The Local

Pope Leo XIV called on the Italian Church to develop a "culture of prevention" on clerical child sex abuse, after critics said nothing had changed in 30 years. ...

A temporary exhibition on patriarchy in Rome showcases sexist paradigms in Italy's male-dominated and macho society where gender equality "is a distant prospect". ...

Antiquities recovered after being looted in Italy and sold on the global black market have found their sanctuary in the heart of Rome. ...

Italy pushes ahead with Messina Strait bridge project, Salvini's League breaks ties with Russia, warm weather on the way, and more news from around Italy on Wednesday. ...

New EU legislation has led to changes for inteet users in Europe - including the way search results appear on Google. ...

Sardinia set to elect regional president, families of Cutro shipwreck victims plan to sue govement, and more news from around Italy on Tuesday. ...

Warm weather arrives for the end of January, parliament approves migrant deal with Albania, Udine bans more racist football fans, and more news from around Italy on Thursday. ...

Revelations about mafia boss Messina Denaro, a major fraud scheme uncovered, tax breaks for adopting dogs from shelters, and more news from around Italy on Friday. ...

Italy's iconic tricolour flag celebrates its 227th aiversary, the foreign minister calls for an EU army, a deadly avalanche, and more news from around Italy on Monday. ...

From finding lesser-known Italian shows to watch to preparing for the most stressful style-related event of the year, our weekly newsletter La Bella Vita offers you an essential starting point for eating, talking, drinking and living like an Italian. ...

"Our work has made us realise once again that the gravity of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors is, and historically has been, a widespread phenomenon in all cultures and societies," he ...

Pope Francis celebrates a mass on Christmas eve on December 24, 2018 at St Peter's basilica in the Vatican. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP. Pope Francis on Monday assailed the "insatiable greed" of today's c...

Pope Francis delivering the "Urbi et Orbi" message from the balcony of St Peter's basilica on December 25, 2018. Photo: VATICAN MEDIA / AFP. Pope Francis used his Christmas message Tuesday to appeal f...

The Church will never seek to hush up or not take seriously any case," thepope said in his aual address to the Church's goveing Curia at the Vatican. "Let it be clear that before these abominatio...

Former pope Benedict XVI celebrating his 90th birthday in 2017. Photo: Osservatore Romano/AFP Pope emeritus Benedict XVI hinted on Wednesday that he is nearing death and ready for his final "pilgrimage" at the age of 90. "In the slow decline of my physical strength, inteally, I am on a pilgrimage to the House [of the Lord]", Joseph Ratzinger wrote in a letter published in the Corriere della Sera daily, which had told him many readers were conceed about his health. The former pope, who will tu 91 in April, said he was moved that "so many readers want to know how this last period of his life is going". "It is a great grace for me to be surrounded, in this last point of a sometim...

Benito Mussolini (R) and King Vittorio Emanuele III (L) in 1938. Photo: France Presse Voir/AFP Eighty years after Mussolini began persecuting Jews, Italy is putting the dead king who backed his racial laws on trial. The setting may be a theatre, but the prosecutor, witnesses and three judges meeting in Rome are real, their scrutiny of the controversial monarch part of events organised to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Trial comes a few weeks after the remains of Vittorio Emanuele III were discreetly retued to Italy. The king, who ruled from 1900 to 1946, fled in disgrace and died in exile in Egypt in 1948. Three high-ranking judges sit at a table under the motto hanging i...

Pope Francis pictured during his weekly general audience. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP Pope Francis waed on Wednesday against the temptation of fake news, drawing a parallel between ethically compromised joualism and the biblical tale of Adam, Eve, the snake and the forbidden fruit. In his aual World Communication Day message held on the feast day of Francis de Sales, the patron saint of joualists, the Pope referred to Eve being fooled by the snake as "the first fake news"."We need to unmask what could be called the 'snake-tactics' used by those who disguise themselves in order to strike," he said. Fake news" was popularised as a phrase by Donald Trump during his victorious 2016 US ...

Pope Francis has been given a two-wheeled Popemobile. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP The answer is Pope Francis on a bike, a prospect made tantalizingly possible by the pontiff's latest gift. Francis was presented with a customized racing bike on Wednesday by three-time world cycling champion Peter Sagan, who dropped off the bicycle during a visit to the Vatican. The speedy-looking two-wheeler came in the papal colours, gold and white, and was emblazoned with "Francesco". Peter Sagan (centre) with the Pope's bike.Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP The Slovakian cyclist, who attended the Pope's weekly audience in St Peter's Square, also offered the signed jersey he wore as world champion. This is the ponti...

A handout photo from Osservatore Romano shows Pope Francis waving at the crowd outside the Cathedral of Trujillo on Saturday. AFP PHOTO / OSSERVATORE ROMANOPope Francis on Saturday urged Latin America's faithful to fight rampant violent crime against women including murder, while holding mass in Trujillo, Peru's largest northe city. "I wish to invite you to combat a plague across our Latin American region: the numerous cases of violent crimes against women, from beatings to rape to murder," the visiting pontiff told thousands in Trujillo's main colonial-era square. Half of the 25 countries with the greatest number of murders of women are in Latin America, according to UN Women. In Argentina...

Venice's Doge's Palace. Photo: Olivier Morin/AFPJewels worth several thousands of euros were stolen from a show at Venice’s Doge’s Palace on Wednesday moing, police said. The jewels were taken from a case on display at the ‘Treasures of the Mughals and Maharaja' show, which had been due to close on Wednesday night. Some 270 Indian gems and jewels, dating back to between the 16th and 20th centuries and belonging to the Al Thani collection, had been brought together for the exhibit at the Doge’s Palace, which was once the residence of Venice’s rulers. Police are trying to ascertain how the jewels were stolen. According to initial reports, two people broke into the case and were able to make a ...