Latest Vatican City News

Couple challenging Vatican bank’s ban on workplace marriages invoke pope's pro-family message

Jan. 30, 2025 08:49 AM EST

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has long urged couples to marry and have babies rather than dogs. And he has long championed the rights of workers and held up labor itself as the foundation of human dignity. So it has come as something of a surprise to many in the Holy See that the...

New Vatican document offers AI guidelines from warfare to health care

Jan. 28, 2025 20:35 PM EST

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Vatican document released Tuesday offers wide-ranging ethical guidelines for the application of artificial intelligence in sectors from warfare to health care, with an underlying call that the burgeoning technology must be used as a tool to complement, and not replace, human...

Pope Francis warns of 'scourge of antisemitism' ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day

Jan. 26, 2025 08:29 AM EST

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis warned of the “scourge of antisemitism” in his Angelus prayer on Sunday, the eve of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, noting it marks 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. “The horror of the...

Vatican says sanctions still in effect against Opus Dei cardinal following sex abuse allegations

Jan. 26, 2025 04:52 AM EST

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican said Sunday that disciplinary sanctions are still in effect against the first-ever cardinal from Opus Dei following accusations of sexual abuse, confirming a series of restrictions against the once-powerful archbishop of Lima, Peru that included requiring him to...

Opus Dei cardinal acknowledges Vatican sanctioned him after abuse allegation but denies wrongdoing

Jan. 25, 2025 14:26 PM EST

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The once-powerful archbishop of Lima, Peru and the first-ever cardinal of Opus Dei acknowledged Saturday that the Vatican had imposed sanctions on him in 2019 following an allegation of sexual abuse, but he strongly denied any wrongdoing. Cardinal Juan Luis...

Pope dissolves Peru-based conservative Catholic movement after abuses uncovered by Vatican

Jan. 20, 2025 15:33 PM EST

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has taken the remarkable step of dissolving a Peruvian-based Catholic movement, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, after years of attempts at reform and a Vatican investigation. The probe uncovered sexual abuses by its founder, financial mismanagement by its leaders and...

Pope welcomes Cuba's prisoner release following talks with Vatican as part of long-standing dialogue

Jan. 19, 2025 10:28 AM EST

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday hailed the release of Cuban prisoners as a “gesture of great hope” that he prayed would be undertaken elsewhere, as he welcomed an agreement the Vatican helped facilitate as part of a three-way dialogue with Washington and Havana that dates back to the Cuban...

More countries, including China, are grappling with shrinking and aging populations

Jan. 16, 2025 23:39 PM EST

BEIJING (AP) — A growing number of countries are confronting the dual challenges of population decline and aging, as younger generations opt to have fewer children and advances in healthcare extend life expectancy. China said Friday that its population fell for the third straight...

Cuba releases a prominent dissident as part of plan to free more than 500 prisoners

Jan. 16, 2025 16:25 PM EST

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba on Thursday released prominent dissident José Daniel Ferrer from prison, as part of a government decision to gradually free more than 500 prisoners following talks with the Vatican. Ferrer, a strong opponent of the island's communist government, confirmed to The...

Pope Francis hurts his right arm after falling for the second time in just over a month

Jan. 16, 2025 11:00 AM EST

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis fell Thursday and hurt his right arm, the Vatican said, just weeks after another apparent fall resulted in a bad bruise on his chin. Francis didn’t break his arm, but a sling was put on as a precaution, the Vatican spokesman said in a statement ...