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. ...

The Vatican updated its rules for supeatural events on Friday, such as visions of Christ or the Virgin Mary, including the acknowledgement that overactive imaginations and outright "lying" risked harming the faithful. ...

"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...

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...

Pope Francis on Monday used his New Year homily to urge peace and understanding for migrants and refugees. "Let us not extinguish hope in their hearts or smother their expectations of peace," the leader of the world's estimated 1.2 billion Catholics said, marking the Church's World Day of Peace before millions of worshippers braving a rainswept Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican. Taking up the theme of the ongoing migrant crisis, the pontiff said they were "ready to risk their lives in their search for a peaceful future "which is a right for everyone" and which everyone should strive to ensure for all. ...

Pope Francis waves from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica during the traditional "Urbi et Orbi" Christmas message. Photo: AFP. Pope Francis called for "peace for Jerusalem" and "mutual trust" on the Korean peninsula as he highlighted the suffering of children in conflicts across the world in his Christmas address on Monday. In the traditional "Urbi et Orbi" address in Saint Peter's Square, the pontiff spoke of "growing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians", hoping that the "will to resume dialogue may prevail between the parties and that anegotiated solution can finally be reached, one that would allow the peaceful coexistence of two states". "Let us pray that con...

Cardinal Oscar Oscar Maradiaga looks on during a visit to the Regina Pacis Centre in Amman, Jordan on May 18th 2014. Photo: Khalil Mazraawi/AFP Honduran Cardinal Oscar Maradiaga, a key advisor to Pope Francis, on Friday rejected as "calumny" an Italian media report that he had for years received 35,000 euros ($41,600) a month from a Catholic university in his home country. L'Espresso on Thursday said the cardinal was paid more than 500,000 euros in 2015 alone by the Catholic University of Tegucigalpa, citing an inteal report from the academic institution. Hitting back at the claims, Maradiaga said the archdiocese and not himself personally received monthly payments that ...

Pope Francis. Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP Pope Francis will meet Jordan's King Abdullah II at the Vatican next week, the Holy See aounced on Friday, as Palestinians continue to clash with Israeli forces over US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Demonstrations and violence broke out across the Palestinian territories for the second Friday in a row after the end of weekly Muslim prayers. Two Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces in clashes along the Gaza-Israel border, the Palestinian health ministry said. The pope and King Abdullah, the custodian of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem's Old City, are l...

Pope Francis is pictured through the branches of a Christmas Tree, addresses crowds at St Peter's Square. Photo: AFP AFP [email protected] @thelocalitaly 10 December 2017 14:26 CET+01:00 Pope Francis on Sunday renewed a call for "wisdom and prudence" over US President Donald Trump's controversial decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, which has sparked protests and clashes. "The Holy Father renews his appeal for the wisdom and prudence of everyone, and raises fervent prayers so that the leaders of nations, in this time of special gravity, commit themselves...

Palestinian girls walk past a mural of Pope Francis in the occupied West Bank on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Photo: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP Pope Francis on Wednesday defended the "status quo" of Jerusalem, hours ahead of an aouncement by US President Donald Trump in which officials said he will recognize the disputed city as Israel's capital. "I caot silence my deep conce over the situation that has emerged in recent days. At the same time, I appeal strongly for all to respect the city's status quo, in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions," the pope said in his weekly address. The Argentine pontiff's call came a day after he spoke by phone with Palestinian preside...

Pope Francis arrived in Bangladesh from Myanmar on Thursday for the second stage of a visit that has been overshadowed by the plight of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees. PHOTO: MUNIR UZ ZAMA Pope Francis on Saturday said he wept hearing the plight first-hand of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, adding that this meeting was a condition set for his trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh. The Rohingya meeting was a highly symbolic gesture of solidarity with the Muslim minority fleeing violence in Myanmar, and the pontiff told joualists on his plane flying back to Rome that the refugees cried as well. "I knew that I was going to meet the Rohingyas but I did ...

Archbishop of Dhaka Cardinal Patrick D'Rozario. Photo: AFP The top Catholic official in Bangladesh hopes Pope Francis's visit there and to Myanmar will bolster moves to alleviate the Rohingya refugee crisis that has put the neighbouring nations in the global spotlight. Despite last week's deal to retu to Myanmar some of the hundreds of thousands of people housed in the world's largest refugee camp, on the Bangladesh side of the border, Cardinal Patrick D'Rozario was that the situation remains both explosive and tough to resolve. "I am hopeful the Rohingya can be retued to Myanmar," D'Rozario, the Archbishop of Dhaka, told AFP in an interview ahead of Francis's visit...

People greet Pope Francis in Yangon. Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AF Pope Francis arrived in mainly Buddhist Myanmar on Monday on a highly sensitive visit to a country facing sharp global criticism for the alleged ethnic cleansing of its Rohingya Muslim minority. Catholics in colourful ethnic traditional dress waved flags and danced at Yangon's airport in a joyful welcome for the pope, making the first visit to the country by a pontiff. The visit comes as Myanmar's military stands accused of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya Muslims. More than 620,000 have fled a crackdown in northe Rakhine state for neighbouring Bangladesh over the past three months. &...

Rohingya refugees near Bangladesh's border with Myanmar. Photo: Fred Dufour/AFP Pope Francis will meet Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar in Dhaka when he visits the Bangladeshi capital next week, a Vatican spokesman said on Wednesday. ...