Alessandro Gisotti, vice director of the Editorial Directorate at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, analyzes Pope Francis’s January 10 address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See (CWN coverage).

“Pontiff: ‘Builder of bridges,’” Gisotti begins. “If there is one feature that has become increasingly clear in the course of nearly nine years of Pope Francis’ pontificate, it is precisely the tireless commitment of the Successor of Peter to building bridges in order to unite where there is division, to cross those visible and sometimes invisible barriers of separation that prevent encounter.”