Pope Benedict XVI

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV appears at the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

Pope Leo XIV’s fashion choices make waves, and many wonder what they mean

Pope Leo XIV has made waves with some of his fashion choices, returning to much of the traditional pomp of popes past.

Pope Leo XIV blesses faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square for the Regina Caeli noon prayer, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope prays for Chinese Catholics to be in communion with Rome in first comments on thorny issues

Faithful take photos the black smoke billows from the Sistine Chapel during the conclave to elect a new Pope, at the Vatican, Thursday, May 8, 2025 (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

This conclave to choose a new pope was short -- but not the shortest ever

A Vatican employee annulls the papal seal on the pope's fisherman's ring, at the Vatican, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP)

Cardinals wrap up pre-conclave meetings still uncertain about who should follow Pope Francis

A man gives the last touch to a red drape wrapped around a column of the central lodge of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, Monday, May 5, 2025, before the conclave starting on May 7, where they will elect the 267th pontiff of the Catholic Church. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Ahead of the conclave, Vatican staff vow secrecy under threat of excommunication

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Pope Leo resumes papal tradition and escapes Rome’s summer heat to the nearby Castel Gandolfo

Pope Leo XIV will take a summer break outside Rome, in Castel Gandolfo where locals and faithful anxiously await his arrival. Leo will transfer to the papal retreat of Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, from July 6-20 for a period of rest and again for a few days over the Catholic Assumption feast day in August, the Vatican said.

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Pope Leo resumes papal tradition and escapes Rome’s summer heat to the nearby Castel Gandolfo

Pope Leo XIV brings back traditional papal fashion to the Vatican following Pope Francis austerity

Reading the tea leaves as Pope Leo brings back fancy papal garb

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Owner of Dominican club whose roof collapsed and killed 236 is arrested along with his sister

Pope prays for Chinese Catholics to be in communion with Rome in first comments on thorny relations

Augustinian friar friends of new pope watch him deliver his first Sunday prayer

Workers who will be helping behind the scene at the conclave take oath of secrecy, AP explains

Cardinal Vincent Nichols attends an interview at the Venerable English College, in Rome, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Dinner parties, listening and lobbying. What goes on behind closed doors to elect a pope

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, centre, attends a mass on the third of nine days of mourning for late Pope Francis, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

How long was the longest conclave? Facts about the secret voting to elect a pope

Italian tailor Raniero Mancinelli, who on his own initiative is making outfits for a possible future Pope, shows a pontiff's skull cap as he is interviewed by the Associated Press inside his shop, in Rome, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

These papal tailors aren’t expecting a traditional order for new cassocks to outfit the next pope

Front-runners going into conclave to choose the next pope

Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline attends a ceremony in Marseille, France, May 8, 2024. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP, File)

Who are the contenders to be pope? They include a street priest, a missionary and a Lutheran convert

Front-runners going into conclave to choose the next pope

Catholic cardinals set May 7 as start date for the conclave to elect Pope Francis’ successor

A Jesuit priest in New York City recalls witnessing Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio become Pope Francis

What is a conclave and how is a new pope chosen - AP explains

Pope Francis had a troubled course on dealing with clergy sexual abuse

Pope Francis charmed the world with poignant acts of love, humility and informality

Pope Francis will be remembered for reaching out to migrants and the LGBTQ+ community; AP explains

Pope Francis appears on the central lodge of St. Peter's Basilica to bestow the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and the world) blessing at the end of the Easter mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis’s many critics included a one-time aide and the Vatican’s ex-ambassador to the US

A wooden statue portraying a pregnant woman is seen in the foreground as members of Amazon Indigenous populations prepare for a Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession from St. Angelo Castle to the Vatican, Oct. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

Pope Francis’ conservative critics had a unique way to oppose him: a retired pontiff

Argentina's cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, right, kisses the foot of Cristian Marcelo Reynoso during a Mass with youth trying to overcome drug addictions in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, March 20, 2008. (AP Photo)

Pope Francis led the church with humility and simplicity

Tables and chairs line the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in preparation for the conclave, on April 16, 2005. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, File)

What are the church’s rites for the death of a pope and the election of a new one?

Pope Francis speaks during a meeting with the media at the Pope VI hall, at the Vatican, Saturday, March 16, 2013. Speaking of the moment of his election and his conversation with his friend, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, in the Sistine Chapel as the votes were going his way. “When things were looking dangerous, he encouraged me. And when the votes reached two-thirds, there was the usual applause, because the pope had been elected. And he gave me a hug and a kiss and said: ‘Don't forget the poor!’ And those words came to me: the poor, the poor. Then, right away, thinking of the poor, I thought of Francis of Assisi. Then I thought of all the wars, as the votes were still being counted, till the end. Francis is also the man of peace. That is how the name came into my heart: Francis of Assisi. … How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!” (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

‘Who am I to judge?’ Pope Francis had an informal, lighthearted speaking style

Pope Francis leaves at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday May 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff who ministered with a charming, humble style, dies at 88

Pope Francis donates US Presidential Medal of Freedom to Buenos Aires Cathedral on 12th anniversary as pontiff

Faithful pray for Pope Francis’ recovery on the 12th anniversary of his papacy

Pope Francis remains in hospital as he reaches 12th anniversary since election; AP explains

Pope Francis remains in hospital as he reaches 12th anniversary since election

Doctors declare Pope Francis no longer in imminent danger due to pneumonia, AP explains

Pope Francis, right, hugs Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI prior to the start of a meeting with elderly faithful in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Sept. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

In his own words: Pope Francis’ views on resigning changed over time

What happens to the leadership of the Catholic Church when a pope becomes incapacitated, AP explains

Pope Francis completes one week in the hospital and doctors try to cure him of pneumonia in both lungs