VATICAN CITY – The Catholic Church is not a fancy medical clinic for the rich, but a "field hospital" that – often literally – provides the only medical care some people will ever receive, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis is calling on Catholics to play a part in the “rebirth” of a united Europe that opens its doors to refugees.

VATICAN CITY – The tears shed by men, women and children around the world each day cry out for mercy, compassion and consolation, Pope Francis said during a special Year of Mercy prayer service for those who weep.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis will welcome several thousand homeless and vulnerable people from all over Europe when they make a pilgrimage to Rome in November.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Police raided a storeroom near St. Peter’s Square and seized a cache of Vatican souvenirs and trinkets including flags, bracelets and key rings bearing Pope Francis’ image.

DUBLIN – Northern Ireland's Catholic bishops urged Massgoers to support candidates opposed to legalizing abortion in elections to the region's power-sharing assembly May 5.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis is a sharp critic of unfettered capitalism, but his brand is so popular that almost anything associated with him is a potent marketing opportunity.

Pope Francis, speaking to Italian school teachers and parents, said, “Education cannot be neutral. It is either positive or negative; either it enriches or it impoverishes; either it enables a person to grow or it lessens, even corrupts him. The mission of the school is to develop a sense of truth of what is good and beautiful.”

When U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is honoured next month at the University of Notre Dame, the icon of Catholic higher education in the United States, he will arrive amid sharp criticisms over his appearance.

VATICAN CITY – Dive into the world's problems with courage and help people turn their lives of desolation into abundance and hope, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis led Christians in praying for Catholic and Orthodox clergy and religious kidnapped in Syria and around the world.

VATICAN CITY – Happiness "is not an 'app' that you can download on your phones nor will the latest update help you become free and great in loving," Pope Francis told thousands of teenagers.

NEW YORK – A canonical inquiry into the life of Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, will begin soon and extend to the end of the year, according to the Archdiocese of New York, which is sponsoring her sainthood cause and is where Day oversaw Catholic Worker houses.

VATICAN CITY – In a continuing effort to protect children, the Catholic Church's focus is now turning to religious orders of men and women.

The Jesuit Refugee Service has a very specific answer to Pope Francis’ call to put mercy on the leading edge of a Church reaching out to the peripheries. The answer is education.