Throughout his period as bishop he was at odds with the rigidities of the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI ...

The method the Catholic Church uses to select their leader has remained virtually unchanged for the last 800 years ...

Francis is an 88-year-old man who has had a serious problem but who is now undergoing treatment. It’s not a simple treatment ...

Pope Francis has been diagnosed with double pneumonia after being hospitalised last week. The Vatican said the 88-year-old's ...

The Catholic Church is almost 2,000 years old, and over the centuries, the protocol for papal funerals has been codified and ...

Francis, who lost part of a lung to a respiratory infection in his youth and has been plagued by ailing health recently, last ...

The process of electing a new pope follows rules and rituals that have been followed, and sometimes tweaked, since the 13th ...

Pope Francis spent his seventh day in hospital on Thursday, where he is being treated for pneumonia, as cardinals expressed ...

Pope Francis passed another peaceful night in hospital, "got up and had breakfast in his armchair", the Vatican said Thursday ...

The Vatican reported another slight improvement in Pope Francis's condition on Thursday, as the 88-year-old spent his seventh ...

The pope looms so large in everyday Italian life that there are lots of expressions that make light of even a dark event like ...

He refuted claims by the Vatican that the marriage equality referendum in Ireland was a ‘defeat’ and called for priests to be ...