Overview

• Pope Francis celebrated his 87th birthday, marking the end of a significant year of efforts to reform the Catholic Church.
• His health has been a concern, with multiple hospitalizations due to respiratory issues and an abdominal hernia.
• A Vatican tribunal handed down a mix of guilty verdicts and acquittals in a complicated trial that Francis had supported as evidence of his financial reforms.
• The death of Pope Benedict XVI has seemingly allowed Francis to accelerate his reform agenda and confront his right-wing opponents.
• Francis presided over the first stage of a meeting on the future of the Catholic Church, aiming to make the church more inclusive and responsive to the needs of rank-and-file Catholics.