Journalists and Vatican officials who have covered multiple pontificates describe the challenges, secrecy and unprecedented ...

Pope Francis has spent 18 full days at Rome’s Gemelli hospital recovering from double pneumonia. It’s by far the longest ...

There is no office in the world that is in any way comparable to the pope of the Catholic Church. It is an office that is primarily spiritual, yet carries with it significant secular responsibilities.

As a teenager and women’s-studies student in college, I assumed the Catholic Church had retrograde views about women. Providential encounters with Catholics drew me back to church, and before my ...

A group of faithful gathered under the statue of John Paul II at Gemelli hospital on Sunday afternoon to pray for Pope Francis’ health. (AP video shot by Isaia Montelione / produced by Francesco Sport ...

ASSISI, Italy (AP) — As Pope Francis entered his third week in a hospital battling ... are still seen as an example of the kind of interfaith dialogue that St. John Paul II promoted by gathering ...

The Vatican has said the meetings are "audiences", the official term for an encounter with the leader of the 1.4-billion ... the image of a frail pope. The late Pope John Paul II was seen in ...

That level of detail may be surprising even to those who aren't aware historically how taboo it was considered to openly discuss a pope's health. As leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics ...

ROME — A stable Pope Francis had a visit Sunday from the Vatican secretary of state as he continued his recovery from double pneumonia, but again skipped his weekly noon blessing to avoid even a ...

Pope Francis returned to the Vatican Sunday ... impacted the numbers of expected pilgrims arriving. Only St. John Paul II recorded a longer hospitalization in 1981, when he spent 55 days at ...