Carol Glatz

For the second year in a row, Pope Francis followed the nighttime Way of the Cross service from his Vatican residence as 25,000 people gathered outside Rome's Colosseum.

Pope Francis' planned visit to Venice will include a Mass in the city's famous St. Mark's Square, a meeting with young people from the archdiocese and a meeting with female detainees at an island prison where the Vatican has set up its pavilion for a major international contemporary art exhibition.

The United States established formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See 40 years ago, and the current ambassador in Rome says its mission has been a wonderful success.

"We've tried to hew very closely to the mission that we've been given, and we have a great relationship with the Vatican," said Joe Donnelly, U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.

The world's cultures, traditions, spiritualities and languages must be acknowledged, respected and protected, especially those of Indigenous peoples, Pope Francis said.

The gifts of men and women are "fruitful" together, and to erase the difference between men and women "is to erase humanity," Pope Francis said.

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.

Today's wars and conflicts have put humanity on the brink of the abyss, Pope Francis said, calling for a worldwide cease-fire.

"Wine, the land, farming skills and entrepreneurial activity are gifts from God," the Pope Francis told winegrowers, winemakers and others taking part in an international wine and spirits exhibition in Verona, Italy. The event was dedicated to Italian wine and "the economy of Francesco," an economy inspired by St. Francis of Assisi that respects the earth and promotes peace and justice.

Nations and businesses must work together to promote ethically sound models of globalization, Pope Francis told global business and government leaders.

Pornography and lust undermine and rob people from experiencing God's gift of love, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis called for dialogue and cooperation between neighboring nations and appealed for restraint against any actions that could escalate tensions in the Middle East.

Argentine President Javier Milei has invited Pope Francis to visit their "beloved homeland" and he will also come to the Vatican in February.

Reaffirming their fidelity to the pope and the Gospel, Catholic bishops in Africa have released a common response to a recent Vatican declaration, saying they "generally prefer" not to offer blessings to same-sex couples.

One of the most dangerous vices is gluttony, turning people who are meant to be custodians of creation into mere consumers and even exploiters and predators, Pope Francis said Jan. 10 at his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall.

Pope Francis expressed his condolences and prayers after two bombings in Kerman, Iran, claimed the lives of 84 people and wounded scores more at a memorial for an assassinated Iranian military officer.

Help "de-weaponize" the way language is used in the media by being respectful to others and fostering greater understanding and peace between people, Pope Francis told a group of Catholics journalists from Germany.

An Italian Catholic priest has been excommunicated for having publicly committed "an act of a schismatic nature" while celebrating Mass at his parish near Livorno.

In its annual report on Catholic missionaries murdered during the year, the Vatican-based news agency, Fides, noted what many of them had in common was living a normal life in areas where violence had become common.

Jesus does not wait for sinners to change their lives before he welcomes them, said the preacher of the papal household.