Catholic News Service

Pope Francis condemned the Israeli military's killing of two Christian women sheltering at a Catholic parish in Gaza and an attack on a convent, noting that in the current fighting "unarmed civilians are targets for bombs and gunfire."

Jesus does not wait for sinners to change their lives before he welcomes them, said the preacher of the papal household.

Women who have conceived a child out of wedlock and have the courage to choose life for their baby "should be encouraged to have access to the healing and consoling power of the sacraments," said the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has upheld a rule mandating that the ashes of the deceased be preserved in a consecrated place, but it also said family members could request "a minimal part of the ashes" be kept in a sacred place "of significance for the history of the deceased person."

The Vatican's financial planning, budgeting, auditing, investing and saving are essential for carrying out the Catholic Church's mission and must be handled with the highest sense of responsibility and prudence, Pope Francis wrote in a letter to the staff of the Secretariat for the Economy.

Christians must be open to the Word of God and to welcoming and serving others, Pope Francis said.

The council of the Synod of Bishops will ask Pope Francis to authorize studies on the need to update canon law, revise the rules for priestly formation, deepen a theological reflection on the diaconate -- including the possibility of ordaining women deacons -- and consider revising a document that provides norms for the relationship of a bishop with members of religious orders in his diocese.

Commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Weeping Madonna of Syracuse, a plaster image of Mary hung in the bedroom of a newlywed couple in southern Italy that began shedding tears, Pope Francis said the miraculous sign is a reminder of Mary's maternal presence and her desire that all people would know the love and peace of her son.

The peaceful means of diplomacy must be used to seek global solutions to the serious injustices that cause so many conflicts in the world, Pope Francis said.

Telling Syro-Malabar Catholics in India's Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly that he does not want to see anyone excommunicated, Pope Francis pleaded with the priests and faithful to end their dispute over the way the Eucharist is celebrated.

With the input of two women and a priest, Pope Francis and members of his international Council of Cardinals discussed the role of women in the Catholic Church.

All the Catholic Church's structures, including tribunals and faculties of canon law, must undergo a "pastoral and missionary conversion" to ensure the church is giving the world "the only thing it needs: the Gospel of the mercy of Jesus," Pope Francis wrote.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, will deliver Pope Francis' speech to the U.N. climate conference, COP28, and will help inaugurate a faith pavilion after the pope canceled his trip due to health concerns.

Asking pardon for speaking plainly, Pope Francis told members of the International Theological Commission that "one of the great sins we have had is 'masculinizing' the church," which also can be seen by the fact that only five of the commission members are women.

Making places more accessible for people with disabilities requires removing physical barriers and adjusting attitudes to be more open and inclusive, Pope Francis said.

Proclamation of the Gospel must speak with hope to the problems of the poor and to the need to protect the Earth, Pope Francis wrote to a conference marking the 10th anniversary of his exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.

An important part of the mission of Catholic media is to forgo the shocking, sensational or superficial when such stories present the people involved as less than human and unworthy of respect, Pope Francis said.

A person hearing God's call to follow him does not mean that person then belongs to a special or privileged clique of the perfect or the "elected," Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis expressed his concern about concrete initiatives individual dioceses and the Catholic Church in Germany as a whole are taking, including the establishment of a synodal council. 

Whether simple or elaborate, the same every year or constantly changing, a Nativity scene echoes "the beauty of our faith," Pope Francis wrote.