Catholic News Service

During Lent this year, residents of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis lives, decided to clean out their closets and give away things other people could use. "You can't imagine how much stuff there was," the pope said.

Almost two years after updating a section of the Latin-rite Code of Canon Law dealing with crimes and punishment, Pope Francis promulgated a similar update to the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.

Saying he wanted to protect the rights of members of religious orders facing expulsion, Pope Francis made small changes to canon law, giving them more time to appeal their dismissals.

Parliaments and legislatures should have quotas to include Indigenous people and members of displaced ethnic groups in political processes, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis left the hospital April 1 after being treated with intravenous antibiotics for  bronchitis. He had been hospitalized since March 29.

Pope Francis used his third day at Rome's Gemelli hospital to visit children hospitalized in the oncology ward and to confer the sacrament of baptism on a tiny infant named Miguel Angel.

The Vatican's decision to list the titles traditionally associated with the papacy as "historic titles" in its 2020 yearbook was the right move, said the papal preacher.

The Vatican's prosecuting attorney has leveled additional charges against four of the defendants who have been on trial since July 2021 for their alleged roles in the Vatican's failed investment in a property in London.

After having difficulty breathing, Pope Francis went to Rome's Gemelli hospital March 29 where he was diagnosed with a respiratory infection that will be treated in the hospital for several days, the Vatican press office said.

Like St. Paul, Christians must not only know Jesus with their heads but invite him into their hearts through a personal encounter with Christ, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis called the deadly shooting at a school in Nashville a "senseless act of violence" and prayed that the grieving families hold strong to their faith and "bring good out of unspeakable evil."

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of 64-year-old Archbishop Michael J. Byrnes of Agaña, Guam, who, the archdiocese said, has been "on extended leave due to illness."

Pope Francis asked the bishops of the 11 Latin-rite dioceses of Calabria, Italy, to consider further consolidating their seminaries, saying that a student body "of four, five or 10 is not a seminary."

Jesus can offer everyone hope and new life, Pope Francis said.

"It's boring to talk to priest," Pope Francis said with a smile as he began an upfront and informal conversation with 10 young people in Rome on their questions about faith and issues within the church.

While promoting dialogue and building relationships with leaders of the European Union contribute to peace, bishops in EU countries also must be prophetic in denouncing war and encouraging all possible efforts to restore peace, Pope Francis said.

Beginning with the 2023-24 academic year, all students working on degrees at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome will be required to take a three-hour course on "safeguarding and care for human dignity," the university announced.

To evangelize well, the faithful need to dialogue with God, let the Holy Spirit renew their hearts and lives, and then dialogue with today's world, Pope Francis said.

The substitute secretary for general affairs in the Vatican Secretariat of State said Vatican officials "were forced" into spending $17 million rather than an anticipated $2 million to $4 million to buy out an Italian broker over a London property deal.

Safe, organized, legal and sustainable migration is in the interest of all countries, Pope Francis wrote.