Pope Francis delivers his message as he celebrates Mass to mark the World Day of Peace, in St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on Jan.

The world will not have peace without people having mutual trust and respecting each other’s word, the Vatican said as it announced Pope Francis’ 2019 World Peace Day message would focus on “good politics.”

“Good politics is at the service of peace” will be the theme for the Jan. 1 commemoration and for the message Pope Francis will write for the occasion, said a Vatican communique published on Nov. 6.

The Pope’s full message for World Peace Day, traditionally released by the Vatican in mid-December, is sent, through Vatican diplomats, to the leaders of nations around the world.

The Vatican said Pope Francis’ message will underline how political responsibility belongs to all citizens, especially those given the mandate “to protect and to govern.”

“This mission consists in safeguarding law and in encouraging dialogue among stakeholders in society, between generations and among cultures,” the Vatican said.

“There is no peace without mutual trust. And the first condition for trust is respecting one’s word,” it said.

Political involvement is one of the loftiest expressions of charity, it said, and it brings with it a concern for “the future of life and the planet, of the young and the least, in their thirst of fulfillment.”

When people’s rights are respected, then they will start to feel their own “duty to respect the rights of others,” the Vatican note said.

The rights and responsibilities of each person help foster people’s awareness of belonging to the same community with others and with God, it added.

“We are thus called to bring and proclaim peace as the good news of a future where every living being will be respected in its dignity and rights.”

Pope Francis gave a special greeting to participants in the Race of Saints, promoted by the Missioni Don Bosco Foundation, to offer the dimension of a popular feast to the religious celebration of All Saints.

“Thank you for your beautiful initiative and for your presence!” the Holy Father said on Nov. 1, 2018, in remarks following the Angelus in St Peter’s Square on the Feast of All Saints.

The “Race of Saints” on November 1, 2018 was held in Rome under the aegis of the Congregation for the Laity, the Family and Life, and of its Prefect, Cardinal Kevin Farrell. The event consists of a 10-kilometer course for four categories of runners and one of 3 kilometers for the less experienced. Athletes and simple amateurs came from all over Italy to attest their link to their Patron Saint, or that of their parish or city.

The Salesians launched the idea in the streets of Rome on All Saints 2008, a “Race of Saints,” then to help street children of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In Rome, places of saints are numerous, beginning with those marked by the presence of the Eternal City’s Patron Saints, Peter and Paul, but also the great saints that fashioned them, in particular, the holy Popes that embellished them and quenched them with their fountains, of saints who came from elsewhere and now rest there, such as Basque Saint Ignatius of Loyola; Florentine Saint Philip Neri; and Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, born at Amettes in the Pas-de-Calais, France. Funds collected thanks to the registration of participants will be allocated to works of charity. Therefore, it’s both a sports event – with true champions, marathoners, marchers – and a popular event. The organizers were challenged, in fact, by the fact that All Saints is one of the oldest liturgical feasts, but which up to now has not inspired very festive popular traditions.

The event’s other objective, after its inauguration at Rome, is to go beyond borders, to be able to celebrate the feast of All Saints simultaneously in other cities of the world, announced the promoters.

Catholic bishops in Ethiopia’s have welcomed the election of the nation’s first female president, Sahle-Work Zewde, and said they were pleased that women are getting their rightful place in the country.

The Catholic Church in Ethiopia is optimistic that Zewde’s election will inspire women and girls to reach their full potential as influential actors in society, Vatican News reported.

Zewde, 68, had earlier served as Ethiopia’s representative to the United Nations, and as director-general of the U.N. offices in Nairobi met Pope Francis in 2015. “The Ethiopian Catholic Church believes that President Sahle-Work Zewde, who has years of impressive diplomatic experience, will further strengthen the leading role Ethiopia is playing in the region and further enhance the soft power of the country at an international level,” according to a statement from the Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat.

Life is for loving, not amazing possessions, Pope Francis said. In fact, the true meaning and purpose of wealth is to use it to lovingly serve others and promote human dignity, he said on Nov. 7 during his weekly general audience. The world is rich enough in resources to provide for the basic needs of everybody, the Pope said.

“And yet, many people live in scandalous poverty and resources – used without discernment – keep deteriorating. But there is just one world! There is one humanity.”

“The riches of the world today are in the hands of a minority, of the few, and poverty – indeed, extreme poverty, and suffering – are for the many,” he told those gathered in St Peter’s Square.

The Pope continued his series of talks on the Ten Commandments, focusing on the command; “You shall not steal,” which reflects respect for other people’s property.

However, he said, Christians should also read the commandment in the light of faith and the church’s social doctrine, which emphasizes the understanding that the goods of creation are destined for the whole human race.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the “primordial” universal destination of goods does not detract from people’s right to private property, he said.

However, the need to promote the common good also requires understanding and properly using private property.

“No one is the absolute master over resources,” he said, which reflects the “positive and wider meaning of the commandment, ‘Do not steal.’

“Owners are really administrators or stewards of goods, which are not to be regarded “as exclusive to himself but common to others also, in the sense that they can benefit others as well as himself,” the Pope said, citing the catechism.

Pope Francis arrives to celebrate a Mass for late cardinals and bishops at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Nov. 3.

For every Christian, but especially for those called to ministry, God’s gift of life is a call to serve others, Pope Francis said at a memorial Mass for bishops and cardinals who have died in the past year.

“The meaning of life is found in our response to God’s offer of love. And that response is made up of true love, self-giving and service,” the Pope said on Nov. 3 during Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St Peter’s Basilica.

The memorial Mass is an annual fixture on the Pope’s calendar for November, the month the church dedicates to remembering the dead.

The Vatican said that over the last 12 months some 154 bishops and nine cardinals, including U.S. Cardinal Bernard F. Law, have passed away.

“As we pray for the cardinals and bishops who have passed away in this last year,” the Pope said in his homily, “let us beg the intercession of all those who lived unassuming lives, content to prepare daily to meet the Lord.” For the gospel reading, he chose the parable of the 10 bridesmaids and their oil lamps from Matthew 25.

The Catholic archbishop of Kampala has requested the Ugandan government to deduct 10 percent from the salary of all Catholic government workers and forward the funds to the Church

The issue of tithing, namely the financial contribution of a tenth of the income of a member of the faithful, is often debated in African churches.

Archbishop Cyprien Kisito Lwanga of Kampala has now requested the Ugandan government to deduct 10 percent from the salary of all Catholic government workers and forward the funds to the Church as a means of ensuring its financial autonomy.