Pope calls for jubilee moratorium on death penalty
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis called for a moratorium on executions during the Year of Mercy and said the fifth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," applies not only to the innocent but to the guilty as well.
Being human: Pope Francis delights many, frustrates some
VATICAN CITY - The Pope is human. Pope Francis demonstrated that in Mexico, as he does wherever he goes, and most people find it attractive most of the time.
WASHINGTON - The joint declaration signed Feb. 12 in Cuba between Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has met with a tepid reaction from Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, major archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.
Building walls to keep immigrants out is not Christian, Pope says
ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM MEXICO - As the plane carrying him back to Rome from Mexico was flying over Texas, Pope Francis insisted building walls to keep immigrants out of one's country is un-Christian.
EL PASO, Texas - By the time the action started at the Sun Bowl Stadium Feb. 17 for the simulcast of Pope Francis' Mass from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, scarcely a few hundred people had arrived.
In Zika outbreak, contraceptives may be 'lesser evil,' Pope says
ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM MEXICO - With physicians across Central and South American urging women to postpone pregnancy because of the Zika virus that causes birth defects, Pope Francis said using contraceptives could be a "lesser evil."
Vatican invites head of al-Azhar to meet with pope to restart dialogue
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican's interreligious council invited the head of a leading Muslim institution to meet with Pope Francis as part of an effort to restart dialogue.
‘No more death, no more exploitation,’ Pope says at U.S.-Mexico border
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - Speaking from the symbolic platform of the U.S.-Mexico border, Pope Francis pleaded for the plight of immigrants while warning those refusing to offer safe shelter and passage that their actions and inhospitable attitudes were bringing about dishonor and self-destruction as their hearts hardened and they "lost their sensitivity to pain."
In silence, Pope remembers migrants who cross Mexican-U.S. border
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - At the border of Mexico and the United States, Pope Francis blessed a large cross in memory of all the people who have crossed the frontier.
Stop slavery; negotiate wages, working conditions, Pope urges Mexicans
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - God will hold humanity responsible for enslaving the poor and treating people as less important than profits, Pope Francis told Mexican workers and business leaders.
Panel urges deeper look at immigration to see 'moral implications'
EL PASO, Texas - The supposed political hues of Pope Francis' visit to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, recently raised by a U.S. presidential candidate and media coverage of those remarks came up during a news conference with Catholic officials in El Paso today.
Pope tells Mexican prisoners society needs system of 'social health'
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - Pope Francis urged society to rethink its ideas of locking up inmates and throwing away the key, calling such an approach another symptom of the "throwaway culture" he often decries and "a symptom of a culture that has stopped supporting life, of a society that has abandoned its children."
Pope snaps at pilgrim who caused him to fall into boy in wheelchair
MORELIA, Mexico - Excitement turned potentially dangerous and elicited an angry snap from Pope Francis at a meeting with young people in Morelia Feb. 16.
Jesus calls us to be disciples, not hitmen, pope tells youth
MORELIA, Mexico - Jesus never sends anyone out as a hitman, dealing in death, but calls Christians to be his disciples and friends, Pope Francis told Mexico's youth.
El Paso Diocese gets ready for rendezvous with Pope Francis
EL PASO, Texas - Two days before Pope Francis' main event in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the Diocese of El Paso was coordinating the final touches to its own two main papal events.