Catholic News Service

Celebrating Africa Day at the Vatican, Pope Francis encouraged the continent's children to study hard, be ambassadors of peace and be friends to their peers who live in poverty or danger.

Catholics should make an "examination of conscience" about how they use social media, how they allow it to influence them and about the opportunities it provides them to share the Gospel, build community and care for others, said the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication.

The greatest way of life is serving others, and those in political power must see themselves as servants, too, Pope Francis said.

The Catholic Church's current Synod of Bishops should not be a "parliament for demanding rights," but a "journey in accordance with the Spirit," Pope Francis said. The synod, which seeks to gather input from all baptized Catholics on building a listening church, is not "an occasion for following wherever the wind is blowing, but the opportunity to submit to the breath of the Spirit," he said.

Those working in the field of tourism have a great opportunity to offer people a "different kind of vacation" that is less consumerist and more respectful of creation, the Vatican said.

Pope Francis called the migration crisis between Mexico and the United States a "serious problem" and praised a U.S. bishop working along the border during an interview with Telemundo journalist Julio Vaqueiro.

While the release of the working document for the Synod of Bishops on synodality is expected sometime in early June, Pope Francis tried to respond to some of the questions and concerns about the synod process that have already been raised.

Christians should pray on Pentecost that the Holy Spirit would give them the courage and strength to share the Gospel, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis prayed that Catholics in China would be free to share the Gospel and live their faith fully.

During the Italian bishops' general assembly, Pope Francis met with bishops whose dioceses in the region of Emilia-Romagna have been devastated after intense rainfall triggered floods and landslides.

Pope Francis formally recognized the martyrdom of an Italian priest shot by Nazi soldiers after they discovered he was helping his parishioners hide about 100 Jews.

Pope Francis has appealed for a cease-fire in Sudan and for the international community to help promote dialogue. "It is sad, but, a month after the outbreak of violence in Sudan, the situation continues to be serious," he said after reciting the midday "Regina Coeli" prayer with about 25,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square May 21.

Pope Francis has asked Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna to lead a mission "to help ease tensions in the conflict in Ukraine," the Vatican press office said.

Global security cannot be guaranteed through stockpiling nuclear weapons but must be centered on an "equitable distribution of the world's goods," Pope Francis said.

The Catholic Church must combat clericalism among its ranks by giving authority to a "responsible and reliable" laity, the head of the Vatican's development dicastery said.

A man with apparent psychiatric problems forced his way through a Vatican security gate late May 18 by speeding past Swiss Guards and Vatican gendarmes in a vehicle before being apprehended in a Vatican courtyard.

A popular blog that closely monitors the Vatican has reported that Pope Francis wants to send envoys to Moscow and Kyiv to begin discussions about achieving a truce.

Asking European leaders for "creative efforts for peace" in Ukraine, the Vatican secretary of state said the Holy See "will continue to do its part."

The Vatican has pulled from circulation a World Youth Day stamp of Pope Francis with young people in an image that resembles propaganda from Portugal's former dictatorship.

Pope Francis wrote about the connections between the dominate global economic system and climate change in a preface to the Italian book, "The Taste for Change: Ecological Transition as the Path to Happiness," by the Jesuit economist Fr. Gaël Giraud and Carlo Petrini, the Italian founder of the International Slow Food Movement.