INSIDER
Pope Leo XIV is celebrating his first Mass, a day after his historic election as the first North American pope in the church’s 2,000-year history.
Pope Leo XIV, history’s first North American pope, has addressed cardinals in English at the start of his first Mass, saying “you have called me to carry the cross and to be blessed” and asking for their help to spread the Catholic faith.
When white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel revealing that a new pope had been chosen, John Prevost turned on his television in Illinois and watched in awe as his brother’s name was announced.
Catholic Chicagoans gathered in churches, cheered from classrooms and celebrated from their homes as the historic decision was announced that a native son, Cardinal Robert Prevost, had been elected pope.
Americans in St. Peter’s square were stunned and joyous when they learned that an American cardinal, Robert Provost, was elected pope and had taken the name Leo XIV.
Peruvians are elated after a Catholic cardinal who spent years guiding the faithful in the South American country was elected pope and hoped he will visit them soon in his new role.
After white smoke rose out of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney in Vatican City, the bells from the Church of the Little Flower in Coral Gables and other churches in South Florida started tolling.
Pope Leo XIV's choice of name signals a commitment to social justice, very much in line with the late Pope Francis’ global ministry.
Cardinal Robert Prevost, the first U.S. pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church, previously led a Catholic religious order.
Robert Prevost may have made history Thursday by becoming the first pope from the United States.
The spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians has warned against the unchecked rise of artificial intelligence and automation, calling it an “impending robotocracy.”.
Robert Prevost has been elected the first pope from the United States in the history of the Catholic Church.
A Palestinian student arrested during an interview about finalizing his U.S. citizenship has helped launch an initiative to help other immigrants facing deportation in Vermont.
Families of hostages held in Gaza were surprised and angered to hear U.S. President Donald Trump say that three of the hostages who Israel had said were alive had died.
One hundred and thirty-three cardinals are sequestering themselves behind the Vatican’s medieval walls for the start of a conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis.
Black smoke has poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney, indicating no pope was elected on the first ballot of the conclave to choose a new leader of the Catholic Church.
The Catholic bishop of a New Jersey diocese says he would no longer oppose a state grand jury investigation of clergy sexual abuse that the church has been fighting behind closed doors in court for years.
The United States is the home country of 10 of the 133 cardinals eligible to vote for the next pope of the Catholic Church.
Cardinals have wrapped up their pre-conclave meetings before they enter the conclave to elect a new pope.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has governed Kashmir with an iron fist in recent years.
Before he died, Pope Francis donated one of his popemobiles to be converted into a mobile health unit to serve the children of Gaza, officials said Monday.
All Vatican personnel involved in supporting the upcoming papal conclave must take an oath of secrecy — under penalty of automatic excommunication.
Cardinals hailing from 71 different countries are eligible to elect a pope this week in the most geographically diverse conclave in history.
At Masses across Rome and socioeconomic lines, Catholics prayed the next pope focuses on poverty and peace days before the conclave that will elect Pope Francis’ successor.
While Pope Francis accomplished a lot in his 12-year papacy, he left much unfinished business and many challenges for his successor — from the Vatican’s disastrous finances to the wars raging on multiple continents.
Cardinal Álvaro Ramazzini is taking to his first conclave the same spirit that guided his decades-long front-line ministry among the migrants, poor and Indigenous people in Guatemala’s highlands.
Vatican workers have installed the simple stove in the Sistine Chapel where ballots will be burned during the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope.
British Cardinal Vincent Nichols provides an insider's view of what's going on these days before the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis.
Several thousand Turkish Cypriots took to the streets of the northern half of ethnically divided Cyprus’ capital Nicosia to protest what they say is Turkey’s attempt to erode their secular roots and to strengthen the hold of political Islam over their society.
Four days of clashes between pro-government gunmen and members of a minority sect in Syria have left nearly 100 people dead and raised fears of deadly sectarian violence.
Israeli forces are preparing to carry out home demolitions across two northern urban refugee camps in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
A Lutheran church in Minneapolis is taking practical steps to help its mostly Latino immigrant congregation deal with the uncertainty and stress of a Trump administration crackdown.
Preparations for the conclave to find a new pope accelerated Friday with the installation of the chimney out of the Sistine Chapel that will signal the election of a successor to Pope Francis.
“Conclave” the film may have introduced moviegoers to the spectacular ritual and drama of a modern conclave, but the periodic voting to elect a new pope has been going on for centuries and created a whole genre of historical trivia.
Israel’s air force has struck near Syria’s presidential palace hours after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by members of a minority sect in southern Syria.
The United Nations’ emergency relief coordinator is urging Israel to lift its blockade of aid into the Gaza Strip.
The conclave that begins Wednesday to elect a successor for Pope Francis is the first in 46 ½ years for which the Vatican hasn't ordered a new cassock for the new head of the Catholic Church.
Martin Scorsese is a producing a documentary made with Pope Francis that will chronicle the late pontiff’s work with cinema in the global educational movement he founded before his death.
