In a video message, Pope Francis told young people going to World Youth Day in August should consult their grandparents on how to prepare.

“There is a mission underway that is not public yet; when it is public, I will tell you about it,” the pope said of his plan regarding peace between Russia and Ukraine.

The commission gathered in Rome to reflect on findings from the continental stage of the process leading up to the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican in 2023 and 2024.

Father Hans Zollner clarified that his resignation was not intended to personally attack anyone or impede the work of the commission, which he called “a success in itself and a great idea by Pope Francis.”

The Vatican’s chief prosecutor said Pope Francis has given him free rein to investigate the 1983 disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old Vatican resident.

Building harmony is not only a way of improving the church or being polite, Pope Francis told them, but “an intrinsic demand of the life of the Spirit.”

“If those full seminaries had forged holy pastors, and the traditional formation imparted to them (were) solid and true, we wouldn’t have to mourn so many scandals today,” Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, said.

More than 24 hours after he entered the hospital, Pope Francis’ doctors reported a “marked improvement” in his condition, which they attributed to treatment with intravenous antibiotics.

Father Phillip Larrey said conversations on AI must shift to what Pope Francis calls “person-centered AI.” The pope, he said, “is insisting that you need to put the human person at the center of this technology.”

The pope said that cardinals and senior Vatican officials will now have to pay "ordinary" rent payments on the apartments owned by the Vatican in Rome.