Justin McLellan

The Vatican's first-ever auditor general said false information given to the pope is what led to his wrongful termination, a claim he said will be central to his appeal scheduled to be heard before a Vatican court July 3.

While Jesus entrusted St. Peter with the keys to the kingdom more than two millennia ago, and his modern-day successor conferred apostolic authority to newly appointed archbishops June 29, it is ultimately God who holds the power to open the church's doors and lead the Christian community forward in its mission of evangelization, Pope Francis said.

Heaven is not a secure vault protected from outsiders but a "hidden treasure" that is reached by cultivating virtues, Pope Francis said. Before praying the Angelus in St. Peter's Square on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul June 29, the pope reflected on Jesus giving St. Peter, the first pope, the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

Pope Francis prayed in thanksgiving for the release of two Ukrainian Catholic priests who were held in Russian captivity for more than 19 months, calling on Christians to pray for the release of all prisoners of war.

Pope Francis expressed his concern that Christians fleeing the Holy Land and the whole of the Middle East will leave no Christian presence in the land "where it all began."

While Christians must treat addicts with care and comprehension, drug traffickers who push their products on the vulnerable are "murderers" who are called to conversion, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis blessed an ambulance filled with medicine and first-aid equipment that will travel some 1,800 miles from the Vatican to support those wounded in Ukraine.

"We are the biggest player in this field, so we have a special obligation," Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, president of the Pontifical Gregorian University's Institute of Anthropology: Interdisciplinary Studies on Human Dignity and Care, said.

Condemning the killing of Christians in Congo, Pope Francis said the sacrifices of modern martyrs are seeds that grow into examples of Christian witness for the church.

105 comedians from around the world  traveled to the Vatican for a papal audience and to "establish a link between the Catholic Church and comic artists," according to the Dicastery for Culture and Education, which organized the meeting.

Christians should read Scripture often, every day if possible, and look to the Spirit if reading the Gospel ever feels dry, Pope Francis said.

The suspect, a former employee of the Fabbrica di San Pietro — the office responsible for the basilica's upkeep — reportedly attempted to sell an 18-page manuscript, which had been missing from its archives, back to the basilica.

Marking 80 years since some 4,400 Allied troops "heroically gave their lives" to the cause of freedom by storming the beach in Normandy, D-Day commemorations remind the world that disrupting peace in pursuit of worldly interests is a grave sin, Pope Francis said.

The emphasis on listening, dialogue and discernment central to the Synod of Bishops on synodality originated from the periphery of the universal Catholic Church — in the Amazon — and its fruits are now challenging the church worldwide to adopt a spirit of communal participation and decision-making in the church, said the cardinal in charge of the synod.

For Catholic social teaching to become a "compass" for financial structures and policy, he said, "it is necessary not to stop at exhortations but to be able to look at the workings of finance, to expose its weaknesses and imagine concrete corrections."

U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Joe Donnelly will leave his post in July, the embassy announced.

The social and political problems plaguing modern society can be resolved only by allowing the Holy Spirit to heal humanity's inner turmoil, Pope Francis said.

Scholars, tech experts, and business leaders gathered at the Vatican for a two-day conference to discuss artificial intelligence, integrating emerging technologies and advancing the good of humanity.

Though not found on the classical list of cardinal or theological virtues, humility lies "at the base of Christian life," Pope Francis said.

Empowered and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, Christians are called to develop the gentleness needed to proclaim the Gospel to all, Pope Francis said.