The president of the Irish bishop’s conference hailed an agreement that sees a Catholic take the top political job in Northern Ireland for the first time in its history as an “opportunity for a fresh start and a new beginning.”

“In the light of the numerous communications that have been sent to me by various friends and Jewish organizations from all over the world...I feel the desire to assure you of my closeness and affection,” Pope Francis writes.

Mauro Pallotta, the Italian graffiti artist known as Maupal, has designed cartoon-like images of Pope Francis around the Vatican for a decade. On Thursday, he sat the podium at the Vatican news conference.

In cases of a cleric sexually abusing a “vulnerable adult,” the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith investigates and judges only cases involving “persons who habitually have an imperfect use of reason.”

The controversy over blessing gay couples is just another example of synodality at work, according to Sr. Nathalie Becquart.

The archdiocesan statement said Cardinal Gérald Lacroix “categorically denies the allegations against him” and considers them “unfounded.”