The young cardinal in charge of Mongolia’s tiny Catholic community says Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to a country with just 1,450 Catholics is evidence that his “heart burns with love for the universal church.”

It is too early to predict the outcome of the next conclave, but Pope Francis has set the stage through his appointments.

Pope Francis’ peace envoy was traveling to Washington on Monday as part of the Holy See’s peace initiatives for Ukraine, hoping to support humanitarian operations especially concerning children, the Vatican said Monday.

Nicaraguans overwhelmingly disapprove of the conviction and imprisonment of Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, according to a survey in the increasingly repressing Central American country, where the Sandinista regime continues cracking down on the Catholic Church.

Catholic universities must not recoil from the daunting risks of artificial intelligence but become proactively involved in its ethical development, said the head of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

Merzouk’s killing blew the lid off years of simmering resentment because of the police treatment of black and Arab youth, the ghettoization of immigrants and their descendants and the general hopelessness among black and Arab youth who feel like second-class citizens in France.