Sarah Rainsford BBC Rome correspondent Ukrainian presidency handout Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky met Pope Leo at the Vatican earlier this week Italy has backed President Donald Trump’s suggestion the Vatican might mediate talks on negotiating a ceasefire in Ukraine, while he appears keen to step back from the process himself. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office said...
EPA Pope Leo XIV has held “cordial” talks with US Vice-President JD Vance, according to the Vatican. It comes a day after Vance – a practicing Catholic – joined other dignitaries and thousands of worshipers at the Pope’s inaugural mass on Sunday. After Pope Leo became the first American to lead the Roman Catholic Church...
Reuters Pope Leo XIV said the Church should be a “beacon” to reach areas suffering a “lack of faith” in his first mass as pontiff on Friday The new Pope, Leo XIV, has called for the Catholic Church to “desperately” counter a lack of faith in his first mass at the Vatican. Speaking on Friday,...
This is no malfunction in the Sistine Chapel furnace. That happened in the earlier vote, when a brief puff of white smoke emanated from the morning ballot at the conclave. The Vatican has confirmed that the cardinal electors have chosen a new pontiff to lead the Catholic Church: BREAKING: White smoke appears from the Sistine...
Aleem Maqbool Religion editor BBC The Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse has 128 rooms. From 7 May, it will be filled with cardinals participating in the conclave to elect the next Pope. But one room in the guesthouse is still sealed with a red ribbon, as it has been since its occupant died there on Easter...
Lucy Clarke-Billings BBC News Chimney installed on Sistine Chapel ahead of papal election When the Catholic Church elects a new pope, the world watches not for a press conference or social media post, but for rising smoke from a small chimney atop the Sistine Chapel. If the smoke is black, no new pope has been...
Cardinals will meet next month in a secret conclave to elect the next pope, the Vatican has said. The closed-door meeting will start inside the Sistine Chapel on 7 May and will involve some 135 cardinals from across the world. It follows the death of Pope Francis who died on Easter Monday and whose funeral...
Nichola Mandil BBC News, Juba South Sudan Presidency Office/Handout Pope Francis went on a historic visit to South Sudan in 2023 South Sudanese leaders should “honour” Pope Francis’ legacy by ending the country’s conflict, the Vatican’s diplomatic representative to the nation has said. “We must try to make concrete in the daily life of South...
BBC News correspondent Maryam Moshiri explains why the late Pope Francis won’t be buried in the Vatican, breaking a 100-year-old tradition. Instead, on Saturday he will be buried at one of Rome’s four major basilicas and one of the oldest in the city – the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. Read full article at source...
the Visual Journalism team BBC News Getty Images The Vatican has released several photographs of Pope Francis lying in an open coffin in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, his former residence. We’ve taken a look at who was in the chapel and some of the symbolism on show in the images. Getty Images...
Pope Francis’s funeral will take place on Saturday at 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT) in front of St Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican says. The date was decided after cardinals met in Vatican City on Tuesday morning to discuss the funeral’s timing. Ahead of the funeral, Pope Francis’s body will lie in an open casket in...
Getty Images Born in Dublin, Farrell spent over 30 years working in the US When the world learned of Pope Francis’ death on Monday morning, a cardinal with longstanding ties to the US was the one to break the news. After announcing that the pope had “returned to the home of the Father”, Irish-American Cardinal...
Laura Gozzi BBC News, Rome Getty Images Pope Francis waves to crowds on Easter Sunday during a public appearance which surprised many At midday on Monday, church bells across Italy began to toll. Pope Francis was dead. Not even 24 hours had passed since he had made a surprise appearance on the balcony overlooking St...
The Vatican has named 167 people who died in the 2019 Easter bombings in Sri Lanka as “heroes of faith”. The country’s cardinal, Malcolm Ranjith, made the announcement at an event to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the suicide attacks which targeted Catholic churches and five star hotels during Easter Sunday mass, killing 269 people....
Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has died at the age of 88, the Vatican has said. “This morning at 07:35 local time (05:35 GMT) the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell said in the statement, which was published by the...