Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said it appeared Ukraine could keep Pope Francis safe if he made a wartime trip to Kyiv, but the pope's safety was not the Vatican's only concern.

VATICAN CITY -- Ted Quewezance came to the Vatican looking for closure.

VATICAN CITY -- A Vatican office led by a cardinal or archbishop has no more authority than one led by a layperson because all offices of the Roman Curia act in the name of the pope, said experts presenting Pope Francis' new constitution on the Curia's organization.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis said his heart was "broken" by the war in Ukraine, and he pleaded again, "Silence the weapons!"

ROME -- As Russian troops approached Ukraine's capital, Pope Francis phoned the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, offering his encouragement and promising, "I will do everything I can" to help.

VATICAN CITY -- As Russia continued its assault on Ukraine and Russian troops pressed toward the capital, Kyiv, Pope Francis left the Vatican Feb. 25 to pay a visit to the Russian ambassador to the Holy See.

VATICAN CITY -- Saying he wanted to promote a “healthy decentralization” of some aspects of Church life, Pope Francis made several changes to Church law, granting greater authority to individual bishops, bishops’ conferences and synods of bishops of the Eastern Catholic churches.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis told an Italian interviewer that forgiveness is "a human right."

ROME -- Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, Ukraine, major archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, knows his people are frightened.

VATICAN CITY -- Amending a written statement made to a panel investigating clerical sexual abuse in his former Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, retired Pope Benedict XVI said he was present at a 1980 meeting to discuss the transfer of a priest accused of misconduct.