VATICAN CITY – Being named a cardinal along with the nuncio who refuses to leave war-torn Syria, an Albanian priest sentenced to death and tortured by an atheist regime and a young African archbishop who put his life on the line to sow peace and reconciliation in Central African Republic has made Cardinal-designate Renato Corti pray and think hard.

VATICAN CITY – Particularly as climate change threatens food production, people need to rediscover the benefits of living simply and with respect for the earth and stop looking at food primarily as an economic commodity to exploit, Pope Francis said.

HAMILTON, ONT. – After a decade of suffering and personal tragedy, the last thing Maureen Digan had come to expect was a miracle.

VATICAN CITY – Children are the most vulnerable and hardest hit among the world's migrants and require special protection, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY – Meeting a pilgrimage of Catholics and Lutherans from Germany, Pope Francis said he does not like "the contradiction of those who want to defend Christianity in the West, and, on the other hand, are against refugees and other religions."

VATICAN CITY – Defending religious freedom, fighting indifference to attacks on human dignity and promoting care of creation are obligations that Orthodox and Catholics share and areas where Pope Francis said he and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople are in deep harmony.

ROME – Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona says it was the influence of his countryman Pope Francis that revived his faith and brought him back to the Catholic Church.

VATICAN CITY – In choosing 17 new members of the College of Cardinals, Pope Francis has once again looked to countries and dioceses that had never been represented in the body that advises the Pope and will elect his successor.

The death knell for the nuclear family continues to ring out in a new compilation of statistics from the Vanier Institute of the Family. But the good news is that grandparents are more involved than ever in raising their grandchildren and helping out their extended families.

VATICAN CITY – Catholic missionary orders like the Oblates of Mary Immaculate have as much work to do as ever, Pope Francis said.