ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Pope Francis said the Vatican was ready to make an announcement concerning the alleged Marian apparitions in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Pope Francis met Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, while outside in St. Peter’s Square anti-abortion protesters drew attention to one of the most controversial topics up for discussion between the two leaders June 5.

VATICAN CITY - The mission-oriented agencies of the Church must guard against operating like nongovernmental organizations, empty of Christ's presence, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY - Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Pope Francis on June 10, with pressure on the pontiff to speak up about the Kremlin’s role in the Ukraine conflict.

VATICAN CITY - With financial assistance from Pope Francis, a Rome parish led 50 homeless and poor people on a pilgrimage to see the Shroud of Turin June 4 and has provided the money needed for another Rome parish to do the same a week later.

VATICAN CITY - A papal visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina brings hope, joy and some "soul" to this ethnically divided, Catholic-minority Balkan nation, the country's cardinal said.

MISSISSAUGA, ONT. - Brampton, Ont., will be home to the first Catholic school in the Greater Toronto Area named after Pope Francis.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis said he wants to be remembered as "a good person who tried to do good. I cannot ask for anything more than that."

VATICAN CITY - On May 8, I had the joyful privilege of meeting Pope Francis following one of his private Masses at his residence at Casa Santa Marta inside Vatican City.

While Philippines President Benigno Aquino III was in Ottawa signing a May 8 agreement to govern how more than $90 million in Canadian aid is spent, the Canadian bishops’ development agency was holding community meetings in the Philippines trying to ensure local people get new permanent homes close to their jobs, family and community.

Encyclicals are important for Catholics. Our theologians study them. Our pastors preach them. Sometimes we even read them.

But there has never been an encyclical like the yet-to-be published papal letter on the environment and climate change due out next month. Even the editorial board of The New York Times is waiting with baited breath. “The Pope is right to speak up for our planet, and the greater the impact the better,” the newspaper wrote in its April 29 editorial.

VATICAN CITY - Coaches need to show integrity, fairness, patience, joy and kindness, especially toward those who are struggling, Pope Francis said.

WASHINGTON - The president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious said the organization is pleased to be "going on with our normal life, so to speak," now that the Vatican's mandate to reform the group has concluded.

CATANIA, Italy - Sitting outside the central train station here in eastern Sicily, a 16-year-old who would only give his name as “Simon” hunched his knees up to his chest and wrapped himself up into a ball. With little spoken English, the teenager from Eritrea has taken to miming the way he travelled across the Mediterranean.

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.