Pope Francis ended 2022 essentially the way he began it, with an appeal for peace and an end to the immense suffering caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The year was also marked by several significant papal trips, including to Canada; further reflections on the liturgy; his restrictions placed on the traditional Latin Mass; the long-awaited document for the reform of the Roman Curia; and continued concerns about the deal struck with Communist China on the appointment of bishops.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has been called a “world war” by the Pope and has led to his frequent appeals for a peaceful settlement. The invasion has complicated Catholic-Russian Orthodox relations, even as it has caused severe divisions within global Orthodoxy.

In a letter to the Ukrainian people on Nov. 24, Francis wrote, “I would like to add my own tears to yours, and to assure you that I am daily close to you and bear you in my heart and in my prayers. Your pain is my pain. Today, in the cross of Jesus, I see all of you who are experiencing the terror unleashed by this aggression.”

Francis expressed hopes of traveling to Ukraine and even to Moscow. These proved impossible because of diplomatic and security obstacles, as well as physical limitations placed on the Holy Father by his own health, including a damaged knee that has forced him to use a wheelchair on a regular basis. The wheelchair was especially noticeable during the Pope’s travels throughout the year, starting with his trip to Malta in April, and the chronic knee issue forced him to cancel a planned visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan in early July.

He was able to make a journey to Canada in late July, which had as its primary purpose to issue a renewed apology on behalf of the Church for crimes and abuses committed by religious groups against Canada’s Indigenous people.

In an apology issued at the site of a former residential school in Alberta, Francis declared, “It is painful to think of how the firm soil of values, language and culture that made up the authentic identity of your peoples was eroded, and that you have continued to pay the price of this. In the face of this deplorable evil, the Church kneels before God and implores his forgiveness for the sins of her children. I myself wish to reaffirm this, with shame and unambiguously. I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous Peoples.”

The progress of interreligious dialogue, the pursuit of peaceful coexistence and the defense of religious freedoms were central themes in the other major trips, to Kazakhstan in September for the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions and then to Bahrain in November for the Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence.

The growing alarm for religious freedom was at the heart of the ongoing crisis over China’s treatment of all religions, the Catholic Church in particular. On Nov. 26, the Vatican took the unusual step of publicly condemning China’s egregious violations of the terms stipulated in its provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops. The Vatican statement said that “the Holy See noted with surprise and regret” that Bishop John Peng Weizhao had been installed as an “auxiliary bishop of Jiangxi,” a diocese that is not recognized by the Vatican, and that “prolonged and heavy pressure from local authorities” preceded the installation. The very next day, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong and a vehement critic of the Vatican’s agreement, was convicted by a Hong Kong court and fined HK$4,000 (about $500) for failing to register a fund that helped pay for the legal fees and medical treatments of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters.

Pope Francis also reached a key milestone in his reform of the Roman Curia, with his promulgation of the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium (Preach the Gospel), which was released initially only in Italian on March 19, after nine years of work by the Pope and his “council of cardinals.” The decree declared, “The Roman Curia is composed of the Secretariat of State, the Dicasteries and other bodies, all juridically equal to each other.” The once top-ranking Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was renamed the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and was listed for the first time after the Dicastery for Evangelization, indicating that evangelization is to be central to the new structure of the Roman Curia and to Francis’ vision for the Church.

The struggle for control of that vision continued to play out on the global stage of the synodal process, one of the key projects for the pontificate in 2022. Even as the preparations for the Synod on Synodality in 2023 pushed ahead, they were overshadowed by the intense anxiety among the faithful caused by the German Synodal Way that is calling for wholesale changes to Church teaching on sexuality, authority and the priesthood and the ordination of women to the priesthood.

Pope Francis has expressed grave concerns about the German Synodal Way, most notably in his 2019 letter to German Catholics. In July of this year, the Vatican published another warning that the German Synodal Way could lead to schism, and Pope Francis gave a clear enunciation of the Church’s position on the ordination of women immediately after his Nov. 17 ad limina meeting with German bishops in the Vatican.

Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, also communicated their grave concerns about the Synodal Way process to the German bishops during their November visit. The Pope, however, has yet to demand an end to the German process.

Francis also pushed ahead with his transformation of the College of Cardinals by naming 21 new members on May 29 (they were installed on Aug. 27). As with previous consistories, the Holy Father picked cardinals from all over the globe but also chose some new members in recognition of their unswerving loyalty. Conspicuous among the latter group were the American Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego and the English Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. At the time of the consistory, Pope Francis’ cardinals represented 63% of the college.

Finally, one of Francis’ most significant documents of the year was the apostolic letter Desiderio Desideravi, published on June 29 as an effort to explain more fully the reasoning behind his 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which severely curtailed the use of the Roman liturgy prior to the reform of 1970. He wrote of his desire “to rekindle our wonder for the beauty of the truth of the Christian celebration, to remind us of the necessity of an authentic liturgical formation, and to recognize the importance of an art of celebrating that is at the service of the truth of the Paschal Mystery and of the participation of all of the baptized in it, each one according to his or her vocation.”