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Pope Francis waves to pilgrims in St. Peter's Square on Feb. 25, 2024, during his weekly Angelus reflection. The pope canceled his audiences the day before due to mild flu conditions, according to the Vatican. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis, Recovering from "mild flu," Renews Call for Peace in Ukraine

Feb 25, 2024

Pope Francis appeared in good form during his Angelus address, marking the the Ukraine war’s second anniversary and reflecting on the Transfiguration.

Pope Francis delivers an address during his Wednesday general audience on Feb. 14, 2024, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis Cancels Saturday Audiences Due to a Mild flu, Vatican Says

Feb 24, 2024

The cancellation comes after Pope Francis concluded a five-day Lenten retreat at his Vatican residence.

Pope Francis: Lent is a Time to "encounter wild beasts and angels"

Feb 18, 2024

On the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Francis focused his Angelus address on the temptation of Jesus in the desert.

Pope Francis greets an elderly couple at his general audience on Jan. 11, 2023. | Credit: Vatican Media

World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly Highlights "loneliness," "throwaway culture"

Feb 15, 2024

The theme for the fourth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which will be celebrated on July 28, has been chosen by Pope Francis.

Pope Francis presides over Ash Wednesday Mass at the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome on Feb. 14, 2024. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis on Ash Wednesday: "Let us return to God with all our heart"

Feb 14, 2024

The Lord is inviting us to “remove the masks we so often wear” and to see ourselves as we truly are in the sight of God, the pope said in his Ash Wednesday homily.

Pope Francis at the Church of St. Anselm on Ash Wednesday, March 1, 2017. | Credit: L'Osservatore Romano

Pope Francis to Preside at Ash Wednesday Mass and Traditional Procession in Rome

Feb 8, 2024

Pope Francis will preside at the Mass and the traditional Ash Wednesday procession on Feb. 14 on Aventine Hill in Rome.

Pope Francis speaks during his general audience on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis: Sorrow is an "ailment of the soul"

Feb 7, 2024

The Holy Father warned that sorrow is “a constant affliction that prevents man from feeling joy at his own existence.”

90 Catholic Priests, Scholars Ask Church Leaders to Oppose Same-sex Blessings

Feb 6, 2024

The signatories claim that the declaration Fiducia Supplicans contradicts “both Scripture and the universal and uninterrupted Tradition of the Church.”

Pope Francis delivers his Sunday Angelus address at St. Peter's on Feb. 4, 2024. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis: ‘"God is always close to us" 

Feb 4, 2024

The pope observed today that Jesus, “after teaching in the synagogue, comes out so that the word he preached can reach, touch, and heal people.” 

Diego Cervo/Shutterstock.

Vatican Doctrine Office Releases Note on Discerning the Validity of the sacraments

Feb 3, 2024

The new document signed by Pope Francis and Cardinal Victor Fernández is titled “Gestis Verbisque,” or “Deeds and Words.” 

Credit: Paul Vinten/Shutterstock

Pope Francis’ 2024 Lenten Message: ‘"Lent is a season of conversion, a time of freedom"

Feb 1, 2024

Pope Francis has centered his Lenten message for 2024 on the Book of Exodus, choosing “Through the Desert God Leads Us to Freedom” as its main theme.

The Vatican announced the erection of the Weifang diocese on Jan. 29, 2024, the day of the consecration of the diocese’s first bishop, Bishop Anthony Sun Venjun. | Credit: Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association

Pope Francis Creates "new" Diocese in China, Accepting Borders Drawn by Beijing

Jan 29, 2024

The Holy See Press Office said Pope Francis established the diocese on April 20, 2023, “in the desire to promote the pastoral care of the Lord’s flock.”

Pope Francis delivers the Sunday Angelus from the window of his study overlooking St. Peter's Square, Jan. 28, 2024. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis: "The devil always takes away your freedom"

Jan 28, 2024

Pope Francis encouraged people to learn how to “say ‘no’ to the temptations of evil before they creep into the soul” by invoking the name of Jesus.

Pope Francis meets with members of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis: Blessings Don’t Require "moral perfection"

Jan 26, 2024

Pope Francis on Friday offered guidance to members of the Vatican’s doctrinal office for dealing with matters of faith.

Pope Appoints New Bishop in China, Bringing a 70-year Vacancy to an End

Pope Appoints New Bishop in China, Bringing a 70-year Vacancy to an End

Jan 25, 2024

The Holy See Press Office announced on Thursday that Father Thaddeus Wang Yuesheng was appointed by Pope Francis as the bishop of Zhengzhou.

Pope Francis leads an ecumenical second vespers at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome on the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Jan. 25, 2024. | Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Christian Unity Must Be Rooted in Prayer, Pope Says at Ecumenical Vespers

Jan 25, 2024

Marking the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Pope Francis hosted an ecumenical vespers at Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his general audience on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. | Credit: Vatican Media

Avarice is a "sickness of the heart, not of the wallet": Pope Francis

Jan 24, 2024

In his Wednesday general audience, Pope Francis said the preoccupation with the accumulation of material goods reflects a greater “pathological accumulation.”

Sculpture of St. Peter outside of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. | Credit: Unsplash

Vatican Appeals Court Sentences Priest to Prison for Sexual Abuse of Teen

Jan 24, 2024

Father Gabriele Martinelli was accused of forcing the former altar server, identified as L.G., to have sexual relations with him between 2007 and 2012.

Pope Francis meets with the journalists who cover the Vatican in the Apostolic Palace on Jan. 22, 2024. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis Thanks Vatican Journalists for Reporting on Scandals in the Church

Jan 22, 2024

Journalists accredited to the Holy See Press Office met the pope in a private audience at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on Jan. 22. 

Pope Francis presides over Mass for the Sunday of the Word of God in St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 21, 2024. | Vatican Media

Return to God’s Word Rather than Social Media’s "violence of words": Pope Francis

Jan 21, 2024

Pope Francis has called Catholics to spend more time with the saving power of God’s word as society and social media amplify “the violence of words.”