Promulgated by the now Saint Pope John XXIII on 21 November 1964, Unitatis Redintegratio – Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism – brought the Catholic Church into the ecumenical movement as a key player by signalling unqualified commitment to the search for Christian unity.

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.

Every Christian, but especially seminarians, should set aside their screens regularly and spend time with a book of literature or poetry, Pope Francis has said.

The cardinal virtues were espoused and promoted by ancient philosophers well before the development of Christianity, the Holy Father said.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s latest document on human dignity highlights Pope Francis’ decade-long insistence that every human being – independent of their circumstances, stage of development or state of sin – possesses infinite and inalienable dignity that must be respected and protected.

Although she died at the age of 24 in a cloistered convent, her passion for sharing the Gospel through her prayers and example led Pope Pius XI to declare her patroness of the missions in 1927, and her writings led St John Paul II to proclaim her a doctor of the church in 1997

Download the PDF Friday 13 October, 2023 Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, As I write this third “Letter from Rome” on a warm Thursday afternoon, here in the Vatican we are approaching the end of our first full week of work in the Synod. Last week, following the Opening Mass in Saint Peter’s Square, the Synod members began to explore the deeper understanding of synodality, t...

The news conference with updates about the synod — how it will work and what reporters can expect — came just a few days after Pope Francis had told journalists aboard his flight from Mongolia that the discussions at the assembly of the Synod of Bishops 4 to 29 October will not be open to the public or to reporters to “safeguard the synodal climate.”

The decree states that the indulgence will also apply to “the faithful who dedicate adequate time to visit in person or virtually, through means of communication, elderly brothers and sisters in need or in difficulty” such as the sick, abandoned and disabled on 23 July.

“The problem of polemical and superficial, and thus divisive, communication is particularly worrying when it comes from church leadership: bishops, pastors and prominent lay leaders,” the document said.