Vatican city
Pope appoints first African American cardinal
Under the soaring dome of St Peter's Basilica, the new "princes of the Church" knelt one by one at the feet of the 83-year-old pontiff, who placed the...
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Pope Francis 'constantly monitored' for virus: Vatican
Philippine cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, 63, had a private audience with Francis on August 29. He went on to test positive for COVID-19 on his return to Manila on September 10.
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Pope steps up call for poor country debt cancellation
In April, the Argentinian-born pontiff called for debt to be reduced or cancelled in a message from an empty Saint Peter's Basilica.
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Pope praises fishermen who clean up polluted seas
Fishermen from San Benedetto del Tronto in Italy, who voluntarily collect around a tonne of litter a week and then sort it to be recycled where possible, met Francis at the Vatican.
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Film on Catholic priests using nuns as ‘sex slaves’ pulled
The big-budget media investigation, ‘Sex Slaves in the Catholic Church’, was broadcast in March and has been sold widely internationally since.
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It was getting out of hand - Pope explains ring kissing mystery
Gisotti explained that there were many people in line and the pope did want to spread germs as one person after another repeatedly kissed his hand at short intervals.
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World bishops head to Vatican for sex abuse summit
The conference aims to be an opportunity to improve awareness of the global phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors within the Church.
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Pope Francis announces Japan visit in November
The Argentine pontiff has repeatedly voiced a desire to visit Japan, home to some 450,000 Roman Catholics, including most recently in September last year.
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Pope Francis winds up special Lefebvre commission
Francis issued Thursday an apostolic letter, distributed on Saturday, that officially terminates the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.
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Pope Francis expels Chilean priest accused of child sex abuse
The Archdiocese of Santiago said the Pope had decided to defrock the Reverend Cristian Precht, local daily El Mercurio reported.
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Former top Vatican official says pope should resign over abuse crisis
Francis, speaking to reporters on the plane returning from a trip to Dublin, said dismissively that a statement containing the accusations “speaks for itself”.
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Amid Vatican talks, China official says foreign forces can't control religion
The Vatican currently maintains full diplomatic ties with Taiwan, not China, which views Taiwan as merely a wayward province.
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Abortion to avoid birth defects is like Nazi eugenics: pope
Francis made the comparison in a long, off-the-cuff address to a members of a confederation of Italian family associations.
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Pope Francis to nominate 14 new cardinals in June
Appointing new cardinals is one of the most significant powers of a Pope, allowing him to steer the future of the 1.2-billion-member Catholic Church.
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Vatican 'Lettergate' scandal comes to a head as text released
At the book presentation on Monday, Vigano read out the parts of the letter in which Benedict rejected the “stupid prejudice” of those who say Francis’ theology is lacking.
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Late Pope Paul VI to be made saint this year, Pope Francis says
Paul was beatified in 2014 after a first miracle was attributed to him and another was approved by a theological and medical commission to him this month.
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Pope, in year-end message, says 2017 was marred by war and lies
While war was the most obvious sign of “unrepentant and absurd pride”, many other transgressions had caused “human, social and environmental degradation”.
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God is a woman - Femen activist
A topless activist from the feminist group Femen tried to snatch the statue of the baby Jesus from the Nativity scene in St Peter’s Square but was stopped by police as she grabbed it.
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No more holy smokes - Vatican bans sale of cigarettes
The Pope cited World World Health Organisation statistics that smoking causes more than seven million deaths worldwide every year.
