Pope

Pope Francis, leading an Easter vigil service scaled down due to COVID-19, said on Saturday he hoped the dark times of the pandemic would end and that people could rediscover "the grace of everyday life".

The Vatican announced that Pope Francis will read his Christmas message from inside the Vatican instead of from the outdoor central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica because of new coronavirus restrictions in Italy.

 A visibly indignant Pope Francis had to pull himself away from a woman in a crowd in St Peter's Square on Dec. 31 after she grabbed his hand and yanked him toward her.

Pope Francis was walking through the square in Vatican City and greeting pilgrims on his way to see the large Nativity scene set up in the huge, cobbled esplanade.

Bucharest, Oct 20 /Agerpres/ - Four bishops, dozens of priests accompanied by believers will carry in the procession, on Sunday, the relic of Saint Pope John Paul II on the streets of Bucharest. The procession will start from the monument of Saint Pope John Paul II, located near the seat of the Apostolic Nunciature of Bucharest.

Bulgarian Ambassador to the Vatican, Bogdan Patashev, today presented his credentials to Pope Francis, the Foreign Ministry said.

Pope Francis on Sunday said after three days spent in Romania that he leaves "enriched" because he will take with him places, moments and especially faces of those he met. "I arrived to this beautiful and welcoming country as pilgrim and brother, to life various meetings. Now I'm going back home enriched, taking with me places and moments, and especially faces.

The pastoral, ecumenical and state three-day visit of Pope Francis in Romania came to an end on Sunday afternoon, in central Sibiu, from where the Pontiff took off with a TAROM aircraft to Vatican.

Pope Francis asked for forgiveness on Sunday in the name of the Church to the Roma community in Blaj, for the moments along the history when they were "ill-treated", "segregated", or looked at "in a wrongful manner, with the look of Cain and not with Abel's" The Pontiff met at the end of his three-day apostolic, state visit to Romania with members of the Roma community with the "Barbu Lautaru"

Pope Francis told the rd 100,000 faithful gathered on Sunday in Blaj on the Liberty Field that he entrusts them to Virgin Mary to guide them "towards a future of a genuine progress and peace", and to building "a more and more righteous and fraternal homeland".

Pope Francis arrives on Sunday, the last day of his visit to Romania, in Blaj, where he will be holding the ceremony of beatification of seven martyred Greek-Catholic bishops on the Liberty Field, and also meet in the afternoon, in the "Barbu Lautaru" neighborhood, the Roma community in the same locality.