of 81.

"Peace requires before all else the defense of life," which is threatened by the "alleged 'right to abortion,'" Pope Francis told ambassadors accredited to the Holy See.