VATICAN (CNS):  Many people have big expectations that Pope Francis will take major steps in 2019 to address the clerical sexual abuse crisis.
 
He has called the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences and the heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches to Rome from February 21 to 24 to discuss abuse and child protection.
 

VATICAN (CNS): “One thing is certain: good politics is at the service of peace,” Pope Francis wrote in his annual message for the World Day of Peace, which is on January 1.
 

VATICAN (CNS): The death penalty is an inhumane form of punishment that ignores the primacy of mercy in the name of justice, Pope Francis told a delegation from the International Commission against the Death Penalty on December 17. The pope set aside his prepared remarks and spoke off the cuff, the Vatican said.
 

VATICAN CITY (CNS): “Let it be clear that before these abominations, the Church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such crimes,” Pope Francis said in reference to the clerical sexual abuse crisis, during his annual pre-Christmas meeting with officials of the Roman Curia on December 21.
 
The pope told members of the Curia that the Church’s strength does not depend on its members’ perfection, but on the willingness to recognise its failings and correct them.

VATICAN (CNS): statement Pope Francis will visit the United Arab Emirates next year, becoming the first pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula, the Vatican announced on December 6.
 
The statement said the pope will “participate in the International Interfaith Meeting on ‘Human Fraternity’” after receiving an invitation by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi.
 

VATICAN (CNS): Pope Francis approved a new set of laws concerning the structure and governance of Vatican City State in an effort to simplify the many offices and activities of the world’s smallest nation and to boost oversight, transparency and budgetary controls.
 
The measures, issued motu proprio—on the pope’s own accord—were published on December 6.
 

VATICAN (CNS): “We are all called to tackle the production, expansion and distribution of drugs in the world,” Pope Francis told participants at an international conference on drugs and addictions organised by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, on December 1.
 
“It is the duty and task of governments to face with courage this fight against traffickers of death,” he said, adding that “we must not be afraid to give this title” to those behind the drug trade.
 

HONG KONG (SE): “In our societies it even seems that homosexuality is fashionable and this mindset, somehow, also affects the life of the Church,” Pope Francis said during a four-hour-long interview for a book on August 9 at Casa Santa Marta with Claretian Father Fernando Prado, director of the Claretian Publications, Madrid. 
 
The pope expressed grave concern over the issue of homosexuality among the clergy and stressed on the need to “discern adequately” the candidates for priesthood. 
 

VATICAN (CNS): “I am personally convinced that Pope Francis is doing everything possible to oppose the phenomenon of abuse against minors and to foster a new spirituality among priests who must act with the heart of Christ and do what is good for all people, above all for children and young people,” Gerhard Cardinal Muller of Germany said in an interview published by the Vatican Insider on November 27.