After months of saying publicly he would do everything possible to stop the war in Ukraine, including making a visit to the besieged country, Pope Francis said that a trip to Ukraine was now off the table.

I’m afraid, but not of the virus. Frankly, I’m afraid of what I will see, of what I will hear when I get there and step inside the church.

Pope Francis formalized appointments to the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and named new secretaries to the restructured Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

If there is “a person asking you for forgiveness, who are you to ask if he or she may or may not be sincere?” the pope said. “You take their word for it, and forgive. Always forgive.”

The revitalization of ceremonial life in Indigenous communities and the resurgence of the Latin Mass both reflect a desire to return to a more holistic way of knowing, characteristic of our ancestors.