Pope Francis

Pope Francis will be discharged from the hospital on Saturday

1:11pm March 31, 2023

by Sylvia Poggioli

The pope will leave the hospital on Saturday, three days after he was hospitalized for respiratory problems. He was diagnosed with bronchitis. Francis will be present for Palm Sunday ceremonies.

Pope Francis blesses a guest on March 29, 2023 during the weekly general audience at St. Peter's square in The Vatican.

Pope Francis has been hospitalized after having breathing trouble, the Vatican says

4:11pm March 29, 2023

by Sylvia Poggioli

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni's second statement said that hospital tests showed Francis is suffering from a respiratory infection, but they ruled out COVID.

Pope Francis waves from the window of the apostolic palace during the weekly Angelus prayer on Sunday in the Vatican.

After 10 years as pope, Francis continues to reshape the Catholic Church

4:27pm March 13, 2023

by Sylvia Poggioli

The leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics has steered his church leftward after more than two decades of conservative leadership. Opposition within the Vatican is fierce.

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Pope Francis arrives to celebrate mass at the John Garang Mausoleum in Juba, South Sudan, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023. Francis is in South Sudan on the second leg of a six-day trip that started in Congo, hoping to bring comfort and encouragement to two countries that have been riven by poverty, conflicts and what he calls a "colonialist mentality" that has exploited Africa for centuries.

The Pope has called for peace in South Sudan in the final part of his Africa tour

6:46am February 05, 2023

by The Associated Press

Pope Francis celebrated Mass before tens of thousands of people, to close out an unusual mission by Christian religious leaders to nudge forward the South Sudan's recovery from civil war.

A portrait of Pope Francis in South Sudan.

Pope Francis arrives in South Sudan in hopes he can revive the peace process

11:55am February 03, 2023

by Emmanuel Akinwotu

While there is excitement, the trip comes with a sense of urgency. Despite a peace deal, violence along political and ethnic lines has continued and millions are in the grip of famine.

A million people celebrated a papal mass in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital on the second day of Pope Francis' visit to the conflict-torn country.

Pope Francis celebrates Mass with million faithful in Democratic Republic of Congo

3:46pm February 01, 2023

by Emmanuel Akinwotu

A rapturous reception as Pope Francis celebrates Mass with a million worshipers in the capital Kinshasa.

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Bystanders look on as Pope Francis travels by popemobile as he departs the airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Pope Francis is in Democratic Republic of Congo, its first papal visit since 1985

12:21pm January 31, 2023

by Emmanuel Akinwotu

His trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan will highlight the long-running conflicts in both countries and the rising importance of Africa to the future of the Catholic Church.

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Clergy sex abuse survivor and victim's advocate Juan Carlos Cruz first met Pope Francis in 2018 when a group of survivors of abuse was invited to the Vatican.

Religion

Pope Francis' LGBTQ comments are not surprising but sincere, gay Vatican adviser says

3:52pm January 26, 2023

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Juan Carlos Cruz, a gay Chilean man who is a survivor of clergy sex abuse, about remarks by Pope Francis that criminalizing homosexuality is "unjust."

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Pope Francis attends a Mass for the feast of the Epiphany earlier this month in Vatican City.

Pope Francis says homosexuality is not a crime in a new interview

2:00pm January 25, 2023

by Sylvia Poggioli

He stressed that lack of charity with one another is also a sin and added that the Catholic Church should work to put an end to laws in some countries that criminalize homosexuality.

Pope Francis delivers the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for 'to the city and to the world') Christmas day blessing from the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Sunday.

Pope Francis laments the 'icy winds of war' buffeting humanity at Christmas

7:48am December 25, 2022

by The Associated Press

Pope Francis used his Christmas message to make a plea for an immediate end to the fighting in Ukraine, which he decried as "senseless." He also addressed long-running conflicts in the Middle East.