Pope Francis' favorable rating among Americans dropped considerably since last year, ahead of his visit to the United States in September, according to a Gallup poll.
A gay priest fired from his job as a university chaplain has urged Pope Francis to meet with LGBT Catholics when he makes his trip to the US later this year.
A leading evangelical Church of England bishop and a Labour member of the House of Lords have criticised the Pope's encyclical on the environment as a "naive" document that hankers for a lost world.
Worship leader Darlene Zschech was quite surprised that a lot of Christians reacted negatively to her performance at the Vatican this month, since many people assumed that she was there to promote Catholicism.
A welcoming attitude to other people, especially the needy and including those who have different beliefs, is needed to effectively preach the Gospel, said Pope Francis in the last homily of his July 5-13 travel to South America.
Pope Francis left for Rome on Sunday at the end of a trip to South America during which he censured capitalism, championed the rights of the poor and warned of irreversible damage to the planet.