SW News: In a recently published interview with a Catholic daily in Spain called Vida Nueva, the Holy Father has confirmed that Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Vatican's special representative for peace in Ukraine, will shortly travel to China. The pope described Zuppi’s Beijing stopover as part of the Vatican’s peace mission, which has included visits to Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington DC.

The power of the Gospel is for everyone, the pope added, underscoring the need for the Church to engage in communication with all. This message emerged as a major topic during Pope Francis' recent trip to World Youth Day in Portugal. The Holy Father said he is also considering appointing a permanent representative to serve as a bridge between Russia and Ukraine.

In regards to the synod, the pope stated that he was continuing the work that St. Paul VI began when he realized that the Church in the West had lost the synodal dimension at the conclusion of Vatican II and established the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops to start working on it.

The pope also suggested that Synods of Bishops held before his pontificate were too tightly controlled by organizers, and he suggested that controversial topics that have emerged during his own synods, such as the issue of communion for the divorced and remarried at the 2015 Synod on the Family or the possibility of more widespread married priests at the 2019 Pan-Amazonian Synod, were imposed from the outside.

The Holy Father also warned about ‘rigidity’ and ‘fear’. The pope claimed that rigidity among young priests is caused by fear during a time of insecurity that the world is experiencing. He said rigidity is like a shell that hides a lot of rot and fear prevents them from moving on in life.

Pope Francis also said that youth outreach should concentrate on grabbing their interest and gradually bringing them closer to Jesus and the Gospel. Chastity is one moral concern that should not be the only focus because it "scares them all away."