Cardinals Rosa and Sako said they expect the conclave to be brief and last two to three days. While not revealing a name, Cardinal Sako said he already had a “very clear” idea of who he intended to vote for.

All 135 cardinals who are under the age of 80 and have not renounced the right to enter the conclave will have full voting rights.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin told some 200,000 people in St. Peter’s Square that Pope Francis had made the message of God’s limitless mercy the heart of his pontificate.

Signed by the pope and dated Feb. 11, three days before Pope Francis was hospitalized, the decree was released by the Vatican Feb. 26.

The Code of Canon Law must more directly address the frequent spiritual manipulation and abuse of office wrought by members of the church to solicit sex, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández said.

The Cuban government announced that it would release hundreds of political prisoners, citing inspiration from Pope Francis' emphasis on mercy for prisoners during the Jubilee Year.

“Today we know how to turn our eyes toward Mars or virtual worlds, but we struggle to look into the eyes of a child who has been left on the margins and is being exploited and abused,” the pope said at his general audience Jan. 8.

“This is a very significant beginning,” Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the chief Vatican organizer of the Jubilee Year, said in a statement.

For the first time, women will serve on the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod.

At a conference on the Future of theology, the pope stressed the need to expand the role of women in academic theology: “There are things that only women understand, and theology needs their contribution.”