POPE BENEDICT XVI

Pope Francis has wrapped up two days of closed-door meetings with about 180 cardinals including the newest ones.

Pope Francis has praised the humility of a 13th-century pontiff who resigned, during a visit to a quake-ravaged Italian mountain town.

Zofia Posmysz, a Polish World War II-era resistance fighter who survived the Auschwitz and Ravensbrück concentration camps and who later became a journalist and novelist, has died at 98.

The Canadian government says Pope Francis’ apology to Indigenous peoples for abuses they suffered in the country’s church-run residential schools didn’t go far enough.

Pope Francis plans to apologize to Indigenous groups on Canadian soil for harms inflicted at church-run residential schools.

Indigenous Canadians are voicing a range of skepticism, wariness and hope as Pope Francis prepares to arrive in their country next week.

Pope Francis says he wouldn't live in the Vatican or return to his native Argentina if and when he ever retires.

Pope Francis has dismissed rumors he plans to resign anytime soon and that he hopes to visit Moscow and Kyiv after travelling to Canada later this month.

Pope Francis is urging the Catholic faithful to stop exploiting the old Latin Mass for ideological reasons.

Pope Francis has taken another step to reign in and regulate new religious groups in the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis has added fuel to rumors about the future of his pontificate.

The 90-year-old retired Hong Kong archbishop who was arrested by Hong Kong police on national security charges has long been a fiery critic of Beijing and the Vatican's efforts to reach a working arrangement with the ruling Communists.

A Lebanese Cabinet minister says Pope Francis may postpone a planned visit to Lebanon next month due to health reasons.

A Vatican investigation into allegations that St. John Paul II’s longtime top aide was negligent in handling sex abuse claims in his native Poland has cleared him of wrongdoing.

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI turned 95 this past weekend.

Pope Francis has welcomed a First Nations delegation to the Vatican.

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI met with a First Nations delegation from Canada and privately expressed regret over abuse suffered by Indigenous children at church-run boarding schools.

Pope Francis has presided over a special prayer for peace in Ukraine that harks back to a century-old apocalyptic prophecy about peace and Russia.

Spain's Roman Catholic bishops have asked a private law firm to investigate past and present sexual abuse committed by clergy, members of religious orders and others associated with the church.

A report on decades of sexual abuse in Germany that shone an unflattering spotlight on retired Pope Benedict XVI has come on top of already strong pressure in Germany to reconsider Catholic rules on issues including homosexuality and women’s roles.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI is asking forgiveness for any “grievous faults” in his handling of clergy sex abuse cases.

The Vatican is strongly defending Pope Benedict XVI’s record in fighting clergy sexual abuse after an independent report faulted his handling of four cases of abuse when he was archbishop of Munich, Germany.

Pope Francis is vowing to provide justice to victims of clergy sexual abuse after an independent audit faulted retired Pope Benedict XVI for having botched four cases of abuse when he was archbishop of Munich, Germany.

A long-awaited report on sexual abuse in Germany’s Munich diocese has faulted retired Pope Benedict XVI’s handling of cases when he was archbishop in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Vatican press office says that Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra have both tested positive for the coronavirus.

Pope Francis is now speaking about getting the coronavirus vaccination as a “moral obligation.”.

Pope Francis is celebrating Christmas Eve Mass before an estimated 2,000 people in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Pope Francis is doubling down on his efforts to quash the old Latin Mass.

Pope Francis is celebrating his 85th birthday.

Women aspiring to leadership in the Catholic church have long come to terms with the glass ceiling that exists in the male-dominated institution.

They both carved out sterling reputations as military and political leaders over years of public service.

Fernando González, the head of Caribbean newsgathering for The Associated Press, has died in Havana.

Traditionalist Catholics have descended on Rome for their annual pilgrimage.

When President Joe Biden meets with Pope Francis on Friday, he won’t kiss the ring.

President Joe Biden says Pope Francis told him he's a “good Catholic” and should keep taking Communion when the world's two most prominent Roman Catholics met at the Vatican on Friday.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI has said he hopes to soon join a beloved professor friend in “the afterlife.”.

Pope Francis has acknowledged his increasingly vocal right-wing critics.

Pope Francis is urging European bishops to listen to survivors of clergy sexual abuse and consider them partners in reforming the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis has cracked down on the celebration of the old Latin Mass by reversing one of Pope Benedict XVI’s signature decisions.

The Vatican has detailed laws, rituals and roles to ensure the transfer of power when a pope dies or resigns.

Pope Francis has agreed to meet in December with Indigenous survivors of Canada’s notorious residential schools.

Pope Francis has offered an affectionate, public thank-you to Benedict XVI, whose retirement from the papacy in 2013 shocked the world.

One of Germany’s most famous Catholic boys’ choirs plans to establish a separate choral group for girls for the first time in its more than 1,000-year history.

The Vatican has released a long-awaited update to the criminal section of its Code of Canon Law, the internal legal system that regulates the life of the 1.3 billion-member Catholic Church.

A Rome street artist has sued the Vatican for having used her poster art image of Christ for its Easter 2020 postage stamp without her knowledge or approval.

Hans Kueng, a dissident Catholic theologian who fell out with Pope Benedict XVI, has died at age 93.

FILE - In this Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014 file photo, Pope Francis, right, hugs Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI prior to the start of a meeting with elderly faithful in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has marked the eighth anniversary of his historic resignation by insisting in an interview published in Corriere della Sera Monday, March 1, 2021, that he stepped down knowingly and that there is only one pope _ Francis. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistribuROME – Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has marked the eighth anniversary of his historic resignation by insisting in an interview published Monday that he stepped down knowingly and that “there is only one pope” — Francis. But I did it fully conscious and I think I did the right thing,” Benedict was quoted as saying. Ad“They don’t want to believe in a choice that was taken knowingly,” Benedict was quoted as saying.

Pope Francis celebrates a Mass with members of religious institutions on the occasion of the celebration of the World Day of Consecrated Life, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, pool)ROME – Pope Francis on Thursday offered encouragement to musicians who have been silenced as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, acknowledging many have lost work and the ability to practice together due to closed concert halls and social distancing norms. AdFrancis ended his message to the musicians with a question, asking them if the silence imposed on them as a result of the pandemic isn't actually a sign that something new is coming. “Is the silence we're living in an emptiness or are we just in a phase of listening?" “Will (the silence now) let a new song emerge afterward?"

(AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka is welcoming tourists again after keeping the doors closed to visitors for nearly 10 months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ontario's leader asks Biden for 1 million vaccine shots due to Pfizer shortfall for Canada. ___BEIJING — China is imposing some of its toughest travel restrictions yet as coronavirus cases surge in several northern provinces ahead of the Lunar New Year. ___MEXICO CITY — Mexico has had a second consecutive day of COVID-19 deaths surpassing 1,500. The state’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout prioritizes health care workers and nursing homes in its first phase, which is almost complete.

They were among many religious leaders — some admired worldwide, others beloved only locally — who died in 2020. It occurred in April, during a period in which numerous Church of God in Christ bishops and pastors died of COVID-19. 2 leader, Bishop Amfilohije -- who also died after COVID-19 complications -- both downplayed the dangers of the pandemic and avoided wearing masks in public. Edward Kmiec, 84, who between 1992 and 2012 served as the Roman Catholic bishop of Nashville, Tennessee, and Buffalo, New York. John Yambasu, 63, a bishop of the United Methodist Church in Sierra Leone who died in a traffic accident in August.