According to a report released by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University on Jan. 22, just 33 percent of bishops in the United States think the church “should” ordain women as deacons.

On his trip to Panama for the World Youth Day celebrations, Pope Francis will visit the Las Garzas de Pacora detention center in Las Garzas, which is Panama's main youth lockup. While there, the pope will pray with the inmates, offer a message of peace and reconciliation and will also hear their confessions. This will be the first time Pope Francis has done so on a pilgrimage.

Pope Francis has suppressed the Ecclesia Dei Commission, a significant decision with consequences for the Holy See’s relations with the priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X.

The pope wants the February summit “to be an assembly of pastors, not an academic conference—a meeting characterized by prayer and discernment, a catechetical and working gathering.”

In preparation for the gathering in Abu Dhabi, I find myself asking why my conversations with the future Pope Francis so powerfully affected both of us.

In his annual address to diplomats at the Vatican, Pope Francis condemned isolationism and called on nations to act out of “concern for the whole human family and its needs.”