Chief Justice John Roberts appears to hold the key vote over whether the Supreme Court will allow the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school, in Oklahoma.
There are no official candidates for the papacy, but some cardinals are considered “papabile.”.
Israel released a Palestinian medic who has been held prisoner since soldiers killed 15 of his colleagues last month and buried them in a mass grave in southern Gaza.
The Italian cardinal at the heart of the Vatican’s “trial of the century” announced Tuesday he was withdrawing from participating in the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope.
Whoever succeeds Pope Francis will inherit his momentous and controversial legacy of relations with Indigenous people throughout the Americas.
The Catholic Church in Oklahoma wants taxpayers to pay for an online charter school that “is faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ.”.
A historic Black church in downtown Memphis that was the organizing point for Martin Luther King Jr.'s final stand has suffered a devastating fire.
A violin made in 1941 inside the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau was found to contain a hidden note from its maker, Polish Jewish prisoner Franciszek Kempa.
A Palestinian diplomat has told the United Nations’ top court that Israel is killing and displacing civilians and targeting aid workers in Gaza in a case that Israel criticized as part of its “systematic persecution and delegitimization.”.
The Vatican is closing the Sistine Chapel to the public as part of preparations for the conclave to elect the next pope after the death of Francis.
Members of New Jersey’s Supreme Court sounded skeptical at times about the effort of a Catholic diocese to stop the state from empaneling a grand jury to investigate clergy sexual abuse allegations.
Israeli jets have struck Beirut’s southern suburbs in the third such attack since a ceasefire began in late November.
Cardinals this week will start in-depth discussions on planning the conclave to choose Pope Francis' successor.
They came from around the world to rejoice in the naming of the first millennial saint, but they ended up bidding farewell to Pope Francis instead.
World leaders and rank-and-file Catholic faithful have said farewell to Pope Francis in a funeral that highlighted his concern for people on the peripheries and reflected his wish to be remembered as a simple pastor.
President Donald Trump is among more than 50 heads of state and other dignitaries attending the funeral for Pope Francis in Vatican City on Saturday.
The head of the basilica that is housing Pope Francis's tomb says it reflects his “humble, simple and essential" life.
Pope Francis visited a record 10 African countries throughout his pontificate, often venturing to areas ravaged by war, poverty or natural disaster.
Hours after Israel's Foreign Ministry posted a condolence for the passing for Pope Francis, it was deleted without explanation.
Associated Press reporter Nicole Winfield, who covered Pope Francis at the Vatican during his entire pontificate, earned the nickname “la prima della classe” -- or “the first in class” -- from him in 2018.
Three days of public viewing of Pope Francis’ body by ordinary mourners and statesmen alike have ended and the pontiff's coffin sealed.
The clash in style between Donald Trump and Pope Francis and their positions on migration, the environment and poverty will come into sharper focus with the president in Rome for Francis’ funeral.
The legendary attorney who was once deemed the “chief counsel” of the Civil Rights Movement by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has been honored with a statue outside the Alabama State Bar Association.
Gaza's Health Ministry says Israeli strikes have killed at least 50 people, many of them women and children.
Hong Kong’s outspoken Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen has been allowed to leave the southern Chinese city to attend Pope Francis’ funeral in Vatican City.
The papacy of Pope Francis ended with the same core doctrine for LGBTQ+ people that he had inherited.
So many people lined up to see Pope Francis lying in state at St. Peter’s Basilica that the Vatican kept the doors open all night, closing for just one hour from 6 a.m. until 7 a.m. Thursday.
The pastor of a Georgia megachurch who led a nationwide 40-day “fast” against Target stores is now calling for a “full Target boycott.”.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is establishing a task force to investigate employee reports of alleged anti-Christian bias.
Some Black churches are pledging to support the National Museum of African American History and Culture following an executive order by President Donald Trump alleging exhibits there and at other Smithsonian Institution sites have expressed a “divisive, race-centered ideology.”.
Antisemitic attacks around the world have increased dramatically since the war in Gaza began, but have declined slightly from a peak directly after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack against Israel, according to an annual report from Tel Aviv University.
The body of Pope Francis was moved Wednesday morning to St. Peter’s Basilica for three days of public mourning for an Argentine pontiff remembered for his humble style, concern for the poor and insistent prayers for peace.
Thousands of people have begun filing through St. Peter’s Basilica to pay their final respects to Pope Francis at the start of three days of public viewing ahead of his funeral.
An Arizona jury found Lori Vallow Daybell guilty Tuesday of conspiring to murder her estranged husband.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority is signaling support for the religious rights of Maryland parents who want to remove their children from elementary school classes using storybooks with LGBTQ characters.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 17 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, mostly women and children, and destroyed bulldozers and other heavy equipment that had been supplied by mediators to clear rubble.
The Anti-Defamation League says the number of antisemitic incidents in the United States reached a record high last year.
