The Vatican has excommunicated its former ambassador to the United States after finding him guilty of schism.

Pope Francis has exposed the political “maneuvers” used to sway votes during the two most recent elections of popes in a book-length interview.

Five years ago this week, Pope Francis convened an unprecedented summit of bishops from around the world to impress on them that clergy abuse was a global problem and that they needed to do something about it.

The Vatican next year will publish a collection of never-before-seen homilies delivered by the late Pope Benedict XVI.

Pope Francis is marking a birthday.

Clergy sexual abuse survivors have unveiled a proposed new church law calling for the permanent removal of abusive priests and superiors who covered for them.

Madeleine McCann was nearly 4 when she vanished in 2007 while her British family was on vacation in the town of Praia da Luz in the Algarve resort region of Portugal.

When Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina became Pope Francis, much of his home country celebrated as if it had just won a soccer World Cup championship.

Pope Francis is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his election Monday, far outpacing the “two or three” years he once envisioned for his papacy.

Pope Francis has intervened for the third time to crack down on the celebration of the old Latin Mass, a sign of continued friction with Catholic traditionalists.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI’s second secretary has come out with a new memoir.

Pope Francis is lamenting that the use of guns by civilians to defend themselves is becoming a “habit.”.

The archbishop of Austria has confirmed that it was he who wrote a letter to the future Pope Benedict XVI urging him to accept election as pontiff in 2005 if the votes went his way.

Longtime Associated Press Vatican correspondent Victor L.

Archbishop Chrysostomos II, the outspoken leader of Cyprus’ Greek Orthodox Christian Church whose forays into the country’s complex politics and finances fired up supporters and detractors alike, has died.

Pope Francis has wrapped up two days of closed-door meetings with about 180 cardinals including the newest ones.

Pope Francis has praised the humility of a 13th-century pontiff who resigned, during a visit to a quake-ravaged Italian mountain town.

Zofia Posmysz, a Polish World War II-era resistance fighter who survived the Auschwitz and Ravensbrück concentration camps and who later became a journalist and novelist, has died at 98.

The Canadian government says Pope Francis’ apology to Indigenous peoples for abuses they suffered in the country’s church-run residential schools didn’t go far enough.

Pope Francis plans to apologize to Indigenous groups on Canadian soil for harms inflicted at church-run residential schools.

Indigenous Canadians are voicing a range of skepticism, wariness and hope as Pope Francis prepares to arrive in their country next week.

Pope Francis says he wouldn't live in the Vatican or return to his native Argentina if and when he ever retires.

Pope Francis has dismissed rumors he plans to resign anytime soon and that he hopes to visit Moscow and Kyiv after travelling to Canada later this month.

Pope Francis is urging the Catholic faithful to stop exploiting the old Latin Mass for ideological reasons.

Pope Francis has taken another step to reign in and regulate new religious groups in the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis has added fuel to rumors about the future of his pontificate.

The 90-year-old retired Hong Kong archbishop who was arrested by Hong Kong police on national security charges has long been a fiery critic of Beijing and the Vatican's efforts to reach a working arrangement with the ruling Communists.

A Lebanese Cabinet minister says Pope Francis may postpone a planned visit to Lebanon next month due to health reasons.

A Vatican investigation into allegations that St. John Paul II’s longtime top aide was negligent in handling sex abuse claims in his native Poland has cleared him of wrongdoing.

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI turned 95 this past weekend.

Pope Francis has welcomed a First Nations delegation to the Vatican.

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI met with a First Nations delegation from Canada and privately expressed regret over abuse suffered by Indigenous children at church-run boarding schools.

Pope Francis has presided over a special prayer for peace in Ukraine that harks back to a century-old apocalyptic prophecy about peace and Russia.

Spain's Roman Catholic bishops have asked a private law firm to investigate past and present sexual abuse committed by clergy, members of religious orders and others associated with the church.

