The Pope and the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran recalled “the conclusion and implementation of the Iran Nuclear Agreement” and “highlighted the important role Iran is called to play along with other countries in the Region, in promoting adequate political solutions to the problems afflicting the Middle East, preventing the spread of terrorism and arms trafficking”. This is what was said in a communiqué published at the end of Pope Francis’ audience with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani today.

A number of bishops visited our beloved Kingdom a few days ago. They were acquainted with the roles played by the local Church institutions in the spiritual, cultural, charity fields and others.

I was thinking back again to my seminary days back in the 1980s. I was asking myself, once more, why the rosary was not encouraged and, worse yet, why there was an unspoken understanding that if someone clung to the rosary that they would be suspect for a kind of fanaticism.

This change to the Church’s rules has been made official in a decree signed by the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Robert Sarah. All of God’s people can now be chosen for the washing of the feet rite, which is no longer limited to “men or boys”.

Pope Francis on Monday January 18 received an ecumenical delegation from the Lutheran Church of Finland, as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins. The Week of Prayer will end Monday with an ecumenical celebration in St. Paul Outside-the-Walls presided over by the Pope.

Pope Francis is following the lead of his immediate predecessors St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, in his peacemaking efforts for the war-torn region.

In scanning the confusing array of conflict today in the Middle East and North Africa, one thing is certain: President George W. Bush should have listened to St. John Paul II who beseeched his administration, and other Western leaders, not to invade Iraq in 2003.

This headline “Overcome Indifference and Win Peace” is the title of the Pope’s message of peace for the new year, as the Pope is used to address a message on January 1 every year which commemorates the World Day of Peace. This is the 49th anniversary of commemorating this world day of peace.

With crises in Syria and Iraq deepening, Catholic bishops on a solidarity visit with the “forgotten” Christians of the Middle East are urging stepped-up peace efforts to resolve conflicts tearing apart the troubled region.

Highlighting the ongoing plight of Iraqi Christian refugees who face another winter of displacement, 18 months after fleeing persecution by Islamic State militants, is also their top concern.

In conversation with Tornielli, in this exclusive extract from The Name of God is Mercy, Pope Francis explains why what he refers to as “God’s identity card” has the power to transform lives and heal the planet.

“I felt as though I had been abandoned”

Pope Francis recalls how, as a teenager growing up in Buenos Aires in the early 1950s, already considering his own vocation, a visiting priest to the Bergoglio family’s parish of San Jose in the Flores district taught him, when he went to confession, all about the mercy of God.

A public university is organising seminars that put Muslim students on guard against alleged proselytism. Educators point out that “encouraging hatred opens the door to ISIS”.