The pope said business leaders should shift their focus to production, creating jobs and “investing in the common good, not hiding money in tax havens.”

Forgiveness and healing can begin only after the most difficult part is addressed: confronting the past, speaking the truth, revealing the worst.

The parish council at the Jesuit-run Holy Trinity Catholic Church released a statement saying that the church “will not deny the Eucharist to persons presenting themselves to receive it.”

The United States is not the only nation struggling with the problem of outspoken priests becoming entangled with the partisan politics of the day.

It is important to engage in conversations about complex and even controversial subjects using our faith and intellect.

“Only a free church is a credible church,” Pope Francis declared in his homily on June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Pope Francis congratulated retired Pope Benedict XVI on the 70th anniversary of his priestly ordination.

“We are deeply saddened by the information coming out of two former residential boarding school sites in Canada,” Chieko Noguchi, the spokesperson of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said.

Both political parties keep trying to claim Pope Francis but anyone who pays close attention knows that the pope transcends the ideologies of the moment in the United States.

Vatican sources said that during the meeting they “touched on all the hot button issues, including the situation in the Middle East, the Holy Land and China.”