Pope Francis | AP News

Pope Francis

FILE - In this July 29, 2013 file photo, Pope Francis answers reporters questions during a news conference aboard the papal flight of his famous quip "Who am I to judge?", on the journey back from Brazil. Francis' apology Tuesday, May 28, 2024, for using a vulgar term to refer to gay men was the latest comment to make headlines about the Catholic Church's teachings on homosexuality. Francis has made a hallmark of reaching out to LGBTQ+ Catholics, but his 11-year pontificate has also seen plenty of problems arise over his informal way of speaking and his outreach, evidence of how fraught the issue is for the church. (AP Photo/Luca Zennaro, Pool, file)

A look at Pope Francis’ comments about LGBTQ+ people

Pope Francis’ apology for using a vulgar term to refer to gay men was the latest comment to make headlines about the Catholic Church’s teachings on homosexuality.
 
FILE - Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 22, 2024. Pope Francis apologized Tuesday, May 28, 2024, after he was quoted using a vulgar term about gays to reaffirm the Catholic Church’s ban on gay priests. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni issued a statement acknowledging the media storm that erupted about Francis’ comments, which were delivered behind closed doors to Italian bishops on May 20. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

Pope apologizes after being quoted using vulgar term about gay men in talk about ban on gay priests

 
FILE - An image of 15-year-old Carlo Acutis, an Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia, is seen during his beatification ceremony celebrated by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, center, in the St. Francis Basilica, in Assisi, Italy, on Oct. 10, 2020. Pope Francis has paved the way for the canonization of the first saint of the millennial generation on Thursday, attributing a second miracle to a 15-year-old Italian computer whiz who died of leukemia in 2006. Carlo Acutis, born on May 3, 1991, in London and then moved with his Italian parents to Milan as a child, was the youngest contemporary person to be beatified by Francis in Assisi in 2020. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

Italian teenage computer wizard set to become the first saint of the Millennial generation

 
FILE - Pope Francis talks to archbishop of Quebec, Cardinal Gerald LaCroix, as they meet at the Santa Marta residence, at the Vatican, Jan. 30, 2017. A retired Canadian judge said Tuesday, May 21, 2024, that he couldn’t find any reliable evidence of sexual misconduct by the archbishop of Quebec, after the purported victim refused to be interviewed and the cardinal strongly denied the claim. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Retired judge finds no reliable evidence against Quebec cardinal; purported victim declines to talk

 
Pope Francis holds the pastoral staff as he presides over the Pentecost Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, May 19, 2024.(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope trip to Luxembourg, Belgium confirmed for September, 2 weeks after challenging Asia visit

 

In Brazil the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue lights up to honour the Pope’s new book

The Statue of the Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro was lit up on Thursday with images of Pope Francis to mark the launch of his book in Brazil, “Life: My Story Through History”. (AP video/Mario Lobão)
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Vatican revamps norms to evaluate visions of Mary as it adapts to internet age and combats hoaxers

Pope Francis renews his call for a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine

A growing minority of religious conservatives reshape the US Catholic Church

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Pope Francis gestures as he attends an annual gathering of pro-family organisations at the Auditorium della Conciliazione, in Rome, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope urges Italians to have babies as a measure of hope for future

Pope Francis has pressed his campaign to urge Italians to have children. He has called for long-term policies to help families and warned that the country’s demographic crisis was threatening the future.
 
Pope Francis presides over the second vespers in St. Peter's Basilica on Ascension Day, Thursday, May 9, 2024, after reading the papal bull 'Spes non confundit' (Latin for, hope does not disappoint), the official decree establishing the Catholic Holy Year: a once-every-quarter-century event that is expected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to Rome (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Holy Year or holy mess, Vatican and Rome begin dash to 2025 Jubilee with papal bull, construction

The Vatican has crossed a key milestone in the runup to its 2025 Jubilee with the promulgation of the official decree establishing the Holy Year.
 

Pope Francis appoints new bishop in Tennessee after former bishop’s resignation under pressure

Pope Francis has appointed Reverend James Mark Beckman as Bishop of Knoxville, Tennessee, almost a year after the previous bishop resigned following claims he mishandled sex abuse allegations.
 
