The Vatican cardinal who co-authored a bombshell book with Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI reaffirming priestly celibacy on Tuesday strongly denied he manipulated the retired pope into publishing.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI has broken his silence to reaffirm the value of priestly celibacy, co-authoring a bombshell book at the precise moment that Pope Francis is weighing whether to allow married men to be ordained to address the Catholic priest shortage.

Pope Francis has apologized for swatting away the hand of a woman who tugged his arm as the head of the Roman Catholic Church greeted pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on New Year’s Eve. In video of the incident, a woman reaches out, grabs his hand and then jerks him forcefully toward her. In his impromptu remarks Wednesday, Francis...

A visibly indignant Pope Francis had to pull himself away from a woman in a crowd in St. Peter’s Square after she had grabbed his hand and yanked him towards her. The pope in his new year’s wishes to the public in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday apologized, saying he had lost his patience with the woman.

Pope Francis offered a Christmas message of hope Wednesday against darkness that cloaks conflicts and relationships in large parts of the world from the Middle East to the Americas to Africa. The pope told tens of thousands of tourists, pilgrims and Romans gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the annual Christmas Day message that “the light of Christ is...

Pope Francis assured the faithful on Christmas Eve that God loves everyone — “even the worst of us” — as he celebrated the joyous birth of Christ after a less-than-joyful year of scandals and opposition. With a choir singing the classic Christmas hymn “The First Noel,” Francis processed down the center aisle of St. Peter’s Basilica late Tuesday and unveiled…

Pope Francis is warning that “rigidity” in living out the Christian faith is creating a “minefield” of hatred and misunderstanding. Francis called for Vatican bureaucrats to embrace change during his annual Christmas greetings to the cardinals, bishops and priests who work in the Holy See. His message Saturday appeared aimed at conservative and traditionalist Catholics who have voiced increasing opposition...

Pope Francis abolished the use of the Vatican’s highest level of secrecy in clergy sexual abuse cases Tuesday, responding to mounting criticism that the rule of “pontifical secrecy” has been used to protect pedophiles, silence victims and prevent police from investigating crimes.

The Japanese bishops’ conference launched a nationwide investigation into sexual abuse of women and children this year, responding to the Vatican’s demand for an urgent response to the global crisis. The results haven’t been disclosed. Similar studies have been carried out by the U.S., German and Dutch churches.

The bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Buffalo has resigned following widespread criticism over how he handled allegations of clergy sexual misconduct. Pope Francis has accepted Bishop Richard Malone’s resignation and named the bishop of Albany, New York, to run the Buffalo diocese temporarily until a permanent replacement is found.

A tiny wooden relic that some Christians believe to be part of Jesus’ manger arrived Saturday in its permanent home in the biblical city of Bethlehem 1,400 years after it was sent to Rome as a gift to the pope. Cheerful crowds greeted the ornately encased relic with much fanfare before it entered the Franciscan Church of St. Catherine next...

Thousands of people who were gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the traditional Sunday on-the-dot-of-noon appearance by Pope Francis were watching for the window of the Apostolic Palace to be thrown open so they could listen to the pope’s remarks and receive his blessing. But after seven minutes, people were looking at each other quizzically: no pope? Then Francis popped...

U.S. Catholic bishops voted Wednesday to create a new national sex-abuse hotline run by an independent entity, a decision that represents one of the church’s most tangible steps yet in confronting its sex-abuse crisis. The hotline, which would field allegations that bishops committed abuse or covered it up, would take complaints by telephone and through an online link. It’s supposed...

Pope Francis said Saturday that abortion can never be condoned, even when the fetus is gravely sick or likely to die, and urged doctors and priests to support families to carry such pregnancies to term. Speaking to a Vatican-sponsored anti-abortion conference, Francis said the opposition to abortion isn’t a religious issue but a human one. “Is it licit to throw...

Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 prisoners Thursday and urged them to serve one another as brothers, as he ushered in the solemn pre-Easter rituals made more poignant this year following the devastation of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral. Francis travelled to a prison in Velletri, outside Rome, for the Holy Thursday service that re-enacts the biblical story of Christ...

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a Los Angeles auxiliary bishop, Monsignor Alexander Salazar, following allegations of misconduct with a minor in the 1990s, officials said Wednesday.

Mark Wahlberg says he hopes God will forgive him for his turn as a porn star in the 1997 film “Boogie Nights.” Wahlberg told the Chicago Tribune ahead of an event with Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich on Friday that he hopes “that God is a movie fan and also forgiving” because he says he’s made “some poor choices” in the...

Prince Charles has given Pope Francis a picnic basket full of tea and chocolate, sheepishly admitting “It’s impossible to know what to get Your Holiness!”...
Charles and his wife, Camilla, offered the gift at the end of a half-hour meeting Tuesday at the Vatican, the final day of their four-day tour through Italy as part of a Brexit-inspired fence-mending effort to...

Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, are on a five day tour of Italy that will bring them a private audience with Pope Francis and a meeting with the Italian prime minister. The British royal couple is on a longer tour of Europe.

Members of Pope Francis’ sex abuse advisory board vowed Sunday to press ahead with their work even without abuse survivors on the panel following the resignation of a respected child advocate....
The commission wrapped up a plenary Sunday saying it would “find new ways” to ensure people who were abused by clergy shape and inform its work. But no specifics were...