Pope News

Pope elevates British convert Newman to sainthood

By AFP

Vatican City - Pope Francis created five new saints on Sunday, including Britain's Cardinal John Henry Newman -- one of the Catholic Church's most renowned converts -- and a nun dubbed the "Mother Teresa of Brazil".

Catholic Church called to plug priest gap with lay women

By AFP

Vatican City - Deep in the Amazonian forest, young couples looking to wed or baptise children often turn to Sister Alba, who fills in where Catholic priests cannot be found.

Married priests question raises fears of Church split

By AFP

Vatican City - An idea to fill empty pulpits in remote locations by allowing married men to become priests is bitterly dividing a Vatican assembly, with critics warning the emotive issue could fracture the Catholic Church.

Vatican to shine light on Amazon's indigenous communities

By AFP

Vatican City - Pope Francis will gather Catholic bishops at the Vatican Sunday to champion the isolated and poverty-struck indigenous communities of the Amazon, whose way of life is under threat.

Pope Francis to visit Thailand, Japan in November

By AFP

Bangkok - Pope Francis will travel to Thailand in November, the Vatican said Friday, in a visit to Asia that will sweep in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which were both decimated by atomic bombs in 1945.

Pope 'not afraid' of schism in Catholic Church

By AFP

Pope Francis said Tuesday he was "not afraid" of a schism in the Roman Catholic Church, in reference to attacks by conservative cardinals who frequently take aim at his papacy."I'm not afraid of schisms.

Pope Francis urges Mauritius to shun 'idolatrous economic model'

By AFP

Port Louis - Pope Francis on Monday urged Mauritius, a prosperous magnet for tourists and a global tax haven, to shun an "idolatrous economic model" that excludes the youth and the poor and damages the environment.

S.Sudan rebel leader to meet president in Juba: sources

By AFP

Juba - South Sudan's exiled rebel leader Riek Machar is expected to make his first visit to Juba in a year for talks Monday with President Salva Kiir, government and opposition sources told AFP.

Thousands undertake pilgrimage in Mauritius ahead of Pope's visit

By AFP

Port Louis - Thousands of pilgrims in Mauritius marched Saturday to the shrine of a venerated Catholic missionary where Pope Francis will arrive next week for the first papal visit to the Indian Ocean island in 30 years.

Pope pleads with Madagascans to protect rainforest

By AFP

Antananarivo - Pope Francis on Saturday made an impassioned plea to Madagascans to protect the Indian Ocean's unique environment from "excessive deforestation", on the second leg of his African tour.

Poverty, strife-hit Madagascar welcomes Pope Francis

By AFP

Antananarivo - True to his reputation as "pope of the poor", Pope Francis began a visit Saturday to Madagascar, one of the world's most impoverished nations with a unique and threatened environment.

Madagascar religions, new and old, joust for followers

By AFP

Antananarivo - Pope Francis, visiting Madagascar on his three-nation African tour, finds himself in a country where Catholicism remains strong but faces a rising challenge from evangelical Protestantism.

Poverty, strife-hit Madagascar welcomes Pope Francis

By AFP

Antananarivo - True to his reputation as "pope of the poor", Pope Francis begins a visit Saturday to Madagascar, one of the world's most impoverished nations.

City of hope rises from Madagascar garbage site

By AFP

Antananarivo - When he was six, Liva spent his days rummaging around an enormous landfill overlooking the hills of Madagascar's capital Antananarivo. "You couldn't tell the humans from the pigs and dogs," he recalled.

Mozambicans trek from far and wide to attend mass by Pope Francis

By AFP

Maputo - Travelling nearly 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) by motorbike, train, car and plane over four days to see Pope Francis may seem gruelling, but for pilgrim Davide Hilario the trek was simply a reaffirmation of his Catholic faith.

Pope urges prayers for victims of Hurricane Dorian

By AFP

Pope Francis on Wednesday urged prayers for the victims of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas who "lost everything", as he set off to Mozambique on a three-nation African tour. "I would like to ask everyone...

Jubilant crowds hail pope 'prophet of reconciliation' at Africa tour start

By AFP

Maputo - Pope Francis arrived in Mozambique on Wednesday as he kicked off a three-nation tour of African countries, expected to focus on those hard hit by poverty, conflict and natural disaster.

Pope Francis to visit poor of Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius

By AFP

Vatican City - Pope Francis flies out on Wednesday for a week-long tour visiting three Indian Ocean African countries hard hit by poverty, conflict and natural disaster.

Pope freed by firemen after getting stuck in Vatican lift

By AFP

Vatican City - Pope Francis said Sunday he was late to his weekly Angelus prayer because he had been stuck in a Vatican elevator and had to be freed by firemen.

Pope urges everyone to change lifestyle to save planet

By AFP

Vatican City - Pope Francis called Sunday on individuals across the world to make changes to their daily habits to stop climate change in its tracks, and to put pressure on their leaders "before it's too late".

Madagascar's 'angel makers' flourish in ban on abortion

By AFP

Antananarivo - Volatiana keeps her secret behind a flimsy wooden gate, tucked along a red brick wall at the back of her vegetable garden in Madagascar's Antananarivo.

Pope tells migrant mass 'no one exempt' from helping

By AFP

Vatican City - Migrants are human beings who symbolise all those rejected by globalisation, Pope Francis told a special mass on Monday, saying "the weakest and most vulnerable must be helped".

Putin praises Salvini on eve of Italy visit

By AFP

Rome - Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini for having a "welcoming attitude" to Russia, in an interview ahead of a visit to Italy which will include talks with the pope and former premier Silvio Berlusconi.

US bishops approve changes to Church law on sex abuse reporting

By AFP

Washington - The Catholic Church in the United States, which has been rocked in recent years by child sex abuse scandals and investigations, on Thursday approved a papal document that requires clergy to report suspicions of sexual assault.

Pope seeks more prayer, less business at Lourdes shrine

By AFP

Vatican City - Pope Francis has named a special envoy to prioritise spirituality at the Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes in France over "managerial and financial" aspects.

Pope to receive Putin at Vatican on July 4

By AFP

Vatican City - Pope Francis will receive Russian President Vladimir Putin for an audience next month, the Vatican said on Thursday."The Holy Father will receive the president of the Russian Federation...

Roma dream of discrimination-free Romania ahead of Pope visit

By AFP

Ion, a 72-year-old retiree from Romania's minority Roma community, says he is used to living without rights.

Pope celebrates diversity at mass in multi-ethnic Romania

By AFP

Pope Francis on the second day of a visit to Romania celebrated diversity at a mass Saturday attended by tens of thousands of people in a predominantly ethnic-Hungarian part of the Transylvania region seen as the highlight of his trip.

Pope to hold giant mass for Romania's ethnic-Hungarian minority

By AFP

Tens of thousands gathered Saturday for a mass by Pope Francis on his second day in Romania with the ceremony in a predominantly ethnic-Hungarian part of the Transylvania region set to be the highlight of his trip.

Romanians welcome pope who praises 'sacrifices' of emigrants

By AFP

Bucharest - Romanians lined Bucharest streets and packed two cathedrals on Friday to welcome Pope Francis, who began a three-day trip to the country with a message of integration for a post-election European Union following nationalist gains.