VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis urged Syrian President Bashar Assad to do everything possible to end the war in his country, to protect civilians and to ensure humanitarian agencies can deliver emergency aid to the people.

VATICAN CITY – The day after an explosion at the Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo killed 25 people, mostly women and children, Pope Francis called the head of the Church to offer prayer, and to say they are united the blood of their martyrs.

VATICAN CITY – During the Angelus for the third Sunday of Advent, also called Gaudete Sunday, Pope Francis made a special appeal for prayers for the people of Aleppo and Syria, and for all those affected by the recent terrorist attacks which have taken place in places such as Turkey and Egypt.

Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta on Friday morning, focusing his remarks following the readings of the day on the need for priests to serve as authentic mediators of God’s love, rather than as intermediaries – “go-betweens” or “middle-men” – concerned only with advancing their own interests.

VATICAN CITY – Priests are called to be mediators between God and God's people, offering their time and their very lives in service; they are not God's "intermediaries" or functionaries, who go to work to get paid or, worse, enter the priesthood in search of status, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY – A Vatican decision to reaffirm its opposition to gay priests has angered activists who thought Pope Francis was changing Rome’s attitudes toward homosexuality.

VATICAN CITY – Everything in Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis' exhortation on the family, sprang from consultations with Catholics around the world and was thoroughly discussed by the bishops at the 2014 and 2015 synods on the family, Pope Francis said.

OTTAWA – Pope Francis has turned down invitations to visit Canada in 2017 but has left open the possibility of a papal visit in the following two years.

VATICAN CITY – At Christmas, God reveals his full power, which is the power of relentlessly seeking his lost sheep and, when he finds them, giving them a caress, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis endorsed a recent conference dedicated to the conservation and restoration of art and heritage within the Middle East, as a means to defend the rights of the human person.

VATICAN CITY – In an unprecedented event, Fortune 500 CEOs, members of the Time 100 and non-profit, academic, religious and labor leaders from throughout the world met in Rome to address the need for a global economic system that both encourages growth and aids the poor.

Let us allow ourselves to be transformed by Christ; let us allow ourselves to be able to be re-created, freeing us from our sins. That was the message of Pope Francis at the morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta, centred on the theme of the renewal that the Lord brings. The Pope put us on guard about painting over our sins without truly being ashamed in our hearts. Only by calling sins by their name, he said, will we be able to allow God to make us new women and men.

STANDING ROCK SIOUX RESERVATION, N.D. – Does Pope Francis have a position on the Dakota Access Pipeline?

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis has recognized the martyrdom of Father Stanley Rother of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, making him the first martyr born in the United States.

VATICAN CITY – While he was in town for a global meeting on the crisis in the Mediterranean region, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stopped by the Vatican for a meeting with Pope Francis that likely centred largely on the problem of migration.