VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - In his newly released encyclical on the environment, Pope Francis did not hesitate to wade into controversial topics, making statements on global warming, pollution, species extinction and global inequality's impact on natural resources.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - One of the most challenging scientific questions Pope Francis faces in his new encyclical on creation is that of climate change, which a source close to the document says the Pope addresses in a balanced perspective without taking sides.

With clergy ordinations occurring this weekend, Bishop Richard J. Malone talks about the roles of bishop, priest and deacon in a new "Consider This."

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - On the day of Oscar Romero's beatification in San Salvador, Pope Francis sent a letter to the current archbishop, praising the martyr for his courageous service to the poor amid widespread national violence.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi has said that Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta could be canonized during the upcoming Jubilee for Mercy, although he clarified that no concrete plans have been made.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - The Holy See and the State of Palestine have agreed on the text of a treaty regarding the life and activity of the Church in Palestine, which is expected to be signed soon by both parties.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - This question was part of a special question and answer session with the Bishop of Rome touching on a wide range of themes - from the link between greed and war, to arguments with siblings, and the role of religion in promoting peace in the world.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - Following a private meeting at the Vatican with Pope Francis, who has helped to broker improved relations between Cuba and the United States, the president of the Caribbean nation suggested he could return to the Church in the future.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - Next month the Vatican will invite Rome's poor and homeless to a concert intended to raise money for Pope Francis' charities, which last year boasted over one and a half million in charitable giving.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - With the number of children raised in brokenness on the rise, young people view marriage as a path to failure - so Pope Francis says it's time for Christians to restore faith in the family.

ROME, ITALY (CNA/EWTN News) - A once avid outdoors-man whose final years were marked by disability and suffering, St. John Paul II witnessed to what it truly means to die with dignity, says a close friend who was with him until the end.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - Pope Francis said Wednesday that marriage is a vocation all believers are called to defend, specifically in terms of the complementarity of the union between a man and a woman.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi S.J. confirmed to journalists today that Pope Francis will make a pastoral stop in Cuba ahead of his September apostolic voyage to the United States.

Vatican City (CNA/EWTN News) - In a joint report marking the conclusion of a multi-year mandate for reform, members of the LCWR have agreed to corrections called for by the Vatican, and said they will continue on the path of dialogue.

Vatican City (CNA/EWTN News) - Giving witness to Jesus Christ is more than mere advertising, Pope Francis said: it's the act of courage in proclaiming the Gospel "with frankness" even to the point of martyrdom.

Pope Francis has clearly made his own this teaching of the council that "the well-being of the individual person and of human and Christian society is intimately linked with the healthy condition of that community produced by marriage and family." So it is that our Holy Father has convoked two synods of bishops in Rome to reflect on the joys and challenges of family life in our time.

Vatican City (CNA/EWTN News) - In a world marked by suffering and fierce persecution - especially of Christians - now "is the time for mercy," Pope Francis said, speaking at the vigil for the Feast of Divine Mercy.

ROME, ITALY (CNA/EWTN News) - Pope Francis said Wednesday that children are never a mistake, and called adults out for building faulty systems that leave children exploited and abandoned, rather than treated as the blessings they are.

In preparation for the October 2015 XIV Ordinary General Assembly at the Vatican, Bishop Richard J. Malone is asking Catholic priests and their parishioners to discuss and reflect upon the role and place of the family in the world today.

As I write, I am at the airport in Rome awaiting my flight home through Philadelphia to snowbound Buffalo. I followed news of the storm on CNN at the Pontifical North American College, our U.S. seminary in Rome, where I stayed during the meeting.

According to Vatican-speak, a specially scheduled session of the Synod of Bishops is an "Extraordinary Synod," meaning not-an-ordinary Synod, held every three years or so. In the case of the recently-completed Extraordinary Synod of 2014, extraordinary things did happen, in the "Oh, wow!" sense of the word. And if this year's Extraordinary Synod was a preview of the Synod for which it was to set the agenda, the Ordinary Synod of 2015, that Synod, too, promises to be, well, extraordinary.

Bishop Richard J. Malone and three archbishops from the United States have been invited to participate in the International Colloquium: The Complementarity of Man and Woman, which will be held at the Vatican, Nov. 17-19. Bishop Malone is chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

The recent Extraordinary Synod of Bishops garnered the attention of the media, but for the wrong reasons. The Catholic Church will not be discussing same-sex marriages as some reports have stated, and the topic of people who have divorced and remarried receiving Holy Communion needs more discernment.

This month, the Vatican will gather bishops from around the world to discuss the theme of "pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization," including the challenge of promoting Catholic teachings in societies where the traditional family may not be so traditional.

PORTLAND---Pope Francis has appointed the Most Rev. Robert P. Deeley, J.C.D., Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston, as the 12th Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

In its preparation for the October 2014 Extraordinary General Synod of Bishops on the theme "The Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization," the Holy See is asking the world's bishops to consult "widely" among the Catholic faithful. So it is that there is a questionnaire, provided by the Vatican, available on this website.

I doubt that Pope Francis has heard of Ernie Banks, the Hall of Fame shortstop. But like "Mr. Cub," whose love for baseball led him to exclaim "Let's play two!" before Sunday doubleheaders in the 1950s, the pope from the end of the world seems to think that papal canonizations are better in tandem: hence the recent announcement that Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II will be canonized together on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27, 2014.

Pope Benedict XVI announced on Feb. 11, 2013, that he will resign, effective Feb. 28, 2013. At Vatican City, he told a gathering of cardinals, "After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only by words and deeds but no less with prayer and suffering."

"It is with great joy and happiness to announce that Pope Benedict XVI has accepted my resignation and has appointed the Most. Rev. Richard J. Malone, bishop of Portland, Maine, as the new ordinary for the Diocese of Buffalo," said Bishop Edward U. Kmiec. "Bishop Malone is a colleague of mine in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and we have been acquainted over the years. He comes to Western New York with tremendous experience and a wonderful reputation for being a caring, pastoral bishop and a true shepherd to his people."

Today's announcement by the Holy Father that he has named Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto to the College of Cardinals has brought great joy to me and to the faithful of the Diocese of Buffalo.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has announced that His Excellency the Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York, will be elevated to the dignity of Cardinal in a Consistory to be held on February 18, 2012.

Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI has told New York's bishops not to be silenced by those who seek to muzzle Catholicism in public life.

Pope Benedict XVI has declared a "Year of Faith" which will begin in October 2012, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

In the tweet, the Pope writes: "Dear Friends, I just launched http://news.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI." With a simple tap and that tweet, Pope Benedict XVI launched the beginning of a new adventure for the Vatican's media services. At the Apostolic Palace on Tuesday afternoon, Pope Benedict used a tablet to launch the new web portal featuring the latest news of the Vatican's media services.

The Vatican Congregation for the Clergy has upheld the decision to merge St. Adalbert Parish into St. John Kanty Parish. Both parishes are in Buffalo.