VATICAN (CNS): “May all of us receive peace and consolation from the birth of the Saviour and, in the knowledge that we are loved by the one heavenly Father, realise anew that we are brothers and sisters and come to live as such!”  Pope Francis said in his Christmas Urbi et Orbi (To the City and to the World) message and blessing on December 25. 
 

VATICAN (Agencies): “We want to see how we also can put on the table the question of bishops’ responsibility, so there would be greater clarity about who must do something and who checks if the things the Holy Father and the Church—the dicasteries—have ordered be done are, in effect, done,” Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, a member of the committee organising the upcoming February 21 to 24 meeting of heads of bishops’ conferences and representatives of religious orders to address the abuse and protection of minors, said on December 27.

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.