Vatican City, Feb 1, 2021 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- In a meeting with an American news agency on Monday, Pope Francis expressed hope in the Catholic Church in the United States, which he said has a courageous history.

Speaking to the Rome bureau of the Catholic News Service (CNS) on Feb. 1, the pope called the Church in the U.S. “‘catholic’ in the sense of universal because of immigration. What the Church has done for immigrants is great.”