The Vatican is sending new signals about how it intends to minister to LGBTQ+ Catholics in the Pope Leo XIV era.
While Pope Francis opened his pontificate with a flurry of reforms and appointments to shake things up, Pope Leo XIV has taken his time to find his footing.
In his first year as pontiff, Pope Leo XIV seems driven not by the dramatic gesture or tensions that often fueled the papacy of his predecessor, but by a calm, persistent zeal to preach the Gospel and emphasize community and harmony.
Pope Leo XIV will inaugurate the central tower of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica during his visit to Spain next month.
Pope Leo XIV is urging Equatorial Guineans to work for freedom, justice and to close the gap “between the privileged and the disadvantaged.”.
Pope Leo XIV's trip to Africa has been marked by an unusual dynamic with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Human Rights Watch, in a detailed new report, says Chinese authorities are increasing pressure on underground Catholic communities to join the state-controlled official church while tightening surveillance and travel restrictions on all of China’s estimated 12 million Catholics.
Pope Leo XIV is making a long and ambitious odyssey across four African countries -- Algeria, Angola, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
Pope Leo XIV has celebrated his first Easter Mass as pontiff, urging peace through dialogue and calling for an end to conflicts worldwide.
Pope Leo XIV carried a wooden cross for all 14 stations of the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum on his first Good Friday as pontiff.
Pope Leo XIV has restored the traditional Holy Thursday foot-washing ritual by washing the feet of 12 priests.
Over the past five years, the Rev. Brian Strassburger has gone from ministering to throngs of asylum-seekers in overcrowded shelters at the U.S.-Mexico border to celebrating Mass with detained and deported migrants.
Two American cardinals and the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S. denounced the mass deportations in Minnesota under the federal government’s immigration crackdown.
Daniela Petroff, who helped shape The Associated Press’ fashion and Vatican coverage for nearly four decades with style, authority and wit, has died in Rome.
The Vatican has announced a packed early-2026 travel schedule for Pope Leo XIV, with trips to Monaco, Spain, and four African countries.
Tourists in Milan during the Winter Olympics faced disappointment as access to Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper was closed for three and a half days.
Defense lawyers in the Vatican’s “trial of the century” have argued that Pope Francis violated the fundamental rights of their clients by issuing four secret decrees that gave prosecutors “surreal carte blanche” to investigate.
As a teenager in India, Susai Jesu led prayer services in his small Catholic village, helped at Mass and soon began training for the priesthood.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin, known for her advocacy for hostages abducted by Hamas-led militants, has a memoir coming out this spring.
Pope Leo XIV has summoned the world’s cardinals for meetings to help him govern the church, marking the unofficial start of his pontificate.
Pope Leo XIV has made another high-profile appointment that signals a generational shift in the English-speaking Catholic hierarchy.
In 2018, German artist Michael Triegel asked a homeless man in Rome to pose for a drawing, thinking that he would make an ideal model for St. Peter if he ever needed to paint the first pope.
Hundreds of Nicaraguans caroled the Virgin Mary at flower-and-light-filled altars set up in church parking lots as well as the back of vehicles on the streets of Miami to mark the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
Pope Leo XIV has taken his biggest step yet to correct one of Pope Francis’ more problematic financial moves.
Pope Leo XIV has shared his thoughts during the conclave that elected him, saying he resigned himself to the inevitable and put the rest in God’s hands.
Pope Leo XIV has celebrated Lebanon's tradition of interfaith coexistence as a beacon of hope for a conflict-torn region.
Pope Leo XIV has challenged Lebanon’s political leaders to be true peacemakers and put their differences aside.
The Vatican has doubled down on the value of monogamous marriage between a man and woman.
Ukraine has asked the Vatican to formalize its role facilitating negotiations for the return of Ukrainian children and civilians taken by Russia during the war.
Pope Leo XIV is urging countries at United Nations climate talks to take “concrete actions” to stop climate change that is threatening the planet.
