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WASHINGTON - Pope Francis isn't going to be visiting the United States until September, but that hasn't kept the Pope from going all around the nation, if only as a simple piece of paper for the time being.

LIMA, Peru - When Pope Francis lands in Ecuador July 5, he will be returning to a country where he has long-standing bonds of ministry and friendship.

More than a call to clean up the planet, Laudato Si’ is a plea for humankind to clean up its act. The Pope������Ƶapp straight-talking encyclical implores people of all nations and faiths to unite in a bold cultural and spiritual revolution to reverse the destruction of the environment.

The Vatican last week released the Pope������Ƶapp encyclical on the environment and while many pundits suggested the Catholic Church and its spiritual leader should butt out of ecological politics and economics, the Pope������Ƶapp hard-hitting missive about our endangered planet got a relatively positive review.

VATICAN CITY - It took place in silence and lasted only a few minutes, but Pope Francis' time of prayer and contemplation before the Shroud of Turin was marked with gestures of reverence and tenderness.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on June 19 criticized world powers for their failure to find a solution to the Syrian conflict, saying the country������Ƶapp Christians had been united by “the blood of the martyrs” lost in war.

MEXICO CITY - Pope Francis aims to touch the hearts of people so that they act to stem climate change and change their lifestyle to reduce negative impacts on the planet in his encyclical on the environment, said a priest at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina.

VATICAN CITY - The earth, which was created to support life and give praise to God, is crying out with pain because human activity is destroying it, Pope Francis says in his long-awaited encyclical, Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home.

WASHINGTON - Long before Pope Francis' encyclical on care for creation was released, it was providing a boost for a group of women struggling to keep the negative influences of modern-day life from erasing valued Mexican traditions and treasured cultural practices along the Mexico-Texas border.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis said people who shut out refugees should seek forgiveness June 17, after clashes on Italy������Ƶapp borders as European countries try to push back against a wave of migrants fleeing by boat from Libya.

VATICAN CITY - Appealing to the entire world, Pope Francis urged everyone to read his upcoming encyclical on the care of creation and to better protect a damaged earth.

The most anticipated papal encyclical in history has anticipated itself. What an angry Vatican spokesman called an “intermediate draft” of the letter from Pope Francis on the environment was leaked by an Italian magazine three days before its official launch.

A new survey finds U.S. Catholics — like most Americans — are divided along political lines when it comes to the cause and urgency of climate change. And Pope Francis, in a leaked copy of a hotly anticipated encyclical, goes straight at it.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis said planning for a possible visit to Colombia would be accelerated by a peace agreement in the country, said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Calderon, following his meeting with the pontiff at the Vatican June 15.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis stressed the importance of children having heterosexual parents June 14, just a day after Rome������Ƶapp gay pride march demonstrated the changing attitudes about same-sex couples outside the Vatican walls.