“With a heart shattered over the massacre at the elementary school in Texas, I pray for the children and adults who were killed and for their families,” the pope said.

The 90-year-old cardinal was detained May 11 under China’s national security law for “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces,” but he has not been charged with that.

A Vatican-approved Chinese bishop remains in detention more than one year after his arrest for allegedly violating the communist country’s repressive regulations on religious affairs.

U2 frontman Bono joined Pope Francis for the launch of the Scholas International Educational Movement and its environmental project.

After the introduction of assisted suicide in Canada, some patients are choosing to die rather than to continue to live without adequate palliative care.

Granting an exception to canon law, Pope Francis said men’s communities that are made up of both priests and brothers can choose one of the brothers to be a provincial superior or even the superior general.