Roman Catholicism

This image released on Wednesday Jan. 8, 2025 by the Vatican Media shows Pope Francis shaking hands with Sister Simona Brambilla, an Italian nun who is the first woman named to head a major Vatican office, the department responsible for all the church's religious orders, at the Vatican. (Vatican Media via AP)

Pope Francis has named the first woman to head a major Vatican office, choosing an Italian nun

Pope Francis has named the first woman to head a major Vatican office. He is appointing Sister Simona Brambilla, an Italian nun, to become prefect of the Vatican department responsible for all the church’s religious orders.

An experimental art installation with an AI Jesus entitled, Deus in Machina, installed in a confessional in St. Peter's Chapel in the old town of Lucerne, Switzerland, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. (Urs Flueeler/Keystone via AP)

‘AI Jesus’ avatar tests man’s faith in machines and the divine

Pope Francis, background center, poses with the participants to the second session of the 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops gather in the Paul VI hall, at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis’ Catholic church reform process ends without giving more equity to women

People gather around the coffin of slain Catholic priest and activist Marcelo Pérez during a mass at the main plaza in San Andrés Larráinzar, Chiapas state, Mexico, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Isabel Mateos)

Hundreds mourn Catholic priest and Indigenous peace activist killed in southern Mexico

People carry the coffin of Catholic priest Marcelo Perez, who was killed in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas state, Mexico, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Isabel Mateos)

Catholic priest and Indigenous activist Pérez killed by 2 gunmen in southern Mexico

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What comes next for the Catholic Church after Pope Francis’ death

Pope Francis’ funeral will be held on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St. Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. Here’s what this means.

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FILE - Pope Francis presides over a mass on St. Peter and Paul's Day in St. Peter's Basilica at The Vatican on June 29, 2023. The Jesuits said Monday, July 24, that a famous artist priest had been definitively expelled from the religious order for sexually, spiritually and psychologically abusing women, and lamented they couldn't prosecute him more vigorously under the Vatican's internal procedures. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

Jesuits confirm expulsion of a priest artist and lament that Vatican norms block harsher sanctions

Monsignor Victor Manuel Fernandez, archbishop of La Plata, officiates Mass at the Cathedral in La Plata, Argentina, Sunday, July 9, 2023. Fernandez was appointed by Pope Francis to head the Holy See's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

‘Heal Me with Your Mouth. The Art of Kissing.’ An old book sparks a new controversy in the Vatican

Pope recognizes China’s unilateral appointment of Shanghai bishop, three months after the fact

FILE - A man prays in the empty world famous Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, on Sunday, March 15, 2020. The number of people formally leaving the Catholic Church in Germany increased significantly last year as the church wrestles with a long-running scandal over abuse by clergy and with calls for far-reaching reform. The German Bishops' Conference said Wednesday that 522,821 left the church last year, up from 359,338 in 2021. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

More than half a million left Germany’s Catholic Church last year as abuse scandal swirls