Christopher Altieri

"A gentle and caring pastor," was how the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Scotland, Bishop Hugh Gilbert recalled Archbishop Tartaglia, "who combined compassion with a piercing intellect." Bishop Gilbert went on to say, "[W]e will miss his wisdom and wit very much."

Pope Francis also discussed the increasingly diffuse social tendency to judge persons’ worth on the basis of “productivity” and to discard anyone “unproductive” – especially the sick, the elderly, and the unborn – a tendency he identifies as the chief characteristic of the “throwaway” culture.

"I urge [government] authorities and the entire population to maintain a high sense of responsibility," Pope Francis said Sunday, "in order to soothe tempers, promote national reconciliation, and protect the democratic values rooted in American society."

Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport published extracts of a broad-ranging interview with Pope Francis on Saturday, in which he reminisced about growing up on the pitch and at the soccer stadium -- and on the basketball court -- and shared some stories that tell of how athletes can make a difference.

If Cardinal Parolin and Archbishop Gallagher are clear-eyed regarding the terms of their arrangement, so is Cardinal Zen in his estimation of its effect.

It took guts for Cardinal Marx to do what he's done. It took guts for Pope Francis to let him. Whatever else Cardinal Marx has done -- whatever the ecclesiastical repercussions, whatever the ecclesiological fallout -- he has done the thing that no other senior Churchman has shown himself capable of doing.

Curial cardinals will take a 10% pay cut, while other department heads will take an 8% reduction, and lower-level officials who are clerics and/or religious will see 3% less in monthly pay. Laity, clerics, and religious will all face pay freezes – even those not subject to pay cuts – for two years.

"Love is our strength," Pope Francis said in his homily, "the source of strength for those of our brothers and sisters who here too have suffered prejudice and indignities, mistreatment and persecutions for the name of Jesus."

In Rome, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has authorized a preliminary inquiry. Pope Francis has named Bishop Gerald L. Vincke of Salina, Kansas, as Apostolic Administrator of Dodge City during the investigation.