Pope Francis used strong words to condemn abortion in his Christmas Day message. In front of tens of thousands of believers in St Peter's Square in Rome, the head of 1.3 billion Catholics drew a comparison between abortions and the suffering of children in armed conflicts or as refugees. "How many innocents are being slaughtered in our world. In their mothers’ wombs, in odysseys undertaken in desperation and in search of hope, in the lives of all those little ones whose childhoodhas been devasta
Pope Francis on Wednesday met separately with Israeli relatives of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinians with family in Gaza and said the conflict had gone beyond war to become “terrorism”.
Pope Francis has a respiratory infection and will need to spend "a few days" in hospital for treatment, the Vatican said in a statement on Wednesday, amid concern for the 86-year-old's condition.