Cindy Wooden

The "most beautiful gift" the Catholic Church and its members can give the world is a reason to live with hope, Pope Francis said.

Hours after the last visitors and pilgrims left St. Peter's Basilica for the day, a chisel clanged and dust flew as a group of prelates chanted their prayers before a simple wall marked with a cross.

With Ukraine's first lady seated in the front row, Pope Francis told people at his general audience that it is "a shameful tragedy for all humanity" that Russia's war on Ukraine has lasted more than 1,000 days.

The Vatican secretary of state said his prayer for Donald J. Trump is that God would grant him wisdom "because that is the main virtue of those who govern according to the Bible."

Remembering the cardinals and bishops who died in the past year, Pope Francis prayed that after their loving service to the Catholic Church "they may exult in eternal communion with the saints."

Pope Francis prayed at the graves of children and of miscarried babies on the feast of All Souls before concelebrating Mass with several hundred mourners.

After members of the Synod of Bishops approved their final document, Pope Francis announced that he would not write the customary post-synodal apostolic exhortation but would offer the final document to the entire church to implement.

Pope Francis decided the question of ordaining women deacons was not to be discussed at the 2024 Synod of Bishops, and he directed a synod-related study group on women's ministries not to explore the matter, according to the Vatican's doctrinal chief.

Pope Francis met a former prime minister of Israel and a former Palestinian foreign minister who believe they have a workable peace plan for the Holy Land.

If members of the Synod of Bishops are serious about sharing their experience of "synodality" with all members of the Catholic Church, then they must identify concrete ways to do so, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich told members.