Brothers Leven Barton, left, Florian Rumpza, center, and Angelus Atkinson, sing in Latin during Catholic Mass at Benedictine College Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023, in Atchison, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

America’s Catholic Church sees an immense shift toward the old ways

Across the United States, the Catholic church is undergoing an immense shift. Generations of Catholics are increasingly embracing religious conservatives who believe the church has been twisted by change.
 
Pope Francis waves to faithful at the end of a mass in St. Mark's Square, Venice, Italy, Sunday, April 28, 2024. The Pontiff arrived for his first-ever visit to the lagoon town including the Vatican pavilion at the 60th Biennal of Arts. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Pope visits Venice to speak to the artists and inmates behind the Biennale’s must-see prison show

Pope Francis has met with women prisoners in Venice who are the protagonists of the Vatican pavilion at the Venice Biennale art fair.
 
Cardinal Alvaro Ramazzini, center back, waits for the start of a religious procession, in Guatemala City, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Elevated by Pope Francis in 2019 to the top hierarchy of the Catholic Church, Ramazzini has continued his focus on the poor, the Indigenous and the migrant. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Unfazed by danger and power, Guatemalan cardinal keeps up fight for migrants and the poor

Elevated by Pope Francis to the top hierarchy of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Álvaro Ramazzini has kept up his unflinching focus on the poor, the Indigenous and the migrant in Central America.
 
Pope Francis kisses a new born as he arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis sides with Peruvian villagers who accused Catholic group of trying to steal their land

Pope Francis has sided with a group of Peruvian villagers who have complained that companies linked to a powerful South American church group have tried to evict them from their land using lawsuits and obscure land titling schemes.
 
FILE -Pope Francis waves as he leaves after his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. Pope Francis will visit Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Singapore in September, the Vatican announced Friday, April 12 ,2024, confirming the longest trip of Francis’ papacy that is sure to test his health, stamina and mobility. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

Pope will travel to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore in longest trip of papacy

The Vatican says Pope Francis will visit Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Singapore in September.
 
FILE - Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, leader of the "Kinnar Akhara," a monastic order of the transgender community, meets with followers at the Kumbh Mela festival in Pragraj, India, Feb. 5, 2019. The Kumbh Mela is a series of ritual baths by Hindu holy men, and other pilgrims that dates back to at least medieval times. The Vatican has issued a new document rejecting the concept of changing one’s biological sex – a setback for transgender people who had hoped Pope Francis might be setting the stage for a more welcoming approach from the Catholic Church. Around the world, major religions have diverse approaches to gender identity, and the inclusion or exclusion of transgender people. (AP Photo/Channi Anand, File)

Transgender inclusion? World’s major religions take varying stances on policies toward trans people

The Vatican has issued a new document rejecting the concept of changing one’s biological sex. It’s a setback for transgender people who had hoped Pope Francis might be setting the stage for a more welcoming approach from the Catholic Church.
 
Pope Francis meets with relatives of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas, at the Vatican, Monday, April 8, 2024. Israel sent troops to Khan Younis in December, part of its blistering ground offensive that came in response to a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 into southern Israel. Israeli authorities say 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and roughly 250 people taken hostage. (Vatican Media via AP)

Pope marks 6-month anniversary of Hamas attacks by meeting with relatives of hostages

Pope Francis has met with relatives of hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7. The audience Monday marked the six-month anniversary of the attack in southern Israel.
 
Tis 2022 photo shows a self-portrait of Maxwell Kuzma, a transgender man working as a film editor and writer living outside of Columbus in rural Ohio. Kuzma expressed dismay at a Vatican document issued Monday, April 8, 2024, that rejected the idea that one’s biological sex can change. (Maxwell Kuzma via AP)

Transgender Catholics say new Vatican document shows no understanding of their lives

Transgender Catholics are voicing disappointment with a new Vatican document rejecting the fundamental concept of changing one’s biological sex.
 
A copy of the 20-page "Infinite Dignity" declaration issued by the Vatican's doctrine office sits on a journalist desk as the prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, meets the journalists during a press conference at the Vatican, Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Vatican blasts gender-affirming surgery, surrogacy and gender theory as violations of human dignity

The Vatican has declared that gender-affirming surgeries and surrogacy are grave violations of human dignity.
 