A report on decades of sexual abuse in Germany that shone an unflattering spotlight on retired Pope Benedict XVI has come on top of already strong pressure in Germany to reconsider Catholic rules on issues including homosexuality and women’s roles.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI is asking forgiveness for any “grievous faults” in his handling of clergy sex abuse cases.

The Vatican is strongly defending Pope Benedict XVI’s record in fighting clergy sexual abuse after an independent report faulted his handling of four cases of abuse when he was archbishop of Munich, Germany.

Pope Francis is vowing to provide justice to victims of clergy sexual abuse after an independent audit faulted retired Pope Benedict XVI for having botched four cases of abuse when he was archbishop of Munich, Germany.

A long-awaited report on sexual abuse in Germany’s Munich diocese has faulted retired Pope Benedict XVI’s handling of cases when he was archbishop in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Vatican press office says that Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra have both tested positive for the coronavirus.

Pope Francis is now speaking about getting the coronavirus vaccination as a “moral obligation.”.

Pope Francis is celebrating Christmas Eve Mass before an estimated 2,000 people in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Pope Francis is doubling down on his efforts to quash the old Latin Mass.

Pope Francis is celebrating his 85th birthday.

Women aspiring to leadership in the Catholic church have long come to terms with the glass ceiling that exists in the male-dominated institution.

They both carved out sterling reputations as military and political leaders over years of public service.

Fernando González, the head of Caribbean newsgathering for The Associated Press, has died in Havana.

Traditionalist Catholics have descended on Rome for their annual pilgrimage.

When President Joe Biden meets with Pope Francis on Friday, he won’t kiss the ring.

President Joe Biden says Pope Francis told him he's a “good Catholic” and should keep taking Communion when the world's two most prominent Roman Catholics met at the Vatican on Friday.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI has said he hopes to soon join a beloved professor friend in “the afterlife.”.

Pope Francis has acknowledged his increasingly vocal right-wing critics.

Pope Francis is urging European bishops to listen to survivors of clergy sexual abuse and consider them partners in reforming the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis has cracked down on the celebration of the old Latin Mass by reversing one of Pope Benedict XVI’s signature decisions.

The Vatican has detailed laws, rituals and roles to ensure the transfer of power when a pope dies or resigns.

Pope Francis has agreed to meet in December with Indigenous survivors of Canada’s notorious residential schools.

Pope Francis has offered an affectionate, public thank-you to Benedict XVI, whose retirement from the papacy in 2013 shocked the world.

One of Germany’s most famous Catholic boys’ choirs plans to establish a separate choral group for girls for the first time in its more than 1,000-year history.

The Vatican has released a long-awaited update to the criminal section of its Code of Canon Law, the internal legal system that regulates the life of the 1.3 billion-member Catholic Church.

A Rome street artist has sued the Vatican for having used her poster art image of Christ for its Easter 2020 postage stamp without her knowledge or approval.

Hans Kueng, a dissident Catholic theologian who fell out with Pope Benedict XVI, has died at age 93.

FILE - In this Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014 file photo, Pope Francis, right, hugs Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI prior to the start of a meeting with elderly faithful in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has marked the eighth anniversary of his historic resignation by insisting in an interview published in Corriere della Sera Monday, March 1, 2021, that he stepped down knowingly and that there is only one pope _ Francis. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistribuROME – Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has marked the eighth anniversary of his historic resignation by insisting in an interview published Monday that he stepped down knowingly and that “there is only one pope” — Francis. But I did it fully conscious and I think I did the right thing,” Benedict was quoted as saying. Ad“They don’t want to believe in a choice that was taken knowingly,” Benedict was quoted as saying.

Pope Francis celebrates a Mass with members of religious institutions on the occasion of the celebration of the World Day of Consecrated Life, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, pool)ROME – Pope Francis on Thursday offered encouragement to musicians who have been silenced as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, acknowledging many have lost work and the ability to practice together due to closed concert halls and social distancing norms. AdFrancis ended his message to the musicians with a question, asking them if the silence imposed on them as a result of the pandemic isn't actually a sign that something new is coming. “Is the silence we're living in an emptiness or are we just in a phase of listening?" “Will (the silence now) let a new song emerge afterward?"

(AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka is welcoming tourists again after keeping the doors closed to visitors for nearly 10 months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ontario's leader asks Biden for 1 million vaccine shots due to Pfizer shortfall for Canada. ___BEIJING — China is imposing some of its toughest travel restrictions yet as coronavirus cases surge in several northern provinces ahead of the Lunar New Year. ___MEXICO CITY — Mexico has had a second consecutive day of COVID-19 deaths surpassing 1,500. The state’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout prioritizes health care workers and nursing homes in its first phase, which is almost complete.

They were among many religious leaders — some admired worldwide, others beloved only locally — who died in 2020. It occurred in April, during a period in which numerous Church of God in Christ bishops and pastors died of COVID-19. 2 leader, Bishop Amfilohije -- who also died after COVID-19 complications -- both downplayed the dangers of the pandemic and avoided wearing masks in public. Edward Kmiec, 84, who between 1992 and 2012 served as the Roman Catholic bishop of Nashville, Tennessee, and Buffalo, New York. John Yambasu, 63, a bishop of the United Methodist Church in Sierra Leone who died in a traffic accident in August.

Cardinals sit as Pope Francis celebrates Mass the day after he raised 13 new cardinals to the highest rank in the Catholic hierarchy, at St. Peter's Basilica, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, Pool)VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis, joined by the church’s newest cardinals in Mass on Sunday, warned against mediocrity as well as seeking out “godfathers” to promote one's own career. The freshly-minted cardinals who did come to the Vatican wore protective masks and purple vestments, as the Church began the solemn liturgical season of Advent in the run-up to Christmas. Among those raised to cardinal's rank on Saturday by Francis was the current archbishop of Washington, Wilton Gregory, the first African-American cardinal. “When the Church worships God and serves our neighbor, it does not live in the night.

Pope Francis leaves at the end of a consistory ceremony where 13 bishops were elevated to a cardinal's rank in St. Peters Basilica at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020. Gregory also was one of the only new cardinals who kept his mask on when the group paid a singing courtesy visit to retired Pope Benedict XVI. He also eschewed a red cassock for Saturday's ceremony, using instead his brown hooded friar's robes covered with a white “rochet" vestment. The cardinals greeted Benedict, kissed his hand and sang a prayer as the retired pope, who is 93 and frail, listened. With Saturday’s new cardinals, Francis has named 73 of the 128 voting-age cardinals, compared to 39 for Pope Benedict XVI and 16 for St. John Paul II.

ROME – Paolo Gabriele, the Vatican butler who was convicted of stealing and leaking Pope Benedict XVI’s private papers in 2012, has died. Vatican News, the Holy See’s media portal, said Gabriele died Tuesday after a long, undisclosed illness. Gabriele was arrested in May 2012 after Vatican police found what they called an “enormous” stash of papal documents in his Vatican City apartment that he had stolen from the papal apartments. He was convicted of aggravated theft by a Vatican tribunal and served a few months of his 18-month sentence in the Vatican police barracks before Benedict pardoned him at Christmas 2012. The Gabriele scandal was believed to have played at least a small part in Benedict's eventual decision to resign as pope two months later.

U.S. Catholic bishops are holding their annual fall assembly virtually this week with the Vatican's recent report on the rise and fall of disgraced ex-Cardinal McCarrick one of their main topics for discussion. Released last week after a two-year investigation, the report found that three decades of bishops, cardinals, and popes dismissed or downplayed reports McCarrick shared his bed with seminarians. Released last week after a two-year investigation, the report found that three decades of bishops, cardinals and popes dismissed or downplayed reports McCarrick shared his bed with seminarians. Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick last year after a Vatican investigation determined he sexually abused children and adults. Instead, the Vatican’s bishops office urged McCarrick to keep a low profile and minimize his travel.

