VATICAN CITY -- Gossip is "a plague worse than COVID," Pope Francis said, asserting that while speaking ill of others comes almost naturally, it is a tool of the devil to divide the church.

We live in a culture that glorifies gossip, from celebrity tabloids and reality TV to the rumour mill in our own personal circles at school, work, home and on social media.

The Holy Spirit strengthens us so that we may bear witness to the Lord even through persecution – even to the point of sacrificing our life. But also through the small persecutions like gossip and criticism. ThatöÏÓãÊÓƵapp what Pope Francis said Monday at the daily Mass at the Santa Marta guesthouse in the Vatican.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis' Christmas greeting to the Vatican bureaucracy this year was an extended warning against a host of spiritual ills to which he said Vatican officials are prone, including "spiritual Alzheimer's," "existential schizophrenia," publicity-seeking, the "terrorism of gossip" and even a poor sense of humor.

VATICAN CITY - The biggest threat facing the Vatican isn't a bomb or bullet from the outside, but the insidious work of mischief-makers within, who plant discord and resentment, Pope Francis told the Vatican's security force.