After reciting the Angelus prayer on the feast of the Assumption, the pope asked Mary to obtain "for everyone consolation and a future of serenity and harmony."
The Vatican has appointed an apostolic visitor to investigate claims by Indonesian priests that their bishop had a mistress and misappropriated church funds.
"The real thing is that at this moment China and (the) pope have a very good relation," said Argentine Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, chancellor of the pontifical academies of Sciences and of Social Sciences.