Pope Francis' sixth year in office, Andrea Tornielli said, "was characterized by the scourge of abuse and by suffering from internal attacks. His response was a call to return to the heart of faith."

"I invite you to live your faith with great freedom, never believing that there exists only one form of political commitment for Catholics, a Catholic party."

Pius, who was pope from 1939 to 1958, has been strongly attacked for not speaking out publicly against the Holocaust but defended by some for the vast hidden work he did to help many victims of the Nazis, fascists and communists.

Some members of the armed forces resent the influence and popularity of the Catholic Church in the Amazon.

“To generalize, to look at a whole category of people is never legitimate,” said Archbishop Charles Scicluna, one of the Vatican’s point man in the fight against sex abuse. Homosexuality and heterosexuality are “human conditions,” he said, adding, “they are not something that predisposes to sin.”

“I make a heartfelt appeal for an all-out battle against the abuse of minors both sexually and in other areas, on the part of all authorities and individuals, for we are dealing with abominable crimes that must be erased from the face of the earth,” the pope said.