Pope News

Rome - Pope Francis attended an emotional night of prayers for hot-button social issues including domestic abuse, prison overcrowding and unemployment to mark the Good Friday before Easter.

Berlin - A German vintage car enthusiast set off Monday in a 1958 Polish-made car that belonged to John Paul II before he became pope, headed for Rome to honour his canonisation.

- While he may not be widely known internationally, Pope John XXIII holds a special place in the heart of many Italians and nowhere more so than in his homeland of Bergamo where he was born into a farming family.

- Pope Francis kicked off weeklong observances leading up to Easter by celebrating Palm Sunday mass with some 100,000 pilgrims in a sun-drenched St Peter's Square on Sunday.

- Pope Francis on Friday personally asked forgiveness for child sex abuse by priests -- the first time he has made such an apology since being elected last year."I feel compelled...

- Pope Francis aims to unite conservative and reformist strands of Catholicism with the first canonisation of two popes this month -- an impressive masterstroke that has already stirred dissent in some quarters.

- Pope Francis called on Monday for fidelity and chastity to be used to fight the AIDS virus in Africa, in an address to visiting Tanzanian bishops that -- in line with Catholic doctrine -- did not mention the use of condoms.

- Queen Elizabeth II meets Pope Francis for the first time on Thursday on a visit that coincides with the anniversary of the start of the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina.

- The voices of popes from as long ago as 1884 can be heard by the public after the digitising of 8,000 tapes from the Vatican Radio's pontifical archives, the Vatican said Tuesday.

- The Vatican is turning to social media to reach out to the millions of pilgrims expected to attend the first double canonisation of popes in the history of the Catholic Church.