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French religious sister Nathalie Becquart is named by Pope Francis one of the Undersecretaries of the Synod of Bishops, becoming the first woman to reach that office and having a right to vote in the Synod.
2021-02-6

Kidnapped Auxiliary Bishop Moses Chikwe, of the Owerri Archdiocese in Nigeria, is freed by his captors. Kidnapped last Sunday, police allege that no ransom is paid. International condemnation includes Pope Francis, during his new year message calling for Bishop Chikwe's release. While in Imo state, a Catholic women's organization, stage a peaceful protest at the Imo state government house, calling on Governor Hope Uzodinma, to quicken action for the release of the Auxiliary Bishop.
2021-01-4

Holy See Press Director Matteo Bruni announces that Pope Francis will make his first international apostolic visit in 15 months after accepting the invitation of the Republic of Iraq and the local Catholic Church to visit the Middle Eastern country of Iraq from 5–8 March 2021.
2020-12-7

The Two Popes film is released on Netflix just before the holiday season. It has a limited theatrical release during November in the United States and United Kingdom. Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis gives a dramatic interpretation of a series of conversations that took place between the liberal cardinal and the conservative incumbent Pope Benedict (played by Anthony Hopkins).
2019-12-20

In a new apostolic exhortation, "Gaudete et Exsultate", Pope Francis mentions Satan or the Devil twelve times. Warning against Catholic media transgressing the eighth commandment, he calls to "see how the unguarded tongue, set on fire by hell, sets all things ablaze."
2018-04-9

"Gaudete et exsultate" ('Rejoice and Be Glad'; from Matthew 5:12) is the third apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis, dated on the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, and is subtitled "on the call to holiness in today's world". It addresses the universal call to holiness, with a focus "to repropose the call to holiness in a practical way for our own time".
2018-03-19

Pope Francis issues "Amoris Laetitia" or the Joy of Love, a document on the Roman Catholic approach to love, sex, marriage and family life.
2016-04-8

A one-year old baby girl with an apparently incurable illness, who was kissed by Pope Francis during his visit to Philadelphia in September, gets MRI results showing her brain tumor has shrunk significantly. Some friends and family call it the "Miracle on Market Street."
2015-11-25

Pope Francis arrives in Sri Lanka to begin a six day Asian tour.
2015-01-13

Pope Francis meets with Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea. During the African leader’s visit, he and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Secretary for Relations with States, signed a new diplomatic accord.
2013-10-25