"I pray every day for a negotiated solution in the Middle East," Pope says. Francis said this in an audience with the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches.

At the General Audience Francis continued his series of catecheses on the family: overcoming the authoritarianism of the father figure is good but “we have passed from one extreme to the other.

Pope Francis, returning to the theme of the family, dedicated the catechesis of today's Wednesday general audience to the figure of the father: “a word dear to us as Christians, more than any other, as it is the name with which Jesus taught us to call God”, he said to the thousands of faithful gathered in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall.

n his "historic" message to the Christians of the Middle East on the eve marking Christmas celebrations late last year, Pope Francis encouraged them to support what is most beneficial for social life through the testimony of love in order to attain peace needed in the region such as hunger for bread. Due to the fact that the future of love is being tested, he also urged them to upgrade the "culture of encounter'' as well as human dignity and the absolute value of every human being.

Francis presides over the Vespers at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome at the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: “We need one another,” the Holy Spirit is the way.

At today’s Angelus, January 25, Francis appealed for the violence in Ukraine to stop. “God wants Christians to be united. Jesus had the same material and spiritual thirst as us”

Today Pope Francis resumed his morning masses in St. Martha’s House following his visit to the Philippines. “Salvation” and “intercession” are the “key words” that define Christ. “The people were a bit bored with the way the teachers of the Law taught the faith”.

In his interview with journalists on the return flight from Manila Francis talked about an experience he had in Buenos Aires, when officials asked for a bribe in exchange for funds for the poor. He mentioned gender as an example of the “colonisation of peoples”, recalling dictatorships’ attempts at indoctrination. He announced forthcoming trips to Africa and Latin America and repeated the example of the punch. While talking about falling birth rates he also pointed out that being Catholic does not mean breeding “like rabbits”. He said he was touched by the gestures of the Filipinos.

Pope Francis has praised the Jordanian spirit of hospitality demonstrated towards the refugees of Middle Eastern countries. Pope Francis said, in his annual address on Monday, January 12, to diplomats accredited to the Holy See on the occasion of exchanging good wishes marking the advent of the new year: "I found the spirit of hospitality in Jordan which I visited at the beginning of my pilgrimage to the Holy Land", referring in particular to the commitment to hosting refugees coming from other countries of the Middle East.

In his homily at the mass celebrated with bishops, priests and seminarians in Manila’s Cathedral, Francis said: “They are the heart of the Gospel”. Family and marriage “are increasingly under attack from powerful forces which threaten to disfigure God’s plan for creation”. After mass the Pope embraced street children.

The Paris attacks, religious freedom and freedom of expression, responsibility. On the flight from Sri Lanka to the Philippines, Pope Francis explained: “Reacting with violence is not right, but if someone insults my mother, that’s asking for a punch. Benedict XVI spoke about a positivist mentality that considers religions as subcultures”