VATICAN CITY – The Catholic Church’s mission in the world is to spread the fire of God’s love and must not be limited to the “‘ordinary maintenance’ of those who already know the Gospel,” Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY —Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes said the working document for the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon is not official church teaching, but rather a way for bishops to listen to the local church’s concerns.

VATICAN CITY — In a ceremony to create 13 new cardinals, Pope Francis reminded new and old members of the College of Cardinals how much their ministry and service depends on their realizing how much God loves them and has been compassionate with them.

VATICAN CITY – Robots making human workers obsolete and artificially intelligent computers wreaking havoc on democratic debates are just some of the threats humanity faces in the increasingly digital future, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY – U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, former head of the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation and retired archbishop of San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, died September 26 in Rome. He was 83.

UNITED NATIONS – At a time of increasing urbanization, the “irreplaceable importance” of forests is being “taken for granted and underestimated,” the Vatican’s secretary of state said September 23 at a high-level meeting at the United Nations.

VATICAN CITY – More than 2 million people RSVP’d to a recent social media invitation to “storm” Area 51 in Nevada, in the hope of discovering whether alien life or spacecraft may be secretly stored at this U.S. Air Force base.

VATICAN CITY – Christians are called to follow the spirit of the beatitudes by comforting the poor and the oppressed, especially migrants and refugees who are rejected, exploited and left to die, Pope Francis said.