We publish the speech given by Rodrigo Guerra Lopez at the meeting organized last month by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (CNS) -- Church groups in Colombia are mobilizing to support thousands of Venezuelan refugees who recently fled a military offensive and are stuck in a remote Colombian border town.

Poor countries cannot be expected to recover from the current financial crisis if the world returns to an economic model in which a small minority of people owns half of the world's wealth, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis on Monday addressed members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See for the annual exchange of New Year greetings. In the state-of-the-world address, he reviewed the multiple crises affecting various parts of world, including those caused by the pandemic, and said that fraternity and hope can help overcome them.

They made the comments in an online dialogue for the Roundtable Association of Catholic Diocesan Social Action Directors about "Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship," Pope Francis' recent encyclical.

The world must begin to realize its shared humanity in order to live peacefully, otherwise it risks falling apart in endless conflicts, Pope Francis said.

Valentina Rotondi, a social scientist with training in applied economics and econometrics, is a part of the Central Organizing Committee of "The Economy of Francesco". She talks about her long-term aims and expectations for the event.

Who is my neighbor? Who is my brother and sister? Drawing on central gospel themes found in the Good Samaritan narrative, Pope Francis applies them to the whole “human family,” proposing that the logic of social friendship and neighborly love move beyond the personal to touch on every major social sphere. Join as this panel of experts in Catholic Social Thought discuss Pope Francis’s latest social encyclical, Fratelli Tutti.

Pope Francis and leaders of world religions gathered in Rome on Tuesday to pray for peace and fraternity in a divided world. The international and interreligious Meeting to Pray for Peace was entitled "No one is saved alone. Peace and Fraternity".

An Appeal for Peace is signed in Rome by Pope Francis and by leaders of world religions gathered at the International Prayer Meeting for Peace "No one is saved alone - Peace and Fraternity".

While in Rome for a prayer meeting for peace with Pope Francis, the Orthodox patriarch Bartholomew spoke to Vatican News Oct. 20 about his reading of Pope Francis' recent encyclical, "Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship."

Here is a summary of some relevant observations and challenges from Pope Francis' Fratelli Tutti.

My favorite moment, and perhaps yours, was when, after Judge Barrett rattled off a laundry list of relevant authorities, a senator asked to see her notepad where, presumably, she had written down the citations. She held up a blank tablet. Can you imagine what a domestic disagreement might sound like with a mother of seven who has that kind of memory?

In what Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople described as a "brave and bold" gesture, Pope Francis gave the patriarch a famous reliquary containing bone fragments believed to belong to St. Peter.

A significant rupture between Orthodox churches in Ukraine has brought the official theological dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox to a standstill, according to a Vatican official involved in the talks.

On February 4, 2020, Pope and Imam, Egyptian Sheik Ahmad el-Tayeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar and chair of the Muslim Council of Elders, sign "A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together."

In February 2020, Pope Francis walks with Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of United Arab Emirates, upon his arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Flight airport in United Arab Emirates, Feb. 3, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) See POPE-UAE-ARRIVAL Feb. 3, 2019.

"Whole populations are facing not only the pandemic, but poverty, which the lockdown has intensified," he said. "In this situation, their priority is survival, so we must first meet basic necessities -- food and health supplies -- then move to educational needs. It is an approach that opens a path to integral education."

"We do not want to tear down, we do not want to give insult. We have no desire to conquer hatred with more hatred, violence with more violence, terror with more terror." - World Youth Day 2016, Pope Francis

The predominant global economic system is "unsustainable," particularly in its impact on the environment, Pope Francis said.