Morning Briefing, Roman style

Welcome to a new Rome-centric version of your weekly international edition of the daily briefing, where we'll highlight the most recent news out of or about the Vatican. Here we go:

• In a preface to a new book out Oct. 19 collecting some of his media interviews, Pope Francis says he chooses to speak freely in press conferences as part of his desire to create a Catholic Church that understands how to dialogue with the people of today.

"I desire a church that knows how to insert itself into the conversations of people, that knows how to dialogue," states the pope. "For me, the interview is part of this conversation of the church with the people of today."

• At an event Oct. 11 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said the death penalty is "contrary to the Gospel."

The pontiff also said that developing doctrine in the church is not the same thing as contradicting or changing prior church teaching. Said Francis: "Tradition is a living reality and only a partial vision would lead to thinking of 'the deposit of faith' as something static."