VATICAN – The Italian government granted citizenship to Alfie Evans, a seriously ill British toddler, in a last-minute effort to prevent doctors in England from withdrawing life-support.

VATICAN – In its efforts to help advise the Pope, the Roman Curia, bishops' conferences and local churches on protecting minors from abuse, a Vatican commission listened to abuse survivors from Great Britain and discussed the results of Australia's public inquiry into its country's institutional responses to abuse.

VATICAN – Pope Francis called for an end to violence in Nicaragua after several days of protests against proposed social security legislation led to the deaths of more than two dozen people.

VATICAN – The Vatican Gardens has branched out and added a small orchard to its hillsides, becoming a safe haven for a number of endangered native Italian fruit and nut tree species.

Canadian Jesuit Deacon Adam Hincks was one of the first people in the world to read Pope Francis’ latest apostolic exhortation, a distinction that isn’t lost on the 36-year-old astrophysicist.

VATICAN – The church needs courageous men and women like Italian Bishop Antonio Bello of Molfetta, who imitated Jesus' closeness to the poor and the downtrodden, Pope Francis said.

HOUSTON – Former first lady Barbara Bush "was a model public servant and set a standard for her unwavering and loving devotion to both family and community," said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston Houston in offering his prayers and "heartfelt condolences" to the Bush family.

Why won’t Pope Francis issue a formal apology for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s residential school system? 

Pope Francis has long held in esteem the late Cardinal Francois-Xavier Nguyen van Thuan, the archbishop of Saigon who spent 13 years in a communist prison camp, including nine years in solitary confinement.

VATICAN – Pope Francis has asked German bishops to come to Rome to discuss pastoral guidelines for possibly allowing some non-Catholics married to Catholics to receive the Eucharist, the German bishops' conference said.

VATICAN – Christians must be willing to move where the Spirit leads them and not be benchwarmers on the sidelines of efforts to evangelize, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – Naming a child is an important task for parents, because it gives children a sense of identity and belonging to their family and to God, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – Begging Pope Francis to help his son, Alfie, Tom Evans met with the pontiff, pleading for "asylum" in Italy so his seriously ill son may receive care and not be euthanized in England.

OTTAWA – Canada’s bishops’ conference is pushing back against “inaccuracies” in a proposed Parliamentary motion that will call on them to formally invite Pope Francis to apologize for the Church’s role in residential schools. 

VATICAN – The church needs true prophets who not only speak the truth fearlessly, but also empathize with the suffering of their people, Pope Francis said.