The news of Pope Francis’ role in bringing about a new chapter in relations between the United States and Cuba demonstrates compellingly what Holy See diplomacy is able to achieve.

Pope Francis is more than a religious leader — he’s also a politician. And that’s led him to controversially deny an audience to the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet.  During his still young and highly ambitious papacy, Francis has made it clear he would like to broaden his church’s appeal.

The pope comes to the table with “no threats, no bullets, no drones.” The head of the Catholic Church is the ultimate example of soft power.

A couple of days ago, Pope Francis had stated that the theories of evolution and the big bang, which is today thought of as the origin of the world, "is not inconsistent with the notion of creation" and that it was possible to believe in both evolution and the Catholic church's teaching on creation. 

Pope Francis has doubled down on his progressive stance toward including gays in the Roman Catholic Church after conservative bishops stymied his efforts.  Francis shared his remarks after the bishops rejected a report from last week containing language they deemed too favorable to gays.

The Pope’s social media expert said Wednesday that Catholics should be using social media to make the atmosphere online a positive place where people can deepen their relationships with one another.

For the Argentine Francis, who was chosen to lead the world’s Catholics in part because of his allure for people in South America, a stronghold of the faith, South Korea presents an important test of whether his popularity there and in the United States and parts of Europe transfers to Asia.

Since the new pope was elected in the spring of 2013, commentators have been eagerly speculating about the "Francis effect," or the possibility that the popular pontiff might attract more people to the flock. But Hispanics make up the biggest population of Catholics in America, and if they continue leaving the Church at this rate, it could be particularly problematic.