Speaking on background, a Vatican official told Crux in early December that when the crisis of clerical sexual abuse explodes in Pope Francis’s native Argentina, the situation would be dramatic.

With 2019 already off to a running start, Vatican-watchers can expect a packed year of surprises, updates and new twists and turns. The to-do list includes the papal reform agenda, the clerical abuse crisis, international travel and possible new appointments to key dioceses and curial offices.

In a landmark 8-page letter to U.S. bishops who are on retreat in response to the clergy sexual abuse crisis that has engulfed the American Church, Pope Francis called for a “new ecclesial season” led by bishops who are more than administrators interested in “pointing fingers,” and instead, leadership marked by “collegial spiritual fatherhood,” rooted in humility and unity.

Pope Francis often refers to the biblical Beatitudes as a path in the pursuit of mercy and personal holiness. Yet perhaps recognizing that the Bible never could have imagined the politics of the 21st century, the pontiff invoked an entirely new set of beatitudes for politicians in his 2019 message for the World Day of Peace.

Pope Francis on Friday directly addressed perpetrators of clerical sexual abuse, telling them to “convert and hand yourself over to human justice, and prepare for divine justice.”

The death penalty is an inhumane form of punishment that ignores the primacy of mercy in the name of justice, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis often refers to the biblical Beatitudes as a path in the pursuit of mercy and personal holiness. Yet perhaps recognizing that the Bible never could have imagined the politics of the 21st century, the pontiff invoked an entirely new set of beatitudes for politicians in his 2019 message for the World Day of Peace.

In the heart of Rome, near streets of fancy shops already blinged out for Christmas shopping, Pope Francis prayed for Romans struggling to survive and for families in the city and around the world who face the same lack of welcome that Mary and Joseph experienced.