VATICAN CITY – The sacredness of human life is so absolute that performing or helping procure an abortion or attempting suicide is an obstacle to ordination as a Catholic priest, even if the man was not Catholic at the time the events occurred, said a new Vatican ruling.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis thanked a group of bishops in Argentina for providing their priests with concrete guidelines for implementing the section of his apostolic exhortation on the family about circumstances in which divorced and civilly remarried couples might eventually be allowed to receive Communion.

ROME – A room with a view of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica from a monastery atop the Aventine Hill is very nice, but Abbot Gregory Polan knows he will miss his brother monks at Conception Abbey in Missouri very, very much.

VATICAN CITY – While retired Pope Benedict XVI said organization and governance are not his strong suits, he also said, "I am unable to see myself as a failure."

ROME – Blessed Teresa of Calcutta was a woman who truly felt wed to Jesus, and the freedom she experienced in loving him led her to radical poverty, a courageous outreach and an immense love for the poor, said the superior general of the order Mother Teresa founded.

ROME – When it comes to the Christian life, too many seminaries teach students a rigid list of rules that make it difficult or impossible for them as priests to respond to the real-life situation of those who come to them seeking guidance, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY – After a strong earthquake struck central Italy and with the early news reporting many deaths and serious damage, Pope Francis turned his weekly general audience Aug. 24 into a prayer service.

VATICAN CITY –Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation on the family is an example of the "ordinary magisterium" – papal teaching – to which Catholics are obliged to give "religious submission of will and intellect," said an article in the Vatican newspaper.

ROME – In the chapel of the first house Blessed Teresa of Calcutta established in Rome, Father Brian Kolodiejchuk of the Missionaries of Charity talks about her life, mixing the concrete and even mundane with the spiritual and even mystical.

VATICAN CITY – God’s mercy is infectious and must be shared with others, Pope Francis said.