Pope

He is the youngest and is the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne.

Belgium's prime minister blasted Pope Francis to his face for the Catholic Church's horrific legacy of clerical sex abuse and cover-ups in his country, demanding "concrete steps" to come clean with the past.

Pope Francis described the choice US voters must make in the presidential election as one between the "lesser of two evils", deeming both candidates as being "against life".

The crowd in Timor-Leste, population 1.3 million, was believed to represent the biggest turnout for a papal event ever, in terms of the proportion of the national population.

Timor-Leste was invaded just nine days after declaring independence. Years later, the country gets its "reward".

Smart Traveller has warned Australians to continue to exercise a high degree of caution in Papua New Guinea ahead of Pope Francis' visit.

The Vatican has tightened up its guidance on recognising supernatural phenomena such as apparitions of the Virgin Mary and seemingly blood-soaked crucifixes.

Christians around the world celebrated Easter in different ways, from vigils and parades to processions and egg hunts. Here is a glimpse into how the world marked Easter 2024.

The service marks the beginning of Holy Week, the most sacred week in the church's calendar.

With a soft voice, barely above a whisper, Francis told the public that "I am not well".

Pope Francis has called on Portuguese clergy members to listen to Catholic child sex abuse victims as he addressed the scandal in the country for the first time.

His surgeon says the pontiff is now "better than before" the hospitalisation.

There were no complications after the three-hour surgery, during which Francis was under general anaesthesia.

Bundled in a long, white coat and battling a hoarse voice, pope presided over Mass in St. Peter's Square before tens of thousands of faithful on Palm Sunday, a day after he left hospital.

Pope Francis was discharged on Saturday from the Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis, quipping to journalists before being driven away: "I'm still alive."

Pope Francis showed a "marked improvement" overnight after being given intravenous antibiotics for a bronchitis infection and could be released from the hospital in coming days, the Vatican and his doctors reported.

Police were called to St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney ahead of the funeral of Cardinal George Pell.

Despite the cardinal calling Francis' papacy a "catastrophe", the pontiff imparted a final blessing in St. Peter's Basilica for the once high-ranking Vatican prelate.

Revelations have emerged of the Australian prelate's growing concern about what he considered the "disaster" and "catastrophe" of the papacy under Francis.

Pope Francis has paid tribute to Cardinal George Pell after Australia's most senior Catholic died following complications with a hip replacements.

Mourners poured into St. Peter's Square for the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI - a rare requiem Mass for a dead pope presided over by a living one.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI 's body, his head resting on a pair of crimson pillows, lay in state in St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican as tens of thousands queued to pay tribute to the pontiff who shocked the world by retiring a decade ago.

The late Pope muttered his last words under his breath before he died a few hours later.

Former Pope Benedict XVI, who died on Saturday in a monastery in the Vatican at the age of 95, asked for forgiveness for those he has "wronged" in the spiritual testament published following his death.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died the Vatican announced.

Pope Francis has revealed in an interview published Sunday that shortly after being elected pontiff in 2013 he wrote a resignation letter in case medical problems impede him from carrying out his duties.

Pope Francis apologised and begged forgiveness for the "deplorable" abuses suffered by Indigenous Peoples in Canada's church-run residential schools.

Pope Benedict XVI has pushed back against accusations that he knew in 1980 that a priest under his control was an abuser, while denying he had intentionally concealed his presence at a meeting about the priest that year.

One lawyer said "we believe that he can be accused of misconduct in four cases."

Pope Francis has criticised couples who choose to have pets instead of children as selfish, arguing their decision to forgo parenthood leads to a loss of "humanity".

America's second Catholic president took part in an initial one-on-one meeting with Francis, which lasted 90 minutes, before participating in an expanded bilateral meeting ahead of the G20 Summit

Pope Francis approved the crediting of what was described as the miraculous healing of a child to the intercession of John Paul I, advancing the cause for sainthood for one of his predecessors.

A Spanish bishop who resigned from the Roman Catholic Church last month left the church to be with an erotic fiction writer, local media report.

In a decidedly unusual break from protocol, Pope Francis took a mobile phone from an aide while standing at centre stage in a Vatican auditorium for his weekly audience with the public.

Pope Francis will follow in the footsteps of St. John Paul II and deliver his weekly Sunday blessing and greeting from the Rome hospital where he is recovering from intestinal surgery, the Vatican announced

Spidey took selfies with youngsters attending the audience in a Vatican courtyard.

Both New York and California have announced the ending of most coronavirus restrictions, as both US states mark 70 per cent of people having at least their first vaccination dose. The states are among the worst-hit in the USA, which has passed 600,000 virus deaths.

Pope Francis has appointed Msgr Anthony Ireland and Fr Martin Ashe auxiliary bishops for the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

The Vatican decreed Monday that the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex unions since God "cannot bless sin."

Pope Francis urged Iraq's Christians to forgive the injustices against them by Muslim extremists and to rebuild as he visited the wrecked shells of churches and met ecstatic crowds in the community's historic heartland.

Pope Francis arrived in Baghdad on Friday to kick off the first-ever papal visit to Iraq and marking his first international trip since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pope Francis has revamped the Holy See's financial intelligence and anti-money-laundering unit following financial scandals, including an ongoing in-house corruption probe, Vatican officials said.

An investigation found a series of bishops, cardinals and popes downplayed or dismissed reports the ex-Cardinal slept with seminarians, and determined that Pope Francis merely continued his predecessors' naive handling of the predator until a former altar boy alleged abuse.

The Pope has been warned by Australian health authorities of potential coronavirus exposure, with Canberra's new case being revealed as the Vatican's ambassador to Australia.

Pope Francis has endorsed same-sex civil unions for the first time as pope while being interviewed for the feature-length documentary Francesco, which premiered on Wednesday at the Rome Film Festival.

A nightly curfew, announced by French President Macron in a national address, took effect in nine cities across France between 9pm and 6am in an attempt to curb the second wave of COVID-19 across France

Pope Francis on Saturday permanently removed a Polish bishop who was kicked out of his diocese a few months ago pending a Vatican investigation into allegations he covered up cases of sexual abuse by his priests.

It was encased in vial hidden in a golden cross, known as a reliquary, and displayed on an altar behind a locked gate.

The Pontiff didn't wear a mask as he met the crowd, but kept a safety distance from the faithful, who were cheering and waving at him.

The 93-year-old had visited his dying brother just days ago in Germany before coming down with the illness.