VATICAN CITY -- When he addresses, via video message, the UN General Assembly Sept. 21, Pope Francis is expected to speak about using the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity to re-think economic, political and environmental policies in a way that will benefit humanity and the Earth.

VATICAN CITY -- If people took seriously the Gospel call to forgive one another, the world would be a much better place, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY -- Gossip is "a plague worse than COVID," Pope Francis said, asserting that while speaking ill of others comes almost naturally, it is a tool of the devil to divide the church.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has asked Catholics and all people of goodwill to observe Sept. 4 as a day of prayer and fasting for Lebanon.

VATICAN CITY -- Catholics will mark the World Day of Migrants and Refugees during the ecumenical celebration of the Season of Creation, highlighting the obligation, as Pope Francis says, to listen to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor, said Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny.

VATICAN CITY -- The central focus of a Christian's life and all he or she does to help others must be Jesus Christ, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY -- An author with a long and close relationship to retired Pope Benedict XVI told a German newspaper that the 93-year-old retired pope is "extremely frail."