Latest Pope Francis News
Pope urges Italians to have babies as a measure of hope for future
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis pressed his campaign Friday to urge Italians to have children, calling for long-term policies to help families and warning that the country’s demographic crisis was threatening the future. “The number of births is the first indicator of the hope of a...
Holy Year or holy mess, Vatican and Rome begin dash to 2025 Jubilee with papal bull, construction
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican crossed a key milestone Thursday in the runup to its 2025 Jubilee with the promulgation of the official decree establishing the Holy Year. It's a once-every-quarter-century event that is expected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to Rome and has already brought...
Pope Francis appoints new bishop in Tennessee after former bishop's resignation under pressure
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Pope Francis has appointed Reverend James Mark Beckman as Bishop of Knoxville, Tennessee, almost a year after the previous bishop resigned under pressure following claims he mishandled sex abuse allegations. The Vatican announced the appointment in its...
'A step back in time': America's Catholic Church sees an immense shift toward the old ways
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — It was the music that changed first. Or maybe that’s just when many people at the pale brick Catholic church in the quiet Wisconsin neighborhood finally began to realize what was happening. The choir director, a fixture at St. Maria Goretti for nearly 40...
Pope visits Venice to speak to the artists and inmates behind the Biennale's must-see prison show
VENICE, Italy (AP) — Venice has always been a place of contrasts, of breathtaking beauty and devastating fragility, where history, religion, art and nature have collided over the centuries to produce an otherworldly gem of a city. But even for a place that prides itself on its culture of unusual...
Pope to bring his call for ethical artificial intelligence to G7 summit in June in southern Italy
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is taking his call for artificial intelligence to be developed and used according to ethical lines to the Group of 7 industrialized nations. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced Friday that Francis had accepted her invitation to attend the G7...
Cisco Systems joins Microsoft, IBM in Vatican pledge to ensure ethical use and development of AI
ROME (AP) — Tech giant Cisco Systems on Wednesday joined Microsoft and IBM in signing onto a Vatican-sponsored pledge to ensure artificial intelligence is developed and used ethically and to benefit the common good. Cisco Systems chief executive Chuck Robbins signed the document,...
Pope Francis sides with Peruvian villagers who accused Catholic group of trying to steal their land
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday sided with a group of Peruvian villagers who have complained that companies linked to a powerful South American church group have tried to evict them from their land using lawsuits and obscure land titling schemes. In a video recorded...
Unfazed by danger and power, Guatemalan cardinal keeps up fight for migrants and the poor
HUEHUETENANGO, Guatemala (AP) — As more than 100 men carrying an elaborate float of Jesus halted before him, Cardinal Álvaro Ramazzini lost no time in calling for social justice — the hallmark of the Catholic bishop’s decades-long frontline ministry. “Let’s hope that this...
Vatican complains after French court rules in favor of nun dismissed from religious order
ROME (AP) — The Holy See said Saturday it formally protested to France after a court there ruled that a former high-ranking Vatican official was liable for what the court determined to be the wrongful dismissal of a nun from a religious order. The Lorient tribunal on April 3 ruled...
