ROME (CNS): The clerical abuse scandal has caused everyone in the Catholic Church “pain and unbearable suffering,” Pope Francis said, but it also is a call to repentance and the renewal of the Church.
 
“Our humble repentance, which remains silent between our tears for the monstrosity of sin and the unfathomable greatness of God’s forgiveness, this, this humble repentance is the beginning of our holiness,” the pope told priests from the Diocese of Rome.
 

VATICAN (CNS): Pope Francis welcomed top officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including its president, Russell M. Nelson, to the Vatican on March 9. 
 
Nelson, whom Mormons consider a prophet, along with other top officials of the Latter-day Saints Church were in Rome for the March 10 inauguration of a new temple, where special marriage, baptism and other rites are performed.
 

VATICAN (CNS):  “Being a Catholic in politics does not mean being a recruit from a group, an organisation or a party,” but striving to serve others and dedication to promoting the common good, particularly through listening to and empowering people who often are overlooked, Pope Francis said during a meeting with 26 young Latin America leaders on March 4. 
 
They were attending a course on politics and the social teaching of the Church supported by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
 

LAHORE (UCAN): Pope Francis was asked by Sunila Ruth, a Christian member National Assembly of Pakistan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, to “actively support and call upon the Indian government” to join dialogue efforts to help end the conflict between the nuclear-armed nations.
 

VATICAN (CNS): Technology holds the potential to benefit all of humankind, but it also poses risky and unforeseen results, Pope Francis said in remarks during an audience with members of the Pontifical Academy for Life and those taking part in its February 25 to 27 plenary assembly, which included a two-day workshop on Robo-ethics: Humans, Machines and Health.
 

VATICAN (CNS): While the four-day Vatican summit on the protection of minors has ended, the work to ensure that laws and concrete actions are in place is just beginning, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi during a press briefing on February 24.
 
Father Lombardi, who served as moderator of the February 21 to 24 summit, said Pope Francis will soon publish a new set of laws and guidelines concerning child protection for Vatican City State.
 

VATICAN (SE): “I make a heartfelt appeal for an all-out battle against the abuse of minors both sexually and in other areas, on the part of all authorities and individuals, for we are dealing with abominable crimes that must be erased from the face of the earth,” Pope Francis said in closing the February 21 to 24 Vatican summit on The Protection of Minors in the Church.
 

VATICAN (CNS): “Fear is the origin of slavery,” just as it was for the ancient Israelites, Pope Francis said during a Mass celebrated at the conference, Welcoming Communities: Free of Fear, on February 15. 
 
“It is also the origin of every dictatorship because, on the fear of the people, the violence of the dictator grows,” he said.