ROME (CNS): “The main point of the new apostolic constitution is that the Church’s mission is evangelisation. It puts it at the centre of the Church and of everything the Curia does,” Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India, told the Spanish Catholic weekly, Vida Nueva, in an interview published on April 27.
 

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Happy Easter!
 
Today the Church renews the proclamation made by the first disciples: “Jesus is risen!” And from mouth to mouth, from heart to heart, there resounds a call to praise: “Alleluia, Alleluia!” On this morning of Easter, the perennial youth of the Church and of humanity as a whole, I would like to address each of you in the opening words of my recent apostolic exhortation devoted especially to young people:
 

VATICAN CITY (CNS): Marking Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI’s 92nd birthday on April 16, Andrea Tornielli the editorial director of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, insisted what the retired pope recently wrote concerning the clerical sexual abuse crisis (Sunday Examiner, April 21) is essentially what Pope Francis has also said.
 

VATICAN (CNS): At the end of a highly unusual spiritual retreat for the political leaders of warring factions of South Sudan on April 11 held at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, Pope Francis knelt at their feet, begging them to give peace a chance and to be worthy “fathers of the nation.”
 
Unscripted, he said to them, “As a brother, I ask you to remain in peace. I ask you from my heart, let’s go forward. There will be many problems, but do not be afraid.” 
 

MANILA (UCAN): Pope Francis called on Radio Veritas Asia, which celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 11, to help build “a more just and united society.”
 
In his message, the pontiff expressed hope that the station would pursue its mandate to preach the gospel and be a “channel of love by being the voice of the poor.”
 
Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, papal nuncio to Manila, read the pope’s message during the first day of a week-long celebration at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.

VATICAN (CNS): The life of a young person and the vocation to which God calls each one is holy ground that pastors and parents must respect, nurture and encourage, Pope Francis writes in Christus Vivit (Christ Lives), his new apostolic exhortation, released on April 2.
 

VATICAN (CNS): As is customary, Pope Francis reviewed his March 30 to 31 trip to Morocco, at his general audience on April 3. 
 
“People might ask themselves, ‘Why is it the pope visits Muslims and not just Catholics?’” the pope said.
 
He reminded people that Catholics and Muslims are both “descendants of the same father, Abraham,” and the trip was another step on a journey of “dialogue and encounter with (our) Muslim brothers and sisters.”
 

VATICAN (CNS): Media must make sure their efforts focused are on “facts rather than fake news, objectivity rather than gossip, accurate research rather than sloppy headlines,” Pope Francis told a group of Catholic and Protestant journalists from Germany during an audience at the Vatican on April 4.
 
The delegation included representatives from the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Evangelical Church in Germany and public service media.
 

VATICAN (CNS): In his new apostolic exhortation to young people, Christus Vivit (Christ Lives), Pope Francis warned that as the digital environment continues to become the norm, it has had a “profound impact” on young people’s ability to communicate and develop relations with others. He wrote that while digital communications and social media can be used as a tool of evangelisation and a place of dialogue with others, they also can be lonely environments where young people fall prey to humanity’s worst vices.
 

RABAT (CNS): “I encourage you to continue to let the culture of mercy grow, a culture in which no one looks at others with indifference, or averts his eyes in the face of their suffering,” Pope Francis told Morocco’s small Catholic community during the closing Mass of his March 30 to 31 visit held at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium. 
 
He praised them for the many ways they “bear witness to the gospel of mercy in this land.”