Vatican City, Oct 10, 2018 / 04:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his general audience Wednesday, Pope Francis said that abortion “suppresses innocent and helpless life in its blossoming.”

“Is it right to take a human life to solve a problem? It's like hiring a hitman,” Pope Francis said in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 10, in a departure from his prepared remarks.

“Violence and the rejection of life are born from fear,” the pope added.

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2018 / 01:24 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Young Catholics, particularly clerics, need better formation on sexuality, affectivity, and the body, Cardinal Gérald Lacroix told reporters Tuesday, speaking about the 2018 Synod of Bishops.

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2018 / 06:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).- From his perspective inside the Vatican’s youth synod, Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, told CNA that participating bishops have real opportunities - through the unique process used during the meeting - to shape the final document produced by the meeting.

While the synod’s final document requires final approval from Pope Francis, Barron said the 266 bishop delegates to the synod will shape its structure and content.

Vatican City, Oct 8, 2018 / 01:59 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta told reporters Monday that Catholics should “trust Pope Francis that there is going to be a solution” to the Church’s clerical sexual abuse crisis.

The support of bishops from around the world, Scicluna said, means that the pope is now “empowered” to do what he wants for the Church, namely, “to make the church a safer place.”