An overemphasis on “personal well-being” and general indifference have eroded any sense of responsibility toward others, especially toward the poor, said a note from the Vatican announcing Pope Francis’ choice of a theme for World Peace Day 2014.

The war in Syria is like a factory churning out nothing but death, destruction and suffering, said Archbishop Mario Zenari, Vatican nuncio to Syria. Even though the Vatican was unable to confirm July 30 news reports that a Jesuit priest had been kidnapped in Syria, the nuncio said hundreds of innocent people there find themselves abducted for political leverage or economic extortion.

At least 38 pilgrims were killed on their way home from the Padre Pio shrine when their bus plunged off an elevated highway. Another 19 people were reported seriously injured, including passengers of nearby vehicles. Only 11 people were pulled alive from the wreckage, Vatican Radio and other news outlets reported.

In an effort to shake its image as a secretive, scandal-ridden institute and improve its relationship with the media, the Vatican bank has launched its own website.

Pope Francis sent condolences to the archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, after a train crash left at least 80 dead and more than 100 injured.

The legalization of gay marriage cannot change Christian teaching on sexual morality, and the Catholic Church cannot accept marriages of same-sex couples, the bishops of England and Wales said in a document that was to be distributed in parishes July 27-28.

Pope Francis is the most influential world leader on Twitter, with the highest number of retweets worldwide… The rankings were released July 24 in a recent study titled “Twiplomacy,” which refers to the use of Twitter by world leaders.

The papal nuncio to the United Nations criticized the “persistent refusal” of Syria’s warring factions to negotiate an end to the country’s 28-month-long civil war.

Pope Francis appointed Msgr. Leo Cushley — a longtime Vatican diplomat from the Diocese of Motherwell — to be the new archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland.

Panelists at a religious freedom session on Pakistan called for reform of the nation’s laws, calling the situation for minorities dire. In June alone, 47 religious minorities were killed in Pakistan, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.