Hello and welcome to this week’s Vaticano Updates – the most important news from the Holy Father and the Vatican. 

Top 1: Synod organizers: “Don’t impose an agenda on discussions” Cardinals organizing the Synod on Synodality have written a letter to all of the world’s bishops sharing urgent considerations for the Continental Assemblies, seven of which are set to take place by the end of March. In the letter Cardinal Mario Grech and Cardinal Jean Claude Hollerich stressed that the Synod of Bishops is not meant “to address all the issues that are debated in the Church.” They also reminded the participants on the three main targets which Pope Francis wanted the Synodal Church to discuss: “communion, participation, mission.” 

Top 2: After Ouellets’ resignation: New prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Bishops Bishop Robert Francis Prevost is the new prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Bishops. He succeeds Cardinal Marc Ouellet. Bishop Prevost will lead the Vatican office responsible for evaluating new members of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy. He was born in Chicago in 1955 and has served as a bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru since 2015. 

Top 3: Pope decries culture that ‘throws away’ unborn children, elderly, poor In his Angelus address, Pope Francis decried a culture that “throws away” unborn children, the elderly, and the poor if they are not useful. “The disadvantaged cannot be thrown away”, said the Holy Father and added: “Every person is a sacred and unique gift, no matter what their age or condition is. Let us always respect and promote life! Let us not throw life away.” 

Top 4: Pope Francis clarified his comments on homosexuality Pope Francis has clarified his comments on sin and homosexuality from a recent interview with the Associated Press. “When I said it is a sin, I was simply referring to Catholic moral teaching, which says that every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin,” the pope wrote in response to a request for clarification. Francis stressed out that he was trying to say in the interview that criminalization of homosexuality “is neither good nor just.” 

Top 5: Pope Francis offers condolences for Monterey Park shooting The Holy Father has offered his condolences after 11 people were killed in a shooting at a Los Angeles dance hall, one of two deadly mass shootings in California at the end of January. The pope sent a telegram to Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles expressing his sadness and assuring his spiritual closeness to “those affected by this tragedy.”