The new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See officially began his duties April 11, presenting his letters of credential to Pope Francis.

But the Congregation for Catholic Education also said that administrators should not be too quick to dismiss employees who are not “totally” Catholic.

Members of the Métis National Council gave Pope Francis a set of beaded moccasins and asked him to walk with them on the path of truth, justice and healing of Canada’s Indigenous communities.

Nine years after taking office, Pope Francis promulgated his constitution reforming the Roman Curia, a project he began with his international College of Cardinals shortly after taking office in 2013.

Pope Francis has been invited to the besieged capital of Ukraine.

“In the name of God, I ask: Stop this massacre,” the pope said March 13 at the end of his Sunday Angelus address.

The pope will visit Kinshasa and Goma, Congo and Juba, South Sudan, joining Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury and the moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

Condemning violence and expressing his concern for and solidarity with Ukraine, Pope Francis has not uttered the word “Russia” publicly.

As Russian troops approached Ukraine’s capital, Pope Francis phoned the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, offering his encouragement and promising, “I will do everything I can” to help.

“That’s one of the reasons why I didn’t go to live in the papal apartment, because the popes before me were saints and I couldn’t do it—I’m not so much a saint,” the pope said on Feb. 6 during a primetime Italian talk show.