Pope Francis

Pope 'shares pain' of Nice attack victims, families

More than 80 people died when Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel plowed a 20-ton truck into crowds on the Promenade des Anglais seafront in Nice during a fireworks celebration on France's key national holiday.

Ten children were among the victims of the ISIS-inspired attack. More than 200 people were injured.

"I wish to share in your pain, a pain that is even greater when I think of the children, or indeed entire families, whose life was taken from them suddenly and so dramatically," Francis said.

Mark Zuckerberg gives Pope Francis a drone

Mark Zuckerberg handed over a Facebook drone when he, and his wife Priscilla Chan, met Pope Francis on Monday.

"It was a meeting we'll never forget," Zuckerberg said. "You can feel [the Pope's] warmth and kindness, and how deeply he cares about helping people."

Pope Francis makes surprise visit to former prostitutes

The women had been rescued from their pimps and are being given shelter and protection at an apartment run by a Catholic charity in Italy's capital.

The pontiff chatted to the women, some trafficked from Africa and elsewhere in Europe, for more than an hour.

The 79-year-old cleric has repeatedly described human trafficking as a "crime against humanity".

The Pope sat down with the women, including seven Nigerians, six Romanians and four Albanians, and listened to their stories of forced prostitution, the Vatican said.

'Not my Pope' hashtag highlights French divisions

Speaking onboard the papal plane as he returned to Rome from Poland, the Popetold reporters why he doesn't use the word "Islam'' when discussing terrorism.

Pope Francis 'doubts' sex abuse case against Pell

"There are doubts. 'In dubio pro reo'," he said, using a Latin expression meaning that a defendant may not be convicted by the court when doubts about his or her guilt remain.

"We must avoid a media verdict, a verdict based on gossip," he told journalists aboard the papal plane during the return trip from Poland, where he had headlined a Catholic youth festival.

"It's in the hands of the justice system and one cannot judge before the justice system."

Pope Francis says farewell to Poland with huge mass

At the World Youth Day gathering, the pontiff urged young people to embrace hope and put prayer at the centre of their lives.

The event took on a carnival atmosphere with pilgrims dancing, singing and waving flags.

The visit marks the 1,050th anniversary of Poland's adoption of Christianity.

Some reports said as many as three million pilgrims, mostly young people, were at the mass, held in a vast field called the Campus Misericordiae near the southern city of Krakow.

Police declined to give an estimate of numbers.

Pope tells 'drowsy' kids to get off their couches and into the real world

He warned lounge chairs gave the illusion of safety from pain, fear or worries, allowing the sitter to kick back and lose themselves for hours in the latest television show or their smartphones.

"For many people it is easier and better to have drowsy and dull kids who confuse happiness with a sofa," he told an estimated one million people gathered at a vigil in a vast plain near Krakow," he said.

"Dear young people, we didn't come into the world to vegetate ... we came for another reason: to leave a mark.

Pope Francis visits predecessor John Paul II's shrine

The Pope called for clergy to leave their comfort zones and tend to the needy on the peripheries of life.

He is on a five-day visit to Poland to mark the 1,050th anniversary of the country's adoption of Christianity.

He is also taking part in World Youth Day, a global celebration for young Catholics.

The Pontiff is due to attend a youth prayer vigil later on Saturday.

Pope Francis began his day with a visit to the Divine Mercy Sanctuary, consecrated by John Paul II during his last visit to Poland in 2003.

Pope Francis to pray at former Auschwitz-Birkenau camp

He will walk in silence around the concentration and extermination camp where 1.1m million people, mostly Jews, were killed during World War Two.

On the third day of his visit to Poland, the pontiff will also meet camp survivors and Poles who risked their lives to hide Jews from the Nazis.

He is in the country to mark 1,050 years since it adopted Christianity.

Francis will be the third Pope to walk through the main gate of Auschwitz, under its infamous inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" - work sets you free.

Pope Francis in Poland: Huge crowds rally in Krakow

He told young people gathered in Krakow "a merciful heart opens up to welcome refugees and migrants", a statement that puts him at odds with Poland's anti-immigrant right-wing government.

It is Pope Francis's first visit to eastern Europe, with Poland the home of the late Pope John Paul II.

On Friday he is visiting the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

There he saw the icon known as Black Madonna, a relic that has been venerated for six centuries.