The Holy See’s income for 2021 is down 30 percent, so it has to draw on reserves to cover the budget deficit and avoid layoffs.

In his first general audience since returning from Iraq, Pope Francis said: “ I saw around me the joy of welcoming Christ’s messenger; I saw the hope of being open to a horizon of peace and fraternity.”

In an hour-long press conference on the plane to Rome, Francis spoke about how he felt he had “come back to life again” during the visit, after more than a year in “prison” when he could not meet people.

Pope Francis concluded his three-day trip to Iraq with a stadium Mass in which he said the country “will always remain with me, in my heart.” America's Vatican correspondent, Gerard O’Connell, reports.

On the final day of his historic trip to Iraq, Pope Francis said, “To cleanse our hearts, we need to dirty our hands, to feel accountable and not to simply look on as our brothers and sisters are suffering.”

On the second day of his trip to Iraq, Pope Francis met with a Shia Muslim leader in Najaf and delivered a message of religious unity in the ancient community of Ur. Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell reports.