The invitation “requires some time to answer,” Cardinal Parolin told journalists on January 21. The Vatican, he added, “will not be to participate financially” because “we are not in a position to do so.”

“A lot of concern and anxiety has filled many people worldwide, but especially in Greenland and Denmark, ordinary citizens and politicians alike,” Bishop Kozon wrote on January 16. “A lot of sympathy has been directed towards the people in Greenland. I would also like to assure you, that I follow you with my thoughts and prayers.”

“Many things are challenged and turned upside down in today’s world,” the bishop added. “Peace and stability are at stake ... Let us so be confident in God’s mercy and providence that he may guide the governors of the world and make them open to his wisdom.”

Beginning in 2013, Pope Francis celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Supper in sites such as prisons and migrant centers.

“The years of Pope Francis’ pontificate, as happened with many other celebrations and initiatives, constitute an exception, motivated by the desire to offer the world a clear sign of predilection for the poor and the last, bringing the attention of the bishop of Rome to places of suffering,” said Msgr. Giovanni Falbo, a cathedral canon.

The decline was most pronounced in Colombia (79% to 60%) and Chile (64% to 46%). In Argentina, a decline from 71% to 58% coincided with the reign of an Argentine pope.

“I believe the important thing would be to eliminate tensions, to discuss the controversial points, but without entering into polemics and without fueling tensions,” the Secretary of State of His Holiness added.

Cardinal Parolin also spoke about respect for international law, the “responsible use of the press,” Venezuela, Iran, the conflict in the Holy Land, and President Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza.

In a papal message to the Fédération des Médias Catholiques (Federation of Catholic Media), Cardinal Pietro Parolin encouraged media professionals to be voices of reconciliation in a polarized world.

“One cannot remain indifferent to pain, to suffering—we must act,” he said, “because the risk, as Pope Leo says, is that of the ‘globalization of impotence,’ even more serious than the globalization of indifference.”

Vatican News reported that “the Ukrainian people now live in darkness, with temperatures well below zero, without heating, without electricity, because of intense Russian raids on the capital, Kyiv.”

Pope Leo XIV received Masoud Barzani, the former president of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, which provided hospitality to an estimated 100,000 Iraqi Christians who fled the advance of the Islamic State in 2014.

At the conclusion of his January 21 general audience, Pope Leo XIV lamented that “war is back in fashion.”

Reviving a custom discontinued by Pope Francis, Pope Leo XIV was presented with two lambs on the memorial of St. Agnes (video).