On a Sunday night in early July, four men -- two of them indigenous -- were brutally murdered in Assis, a tiny Brazilian town on the border with Peru.

Without concerted and immediate efforts toward sustainable development, "There is a real danger that we will leave future generations only rubble, deserts and refuse," Pope Francis said on July 6.

Their conversation was the longest between the pope and a head of state since Francis’ meeting with President Obama in 2014.

Pope Francis said the challenge is “to find ways of ensuring the immense supply of energy required to meet the needs of all, while developing means of using natural resources that avoid creating environmental imbalances.”

The preparatory document for the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazonian Region invites input from the local churches in the nine countries of the Amazonian region.

Catholic health care providers say when those places lack the resources to cope, climate change and mosquito-borne illnesses become issues of social justice.

The need for universal health care coverage was a major topic at the World Health Assembly meeting.

Pope Francis is trying to ensure that those who elect his successor are humble men committed to “a church of the poor and for the poor.”

Pope Francis advocates for the consistent ethic of life in a throwaway culture. Like Cardinal Bernardin many years ago, he defends the sanctity of life at every stage and in every situation.

Insights on the papacies of Benedict XVI and Francis from Father Federico Lombardi, S.J., a close colleague of both.