FILE - Women gather round the San Bernardo Convent in support of the convent’s cloistered nuns who accused the Archbishop of Salta Mario Antonio Cargnello and other church officials of gender-based psychological and physical violence, in Salta, Argentina, May 3, 2022. An Argentine court ruled on Thursday, April 4, 2024, that Cargnello and three other church officials committed different forms of violence against the cloistered nuns of the convent. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)

An Argentine judge recognizes gender abuse suffered for years by 20 nuns in a breakthrough ruling

An Argentine judge has ruled that 20 cloistered nuns had suffered abuse for more than two decades at the hands of high-ranking clergy in a conservative northern province.
 
Pope Francis holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 3, 2024. Pope Francis showed tourists and pilgrims the rosary and Gospel booklet that the 23-year-old Ukrainian Alexander had with him when he was killed in Russia's war.(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope shows off rosary of slain Ukrainian soldier, denounces ‘madness of war’

Pope Francis has led thousands of people in a moment of silence to pray for the aid workers killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza.
 
FILE - Vatican investigators Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, from Spain, right, and Archbishop Charles Scicluna, from Malta, walk outside of the Nunciatura Apostolica during a break from meeting with people who alleged abuse by the Catholic lay group Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) in Lima, Peru, on July 25, 2023. A Peruvian archbishop who sued two journalists over their reports about sexual abuse and financial corruption in his religious movement, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, has resigned amid a Vatican investigation. Pope Francis on Tuesday April 2, 2024 accepted the resignation of Piura Archbishop José Eguren. At 67, he is several years shy of the normal retirement age for bishops of 75. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia, File)

Peru archbishop who sued 2 journalists over reports on abuses, financial corruption resigns early

A Peruvian archbishop who sued two journalists over their reports about sexual abuse and financial corruption in his religious movement has resigned amid a Vatican investigation.
 
FILE - Pope Francis, left, and Pope Benedict XVI, meet each other on the occasion of the elevation of five new cardinals at the Vatican, on June 28, 2017. Pope Francis has exposed the political “maneuvers” to sway votes during the past two conclaves and denied he is planning to reform the process to elect a pope in a new book-length interview published Tuesday April 2, 2024. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool photo via AP, File)

Pope exposes confidential details of past conclaves and settles scores with Pope Benedict XVI’s aide

Pope Francis has exposed the political “maneuvers” used to sway votes during the two most recent elections of popes in a book-length interview.
 
Revelers wearing decorated hats and costumes participate in the annual Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral on Sunday, March 31, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

These images capture Easter Sunday around the world

Across the globe, people celebrated Easter Sunday — commemorating the day when, according to Christian tradition, Jesus was resurrected in Jerusalem two millennia ago.
 
Pope Francis waves faithful from the central balcony of the St. Peter's Basilica prior to the the 'Urbi et Orbi' (To the city and to the world) blessing, at the Vatican, Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

In his Easter address, the pope called for a cease-fire in Gaza and a Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap

Pope Francis has rallied from respiratory problems to lead some 60,000 people in Easter celebrations and make a strong appeal for a cease-fire in Gaza and a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine.
 
Pope Francis presides over the Easter vigil celebration in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Saturday, March 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope presides over Easter Vigil, delivers 10-minute homily after skipping Good Friday at last minute

Pope Francis has delivered a 10-minute homily during the Vatican’s somber Easter Vigil service, a day after he made the last-minute decision to skip his participation in the Good Friday procession as a health precaution.
 
Vatican ushers carry Pope Francis chair prior to the start of the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) at the Colosseum on Good Friday, in Rome, Friday, March 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope skips Good Friday event to preserve health ahead of Easter, Vatican says

The Vatican says Pope Francis has skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome’s Colosseum to protect his health, adding to concerns about his frail condition during a particularly busy liturgical period.
 
Pope Francis celebrates the Holy Chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at The Vatican, Thursday, March 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope, looking strong, washes feet of 12 women at Rome prison from his wheelchair

Pope Francis has washed and kissed the feet of 12 women inmates at a Rome prison. The 87-year-old Francis performed the Holy Thursday ritual from his wheelchair.
 
