Pope Francis presided Friday over a special prayer for Ukraine that harked back to a century-old apocalyptic Fatima prophecy about peace and Russia.

The portrait of Pope Francis that emerges from conversations with his friends is that of a man as resolutely down-to-earth and dependably Argentinian as his immigrant neighborhood.

On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Gerard O’Connell and Colleen Dulle break down changes in the new constitution for the Curia in the context of Pope Francis’ vision of evangelization.

The pope recorded the messages in the spur-of-the-moment when he received the new bishop of Hong Kong, Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan, S.J., in a private audience at the papal library in the Vatican’s apostolic palace.

A Reflection for the Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent, by Michael J. O’Loughlin

“Does the transmission of faith—and of the meaning of life—follow this path today, of listening to the elderly?” Pope Francis asked in his general audience.