On Aug. 7, Pope Francis resumed general audiences at the Vatican after a brief and normal pause during the month of July. The following is an explanation of the nature and purpose of these encounters with the Holy Father.

An important weekly event, the general audience takes place every Wednesday. Together with the Sunday Angelus and the principal celebrations of the liturgical year, they represent the spiritual heart of Pope Francis’ Petrine teaching.

The audiences draw people from all over the world, including non-Catholics, and give the Pope the opportunity to share an often simple but profound catechesis on the Christian faith. They typically take place in St. Peter’s Square or in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall.

Since 2013, the first year of his pontificate, Pope Francis has given more than 300 of these short catechetical talks in which he proposes in a simple way the fundamental teachings of the Catholic Church.

The themes of the catechesis have included the sacraments, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Church, the family, mercy, Christian hope, Mass, baptism, confirmation, the commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the Acts of the Apostles, the Beatitudes, and prayer, among others.

At the end of the catechesis, the Pope usually dedicates a few minutes to making appeals to humanity. In these appeals, he often calls for peace in places ravaged by war; asks for prayers for Christians in the world, in particular for those suffering persecution; and for peoples struck by natural disasters, epidemics, or incidents as well as for migrants.