Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, called the decision "meaningless."

"Jesus' words are strong, aren't they?" the pope said. "'Woe to the world for scandals.' Jesus is a realist. He says it's inevitable that there will be scandals, but 'Woe to the one who causes the scandal,'" the pope told people attending his weekly general audience.

Several women participating in the Synod of Bishops on the family said they are encouraged that their views are not only respected but included in the discussions taking place.

Housed in a Jesuit-owned building, the shelter is run with funds from the papal almoner

"As part of the church's ancient teaching on the dignity of the human person," Archbishop Vigano wrote, "the Holy Father has advocated for 'the establishment of the universal moratorium on executions throughout the world, in order to abolish capital punishment.'"

The ruling amounts to "a genuine judicial comedy tinted with denials" and suggested other genocide participants now "comfortably settled on French soil" would also be granted future impunity.

A visit in early 2016 would come as the country continues confronting vices like corruption, which has implicated the president, and insecurity in states such as Michoacan and Guerrero, the latter being where 43 students were kidnapped and presumably killed by police acting in cahoots with criminals in September 2014.

The lawsuit filed Oct. 1 contends that Trinity Health violates provisions of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act and the Rehabilitation Act by denying the full range of emergency care, including pregnancy termination when necessary.

"I would have expected a lot more involvement by the Vatican—the time for cautious diplomacy is at an end," said Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kiev-Halych, major archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

'Unite suffering' with those grieving, archbishop tells Oregon Catholics