VATICAN CITY - Although he lives a relatively hidden life in a villa in the Vatican Gardens, retired Pope Benedict XVI continues to study modern theological questions and, occasionally, to comment on them publicly.

VATICAN CITY - In the second of his "Mercy Friday" gestures, Pope Francis spent two hours with a group of young adults at a Catholic-run residential drug rehabilitation center.

VATICAN CITY - In the presence of family, bishops and priests from Ireland and colleagues from the Vatican, Irish Msgr. Paul Tighe was ordained a bishop Feb. 27 by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

VATICAN CITY - Those who hope Pope Francis will give divorced and civilly remarried Catholics a blanket welcome back to Communion and those who fear he will open the doors to such a possibility are both likely to be disappointed by his decision.

ROME - The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church said he was consoled by Pope Francis' words of understanding and tenderness after he expressed the disappointment of Ukrainians with a joint declaration signed by the Pope and the Russian Orthodox patriarch.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.