Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY -- From pilots and passengers to refugees and fast-food workers, the people airport chaplains meet each day all deserve a kind word and an invitation to a relationship with God, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY -- Catholic schools must help parents teach young people that biological sex and gender are naturally fixed at birth and part of God's plan for creation, said the Congregation for Catholic Education.

VATICAN CITY -- By virtue of their baptism, all Catholics are called to be missionaries, sharing the good news of salvation in Jesus by their actions and their words, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Announcing his desire to visit Iraq in 2020, Pope Francis called for a peaceful resolution to crises in the Middle East.

ROME -- Disciples of Jesus must reject any attitude or language that could increase intolerance or racism, especially in current social and political discussions about welcoming and integrating migrants, said the bishops of Italy's Lazio region.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has named a special delegate for the pastoral care of pilgrims to the French shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes.

ROME -- The brothers of the ecumenical Taize community said they have received five reports of sexual assaults on minors committed by three of their members in a period from the 1950s to the 1980s.

VATICAN CITY -- The Catholic Church has universal laws valid around the globe, but many of those laws -- including on handling allegations of abuse -- must be further refined on a local level to respond to national laws and cultures.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI had imposed restrictions on the public ministry of former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick in 2008, but they were not formal sanctions and were not followed strictly, even during the papacy of Pope Benedict himself, McCarrick's former secretary said.

VATICAN CITY -- The Holy Spirit keeps Christians young at heart, supporting them in times of trial and helping them praise God no matter what is going on, Pope Francis said.