Reflecting on her term, Ms Porro described her role in the Eternal City as a “great privilege,” highlighting her efforts to address critical global issues such as climate change, women’s empowerment, and equality.

In his homily, the Holy Father called on the church not to remain in a state of “blindness” to the issues in the church and the world, a blindness that can take the form of embracing worldliness, placing a premium on comfort or having a closed heart.

In the summer of 1939, the plight of a 12-year-old boy competed for headlines across the country with the European political crisis that would soon culminate in the outbreak of World War II. Young Donn Fendler was wandering on his own in the wilds of New England and was facing long odds against his survival.

Christian prayer is not a person at one end of the telephone, speaking to God on the other; no, it is God who prays in us! We pray to God through God,” Pope Francis has said.

In his latest encyclical Dilexit Nos (He Loved Us) the Holy Father emphasised how only a deep and abiding love in the Lord can inspire and fuel Catholics to share the Gospel and God’s love with the world.

Members voted on each of the 155 paragraphs of the document, which made suggestions and requests to Pope Francis that included long-term projects, such as the hope that more lay people would be involved in the selection of bishops.

The Mass in St Peter’s Basilica on 21 October marked the beginning of the Synod’s last week of work at the Vatican, a week that was to be dedicated to discussing and amending a final document before putting it to a vote on 26 October.

While the Holy Father explained the gifts the Holy Spirit gives to a couple through the sacrament of marriage, he repeatedly told visitors and pilgrims that the unity and love of parents are important for children’s growth and happiness.

In the wake of the sudden death of a fictional, unnamed pope (Bruno Novelli), it’s Cardinal Lawrence’s duty – as dean of the college of cardinals – to organise the gathering of the title.

The Ordinary Council, chaired by the Holy Father, will play a fundamental role in the implementation of the synodal process on synodality and the preparation of the next Synod.