"We don't have to agree on everything, but our relationship is strong enough that it can weather disagreements."

Different Catholic rites are, in fact, "a treasure" for the church.

The Catholic Church's Code of Canon Law is an instrument that must serve the church's pastoral mission of bringing God's mercy to all and leading them to salvation, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis urged them to oppose "one-way streets of exasperated individualism" and "the dead ends of corruption."

An arrest warrant has been issued in Canada for Msgr. Carlo Capella, the Vatican diplomat recalled from service in Washington in late August, who already was the subject of a Vatican criminal investigation involving child pornography.

About 100,000 Christians -- among them more than 60,000 Syriac Catholics -- were expelled from the Ninevah Plain by the Islamic State group in the summer of 2014 as the militants campaigned to expand their reach into Iraq.

Pope Francis said he is worried that even Catholics are arguing against accepting more migrants and refugees into their communities, and they often cite an ill-defined "'moral obligation' to preserve the original cultural and religious identity" of their nations.

"We often hear faithful Catholics who see mercy at work and ask, 'Why?'"

“Jesus scatters and destroys all this darkness with the command he gives to Peter” to “put out into the deep sea.”

Cardinal Parolin said he had seen the most recent video attributed to Islamic State in which the pope and Vatican are threatened.