Pope Francis greets Bassan Aramin, left, and Rami Elhanan during the weekly general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope appears in better health, praises Israeli and Arab fathers who both lost daughters in conflict

Pope Francis appears in better health, walking into the Vatican audience hall on his own with a cane for his weekly audience and delivering his prepared text with a clear voice.
 
FILE - Pope Francis tries to catch his cap as wind blew it away while arriving for his weekly general audience in the St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

An AP photographer snags an unexpected image of the head of the Catholic Church

Associated Press photographer Andrew Medichini has covered the Vatican and three popes for 27 years. So Medichini has mastered snapping images of papal pomp.
 
Pope Francis celebrates the Palm Sunday mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, March 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A busy Holy Week will test Pope Francis’ health

Pope Francis has decided at the last minute to skip his homily during Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square.
 
FILE - This Feb. 15, 2007 file photo shows then Bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe, in Bruges, Belgium. Pope Francis has defrocked a notorious Belgian bishop who admitted 14 years ago that he sexually abused his nephew but faced no Vatican punishment. (AP Photo/Peter Maenhoudt, file)

Belgian bishop defrocked 14 years after admitting to abusing nephew

Pope Francis has defrocked a notorious Belgian bishop who admitted 14 years ago that he sexually abused his nephew but faced no Vatican punishment.
 
Italian journalist and writer Fabio Marchese Ragona holds a copy of "Life: My Story Through History" as he poses for a picture prior to the start of an interview with the Associated Press, in Rome, Thursday, March 13, 2024. Pope Francis says he has no plans to resign and isn't suffering from any health problems that would require doing so, in an autobiography, "Life: My Story Through History," which is being published Tuesday and written with Italian journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope acknowledges criticism and health issues but says in his new memoir he has no plans to retire

Pope Francis says he has no plans to resign and isn’t suffering from any health problems that would require doing so.
 
FILE - Pope Francis greets Vatican Secretary of State Monsignor Pietro Parolin, left, as he arrives to board a plane to Amman, Jordan, for a three-day trip to the Middle East including the West Bank and Israel, at Rome's Fiumicino international airport, Saturday, May 24, 2014. The Vatican secretary of state is trying to defuse Pope Francis' latest diplomatic kerfluffle, insisting in media interviews that a primary condition for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine is an end to Russia’s aggression and that any peace must be a “just peace.” (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca, File)

Vatican diplomats seek to defuse outrage over Pope Francis’ Ukraine ‘white flag’ comments

The Vatican secretary of state is trying to defuse outrage over Pope Francis’ latest diplomatic foray.
 
FILE - Pope Francis waves during the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican, on March 10, 2024. The clergy sexual abuse scandal is slowly gathering steam in Italy with increasing media coverage, criminal convictions and the launch Monday, Marcg 11, 2024, of an investigative podcast dedicated to a case that tangentially involved Pope Francis. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italy abuse case highlights how scandal slowly beginning to come to light in pope’s backyard

The clergy sexual abuse scandal is slowly gathering steam in Italy. There is increasing media coverage, some criminal convictions and the launch Monday of an investigative podcast dedicated to a case that tangentially involved Pope Francis.
 
From left, Vatican Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, Card. José Tolentino de Mendonça and Giovanni Russo, head of the Italian Prison Administration attend a press conference at The Vatican, Monday, March 11, 2024, to present "With my Eyes", the Holy See pavillion for the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale of Arts opening on April 20th, 2024. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

The Vatican unveils its project for the Venice Biennale of Art: inside a women’s prison

The Vatican has unveiled a groundbreaking project for the upcoming Venice Biennale of Art: It is mounting a multimedia installation inside Venice’s Giudecca women’s prison.
 
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy smiles during a joint news conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following their meeting at Dolmabahce palace in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, March 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Pope Francis: Ukraine should have the courage of the ‘white flag’ and negotiate an end of the war with Russia

Pope Francis has said in an interview that Ukraine, facing possible defeat, should have the courage to negotiate an end to the war with Russia and not be ashamed to sit at the same table to carry out peace talks.
 
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