VATICAN CITY – Happiness "is not an 'app' that you can download on your phones nor will the latest update help you become free and great in loving," Pope Francis told thousands of teenagers.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis called for a moratorium on executions during the Year of Mercy and said the fifth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," applies not only to the innocent but to the guilty as well.

VATICAN CITY - A jubilee year that does not open people's wallets to share what they have with others is not a true jubilee, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis on Sunday opened the Holy Door for the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which officially began last week.

VATICAN - Pope Francis on Sept. 1 told priests to forgive repentant women who had had an abortion, specifically during the year-long jubilee celebration of Catholic faith, which begins in December.

Pope Francis has declared a special jubilee to help the world encounter the awesome, awful and awe-filled mercy of God. The world prefers cheap grace, and thinks it can get it from the Holy Father. The world — represented recently by Raul Castro and Al Gore — will be disappointed.

For the first time in months, I was feeling nervous about going to Confession. I had a sense of dread as I imagined reading my lengthy examination of conscience to my confessor. The worry of never again being able to look my priest in the eye lingered at the back of my mind as I scrambled to prepare to receive the sacrament.

If there was any doubt that Pope Francis’ central message to the Church is mercy, the Pope named after St. Francis of Assisi crushed those doubts by announcing a Holy Year of Mercy, the first extraordinary jubilee of the 21st century.