Celebrating Christmas Mass after opening the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis said the birth of Jesus fills Christians with hope and the courage to work for peace and justice.

In the quiet of Christmas Eve, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, launching what he called a "Jubilee of Hope."

Leading the recitation of the Angelus prayer from inside the chapel of his residence because of a cold, Pope Francis nevertheless blessed the baby Jesus figurines children and adults will put in their Nativity scenes -- and he brought one of his own as well.

Israel's minister of diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism asked Pope Francis to clarify his remarks about the need to investigate whether the current war in Gaza constitutes a genocide.

On Pope Francis' 88th birthday, two major newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean published two different excerpts from his new book on hope.

As Pope Francis became the first pope to celebrate Mass on the French island of Corsica Dec. 15, the usual excitement of an open-air Mass with the pope was combined with the flair and pageantry of a Renaissance fair.

Making his customary visit to the Rome Basilica of St. Mary Major to pray before his trip to the French island of Corsica, Pope Francis also met and prayed with dozens of actors staging a living Nativity scene.

As the fighting in Gaza drags on, Pope Francis welcomed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Vatican.

The "most beautiful gift" the Catholic Church and its members can give the world is a reason to live with hope, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis prayed at the graves of children and of miscarried babies on the feast of All Souls before concelebrating Mass with several hundred mourners.

Remembering the cardinals and bishops who died in the past year, Pope Francis prayed that after their loving service to the Catholic Church "they may exult in eternal communion with the saints."

Following the lead of our august newspaper confreres at the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and possibly the Muncie Morning Tidbit, The Catholic Register will not be endorsing anyone in the election race to succeed Pope Francis.

Pope Francis met with a group of transgender and intersex Catholics, along with LGBTQ+ allies and a medical doctor specializing in transgender healthcare, during a nearly 90-minute audience at his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

Pope Francis and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met for the third time since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, focusing their discussion on the repatriation of Ukrainian nationals held in Russian captivity.

Evangelization does not have to be complicated or "sophisticated," even in highly secularized places, Pope Francis told Jesuits living in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.