NATION/WORLD

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Like every saint, St. Peter was not a superhero, he was just a real, imperfect person who generously said, "yes" to Jesus, Pope Francis said. "It appears that it is God who makes Peter strong with his grace, who unites us with his love, and forgives us with his mercy," the pope said June 29.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christians are called to be modern-day prophets who guide others to see the Holy Spirit at work in everyday life and not to be superstitious people who try to predict or control the future, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Catholics who celebrate the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly July 23 can receive a plenary indulgence, which is a remission of the temporal punishment due for one's sins, the Vatican said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis named 21 new cardinals, including U.S.-born Archbishop Robert F. Prevost, who took the helm at the Dicastery for Bishops in April, and French Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Only by shedding feelings of personal greatness and regaining a sense of wonder in God's love can people welcome Jesus into their hearts and lives, Pope Francis said. With some 15,000 visitors gathered to pray the Angelus in St. Peter's Square July 9, the pope reflected on the day's Gospel reading from St. Matthew in which Jesus praises God the Father for hiding "things" from the wise and revealing them to the childlike.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Even if the fruits are not immediately visible, Christians are called to sow seeds of faith in the world and people around them in their daily lives, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis' special envoy went to Washington to explore what the Vatican's role could be in bringing about an end of hostilities in Ukraine, said the president of the U.S. bishops' conference.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Gospel calls Christians to bring the elderly to the center of their lives and away from the margins of families, politics and financial markets that banish them as "unprofitable waste" in society, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- From a dark past of once allowing and ordering the censoring, banning and burning of the Talmud and other Hebrew texts, the Vatican has deepened its decades of fruitful dialogue and cooperation with Jewish leaders with a new interfaith study program. Some 20 Jewish and Christian scholars began a three-month hybrid course in mid-July at the Vatican Library to dig into more than 1,000 years of teachings contained in more than 800 ancient Hebrew manuscripts from the 9th to 16th centuries housed in its collections.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church is not a "club" for the elderly; it needs the participation of young people to keep it alive and ensure it does not "grow old," Pope Francis said. In a video message released July 27 to present his prayer intention for the month of August, "For World Youth Day," the pope responded to questions from young people around the world in the buildup to WYD 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, which was scheduled to begin Aug. 1.