Pope Francis called on the world's Catholic cardinals, many of whom live in Rome and lead Vatican offices, to pursue a "zero deficit" agenda to improve the Vatican's use of its economic assets. The pontiff did not offer many specifics in a letter published by the Vatican on Friday,

In his first general audience since returning from the longest international trip of his pontificate, the pope expressed gratitude to God for his experiences.

Pope Francis received a rapturous welcome from the tiny Southeast Asian nation of East Timor, one of the world’s most Catholic countries, where more than half the population is expected to turn out for an open-air mass on Tuesday.

Pope Francis told Roman Catholic cardinals they need to cut unnecessary spending to reach the Vatican’s zero-deficit target set in the wake of a series of financial scandals.

Pope Francis has written to the College of Cardinals of the Catholic Church calling on them to step up efforts to cut costs as part of the reform of the Roman Curia launched a decade ago. "The past years have shown that the requests for reform,