ROME, June 14: Pope Francis has blasted the “ferocity and cruelty” of Russian troops in Ukraine while praising the “heroism” and “courage” of Ukrainians to defend their land.

VATICAN CITY, June 9:  Pope Francis on Sunday appealed for peace in Sudan following a bloody crackdown by security forces on pro-democracy protesters in Khartoum last week.

VATICAN CITY, Feb 21: Pope Francis opened a landmark sex abuse prevention summit Thursday by warning senior Catholic figures that the faithful are demanding concrete action against predator priests and not just words of condemnation.

Pope Francis has denounced abortion as the "white glove" equivalent of the Nazi-era eugenics program and urged families to accept the children that God gives them.

CHILE, Jan 17: Looking to put Chile’s sex abuse scandal behind him, Pope Francis dives Wednesday into another divisive issue roiling the South American nation: the plight of the indigenous Mapuche and their long-running conflicts with government authorities.

CHILE, Jan 16: Pope Francis will be under pressure Tuesday to confront a priest sex abuse scandal during his first full day in Chile, an Andean nation where the majority identifies as Roman Catholic but strong currents of skepticism and even contempt for the church are increasingly present.

VATICAN CITY, Dec 26: Pope Francis used his Christmas message on Monday to call for a negotiated two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after U.S. President Donald Trump stoked regional tensions with his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

DHAKA, Nov 30: Pope Francis arrived Thursday in Bangladesh for the second leg of his six-day trip to Asia with the Rohingya crisis looming large.

YANGON, Nov 27: Pope Francis arrived Monday on a visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh to encourage their tiny Catholic communities and reach out to some of Asia’s most peripheral and poor, but the big question looming was whether he would utter the word “Rohingya” while he’s here.

VATICAN CITY, May 24: President Donald Trump met with Pope Francis, the famously humble pontiff with whom he has publicly clashed, concluding his tour of the ancestral homes of the world's three largest monotheistic religions.

VATICAN CITY, Sept 4: Pope Francis has declared Mother Teresa a saint, honoring the tiny nun who cared for the world's most destitute as an icon for a Catholic Church that goes to the peripheries to find poor, wounded souls.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 6: Pope Francis has written a letter of encouragement to the first team of refugees to participate in the Olympic Games.