Speaking on the 100th anniversary of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's proposed League of Nations, Francis said today's leaders can learn two lessons from the ashes of World War I.

From Montana to Florida and Texas to Maine, homeless shelters opened additional hours and home checks were commonplace as gusty winds carried teeth-chattering Arctic air southward.

They need to be "capable of caring and tenderness—I am thinking of bullying here—free from widespread fallacies" that claim the only way to be worth anything is "to be competitive, aggressive and tough toward others

As Pope Francis writes in “Laudato Si’,” we face “one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.”

From the Old Testament to Pope Francis’ “Laudato Si’,” Catholicism has recognized and treasured mankind’s intimate relationship with the earth and all the life that calls it home.

“What we need to do is just continue to live out the challenge of ‘Laudato Si’,’ which is to examine our relationship with the earth, with God and with each other to see how we can become better stewards of this gift of the earth.”