"The latest progress report confirms that the Holy See has established a functional, sustainable and effective system, aiming at preventing and fighting financial crimes," said Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, under-secretary for relations with states and head of the Vatican delegation to the Moneyval

"The crowds, the joy, the ability to celebrate even with an empty stomach" were impressions the pope said he would take home with him after his six-day trip to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic. After two years of civil war, the pope told reporters, the people of the Central African

"Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters," created by the same God, he said, and they must act like it.

"Even when the powers of hell are unleashed, Christians must rise to the summons, their heads held high, and be ready to brave blows in this battle over which God will have the last word. And that word will be love and peace," the pope said in an evening homily Nov. 29 at Bangui's cathedral.

Under the Vatican criminal code, it is a crime to take, distribute and publish confidential documents. The Vatican said that if any of the five are not present on Nov. 24, they would be tried in absentia.

"We are approaching Christmas," the pope said, and soon everywhere "there will be lights, decorated trees, even Nativity scenes," but if they are not signs of faith in Jesus and a commitment to following him, then it is "all fake."

The Vatican calendar for the Year of Mercy set aside Sept. 4, 2016 as a possible date for the canonization of Blessed Teresa of Kolkata.

When a Lutheran woman married to a Catholic man asked Pope Francis what she and her husband could do to receive Communion together, the pope said he could not issue a general rule on shared Communion, but the couple should pray, study and then act according to their consciences.

"Let your words be simple so that everyone can understand. Don't give long homilies," the pope said. "Allow me to ask you to remember your dad and how very happy he was to have found another parish in a town nearby where the Mass was celebrated without a homily!"

Gianluigi Nuzzi, the Italian journalist who published documents stolen from Pope Benedict XVI's private office by his butler, has a new book out based on more leaked documents. "Merchants in the Temple: Inside Pope Francis's Secret Battle Against Corruption in the Vatican," was scheduled for