Latest Vatican City News
Climate protesters target the Vatican's Laocoon statue
ROME (AP) — Italian environmental activists staged a second museum protest in as many months, gluing their hands Thursday to the base of one of the Vatican Museums’ most important ancient sculptures, the Laocoon. The statue wasn’t damaged, said the environmental group Last...
Church apologies: Top leaders say sorry for historical sins
When Pope Francis apologizes to Indigenous groups on Canadian soil this week, he will make another effort toward healing harms inflicted at church-run residential schools — and add to the Catholic Church’s growing ledger of atonement for past transgressions. Like the papacy, top...
Pope's Indigenous tour signals a rethink of mission legacy
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis’ trip to Canada to apologize for the horrors of church-run Indigenous residential schools marks a radical rethink of the Catholic Church’s missionary legacy, spurred on by the first pope from the Americas and the discovery of hundreds of probable graves at the...
Vatican says they're gifts; Indigenous groups want them back
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican Museums are home to some of the most magnificent artworks in the world, from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel to ancient Egyptian antiquities and a pavilion full of papal chariots. But one of the museum’s least-visited collections is becoming its most contested...
Pope seeks prayers for his 'penitential' Canadian pilgrimage
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday asked for prayers to accompany him on what he called his “penitential” pilgrimage to Canada to apologize to Indigenous groups for abuses inflicted by the Catholic church. Greeting the public in St. Peter's Square, Francis noted that...
Vatican names 3 women to office that vets bishop nominations
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Wednesday named three women to serve as members of the Vatican office that vets bishop nominations, in another first for women to have a say in Catholic Church governance. The Dicastery for Bishops oversees the work of most of the church’s 5,300...
Pope schedules back-to-back Italy trips after pandemic lull
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis plans to restart his pilgrimages within Italy after a pandemic-induced lull, with the Vatican saying Friday he would make back-to-back September day trips to the hilltop town of Assisi and the southern city of Matera. Francis is scheduled to...
Pope, unable to go to Congo, embraces Congolese in Rome
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis greeted members of the Congolese community in Rome, borrowing words from their native languages Sunday to wish them peace and joy during an especially vibrant ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica. Francis, 85, was supposed to make a July 2-7...
Italian nun slain in Haiti is hailed by pope as martyr
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday hailed as a martyr an Italian missionary nun slain in Haiti, where she cared for poor children. The diocese of Milan says Sister Luisa Dell’Orto, 64, was slain “during an armed aggression, probably with the aim of robbery," in...
Families, from Ukraine, elsewhere, tell pope of woes, joys
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Families from many places, including war-ravaged Ukraine, told Pope Francis their stories of joys, sorrows and hopes at an event on a stage at the Vatican Wednesday evening. The occasion at the Vatican’s auditorium was part of events this week for the World...
