In his general audience at the Vatican on Sept. 18, Pope Francis explained that the Catholic Church will endure, despite the frailty and sins of its members, because it is God's project.

Pray and dialogue for peace, Pope Francis told the Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and other religious leaders taking part in the meeting.

Sentencing someone to life in prison without the possibility of parole is "not the solution to problems, but a problem to solve," Pope Francis told Italian prison guards, prison chaplains and officials from the Ministry of Justice.

Tens of thousands of people of all ages were gathered for the vigil on the wide-open diocesan field at Soamandrakizay Sept. 7; the older folks came because the pope was scheduled to celebrate Mass there the next morning.

Pope Francis' week-long trip to Africa commenced with huge crowds, dancing, and honors as he landed in Mozambique as evening descended upon Maputo, the country's capital.

Pope Francis seemed to signal a change already in early July when he named seven women and a religious brother as full members of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Vincent Lambert, who suffered serious brain damage more than 10 years ago, died after years of court battles.

Opening the Vatican tombs of a princess and a duchess July 11 in a search for the remains of a young Italian woman missing for more than 30 years, the Vatican found no human remains at all.

Pope Francis named six superiors of women's religious orders, a consecrated laywoman and the superior of the De La Salle Christian Brothers to be full members of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Patriarch Bartholomew said, "Pope Francis made this grand, fraternal and historic gesture" of giving the Orthodox fragments of the relics of St. Peter.