“Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit, Who in the beginning transformed chaos into cosmos, is at work to bring about this transformation in every person,” Pope Francis said in his general audience today.

“The pope is not homophobic and never was,” the vice president of the Italian bishops’ conference said.

Archbishop Gabriel Mestre of La Plata has resigned unexpectedly after only eight months in the Argentine archdiocese previously headed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

What do you make of a pope who has embraced the L.G.B.T.Q. Catholic community, but who reportedly used a gay slur while reiterating the church’s ban on admitting gay men to seminaries?

A day after news broke that Pope Francis had allegedly used a derogatory word in a private conversation with Italian bishops about gay men applying to Italian seminaries, the Vatican has issued an official response.

Scott VanDerveer writes his homilies in a coffee shop, where he is surrounded by strangers. “Would what I have to say speak to their life at all,” he asks himself. “Or would they say, ‘Ugh, that’s so churchy?’”