The Vatican announced on Friday that the newly established commission for the study of the female diaconate was holding its first meeting at the offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The two day meeting brings together the 12 members of the commission, under the presidency of Jesuit Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, who also serves as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith…

Drug dependency is a ‘new form of slavery’ and a ‘wound in our society’ which should be combatted with education and rehabilitation.

That was Pope Francis’ message to a Vatican conference called ‘Narcotics: Problems and Solutions of this Global Issue’, which was hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on 23-24 November.

Pope Francis told the two-day conference on Narcotics that those who fall into the snares of drugs are victims who have “lost their freedom” in return for “a new form of slavery”…

Pope Francis on Wednesday held his weekly General Audience in the Paul VI Hall, where he spoke on two more of the Spiritual Works of Mercy: “Counseling the Doubtful” and “Instructing the Ignorant.”

Here is the English language summary of the Pope’s address:

Dear Brothers and Sisters:  Among the spiritual works of mercy, we now consider those of counselling the doubtful and instructing the ignorant.  These two works are related and both can be practised daily in our families and communities.  The Church’s mission of evangelization has always been accompanied by teaching and the founding of schools, since education promotes the dignity of the person and provides for the full development of his or her God-given gifts.  Illiteracy and lack of access to education are in fact a form of poverty and injustice…