Those alarms continued, when a Catholic psychiatrist traveled to the Vatican in 1997 to report that his priest-patient was a victim of McCarrick's sexual abuse. McCarrick, 90, was defrocked by Francis last year after a Vatican investigation confirmed the globe-trotting envoy and fundraiser had sexually molested adults as well as children. “Pope Francis had heard only that there had been allegations and rumors related to immoral conduct with adults occurring prior to McCarrick’s appointment to Washington,” the report said. Vigano’s most explosive claim was that Francis himself lifted “sanctions" imposed by Benedict and made McCarrick a trusted adviser. Investigators interviewed 90 people, including McCarrick’s victims, former seminarians and priests, and officials from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Pope Francis, right, greets bishops at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil unions for the first time as pope while being interviewed for the feature-length documentary Francesco, which premiered Wednesday at the Rome Film Festival. A source in Mexico said the Vatican, which used its own cameras to shoot the interview and provided raw footage to Televisa afterward, had deleted the civil union quote in question. After the anecdote ends, the film cuts to Francis’ civil union comments in the Televisa interview. As pope, Francis had never come out publicly in favor of legal protections for civil unions, and no pontiff before him had, either.

Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil unions for the first time as pope while being interviewed for the feature-length documentary Francesco, which premiered Wednesday, Oct. 21 2020 at the Rome Film Festival. While serving as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis endorsed civil unions for gay couples as an alternative to same-sex marriages. However, he had never come out publicly in favor of legal protections for civil unions as pope, and no pontiff before him had, either. The official 2019 Vatican News transcript of that interview, as well as the official Vatican edit, contains no such comment on the need for legal protections for civil unions. When The Associated Press interviewed Afineevsky on Oct. 14, the director was asked if he realized at the time that Francis’ comments were going to grab headlines.

Pompeo made the appeal at a conference on religious freedom organized by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, with top Vatican officials in the audience. Pompeo has strongly criticized the accord, penning an essay earlier this month suggesting that the Vatican had compromised its moral authority by signing it. The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said the Holy See was “surprised” by Pompeo’s article. Both focused instead on the Holy See’s longstanding history of promoting religious freedom as a fundamental human right. After the conference, Pompeo met with Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte, the first Group of Seven leader to sign onto China’s infrastructure-building Belt and Road initiative.

BERLIN Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has fallen ill after his return from a trip to his native Bavaria to visit his brother, who died a month ago, a German newspaper reported Monday. Seewald, who has published several book-length interviews with Benedict, handed over a copy of the biography to the former pontiff on Saturday, the newspaper reported. He described Benedict as being optimistic and talking about possibly writing himself if his strength picks up, though he said that Benedict is physically very frail. It was his first trip out of Italy since he resigned as pope in 2013. Benedict has lived at a monastery in the Vatican City since shortly after his retirement.

A hearse parks during the funeral service for Priest Georg Ratzinger in front of St. Peter's Cathedral in Regensburg, Germany, Wednesday, July 8, 2020. The elder brother of the emeritus Pope Benedict XVI had died on July 1 at the age of 96 years. Georg Ratzinger, the older brother of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer, who led the service, told mourners that Benedict was following the mass online. The 93-year-old emeritus pope made a four-day visit to Regensburg to be with his ailing brother just over a week before Ratzingers death.

Georg Ratzinger, the older brother of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, who earned renown in his own right as a director of an acclaimed German boys choir, has died at age 96. The Regensburg diocese in Bavaria, where Ratzinger lived, said in a statement on his website that he died on Wednesday, July 1, 2020. Georg Ratzinger, the older brother of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, who died Wednesday at the age of 96. The acclaimed boys choir Ratzinger headed for several decades will stage a farewell concert Sunday. Benedict made a four-day visit to Regensburg to be with his ailing brother just over a week before his death.