Pope Leo XIV has welcomed Spike Lee, Cate Blanchett, Greta Gerwig and dozens of other Hollywood luminaries to a special Vatican audience.
U.S. Catholic bishops have elected Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley as their new president, choosing a conservative culture warrior to lead during President Donald Trump’s second term.
Pope Leo XIV is getting used to being pope at the six-month mark, following his shock election in May and sharp learning curve over the summer.
Pope Leo XIV has called for deep reflection in the United States regarding the treatment of detained migrants.
A top American cardinal has celebrated a traditional Latin Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica with the explicit permission of Pope Leo XIV.
Pope Leo XIV has canonized Venezuela's “doctor of the poor” before tens of thousands of people.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued a flag order on Friday requesting that all U.S. and state flags at state and local buildings in the Commonwealth be flown at half-staff in remembrance of former Del. Wyatt B. Durrette, Jr.
The Vatican’s child protection board says the Catholic Church has a moral duty to help victims of clergy sexual abuse heal.
The Vatican has taken the unusual step of announcing that it had named judges to decide the fate of a famous ex-Jesuit artist accused of sexually, spiritually and psychologically abusing women.
Pope Leo XIV has criticized how wealthy people live in a “bubble of comfort and luxury” while the poor suffer.
The Texas bishop on the front lines of the U.S. immigration crackdown has met with Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican.
Pope Leo XIV has begun correcting some of Pope Francis’ more questionable financial reforms and decisions.
For the first time, a woman will serve as the Archbishop of Canterbury, following the 105 men who have held the role since St. Augustine took that position in the year 597.
Defense lawyers in the Holy See’s “trial of the century” have asked the Vatican prosecutor to recuse himself from the appeals trial.
Pope Leo XIV has marveled at the “huge learning curve” he has taken on as pontiff and likened some aspects of the job to jumping “in on the deep end of the pool very quickly.”.
Pope Leo XIV will preside over his first canonization ceremony Sunday to create the first millennial saint.
Pope Leo XIV has met with one of the most prominent advocates for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church.
Pope Leo XIV is demanding that Israel stop the “collective punishment” and forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza.
Pope Leo XIV has affirmed the right of people to return to their homes after an unjust exile.
Pope Leo XIV is spending the last Sunday of his summer vacation with several dozen homeless and poor people and the church volunteers who help them.
Pope Leo XIV is marking his first 100 days in office, showing a mix of continuity with and change from Pope Francis' papacy.
A survivor of clergy sex abuse in Peru brought her public campaign for reform to the American hometown of Pope Leo XIV.
Pope Leo XIV has surprised tens of thousands of young Catholics by showing up unexpectedly at a Holy Year welcome ceremony.
The United Nations human rights office says more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food in the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli shell slammed into the compound of the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, killing three people and wounding 10 others, including the parish priest, according to church officials.
Pope Leo XIV has arrived at the papal summer retreat of Castel Gandolfo to start a six-week vacation.
Pope Leo XIV is starting a six-week vacation this weekend at the papal summer retreat south of Rome.
Pope Leo XIV is marking a feast day as the Vatican launches a new campaign to boost donations from the faithful.
The Rev. James Kelly baptized and married thousands of people, ministered to the ill at hospitals, and traveled the world.
The clerk of a tiny Kentucky county who became known for denying same-sex marriage licenses is still fighting the Supreme Court decision 10 years later.
The Vatican has beatified a Congolese government worker who was killed for resisting corruption, giving young people in a part of the world wracked with violence a new model of holiness.
A new AP-NORC poll finds that just over a month after Pope Leo XIV became the first U.S.-born pontiff, American Catholics are feeling excited about their new religious leader.
In his first words directed specifically to Americans, Pope Leo XIV told young people on Saturday how to find hope and meaning in their lives through God and in service to others.
Pope Leo XIV has criticized the surge of nationalist political movements in the world as he prayed for reconciliation and dialogue.
