World

Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images (VATICAN CITY) — Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the senior Vatican official who announced Pope Francis’ death on Monday morning, will serve as head of the Catholic Church until a new pope is elected, according to the Vatican. Born in Ireland, the 77-year-old Farrell has long ties in the United States, having served […]

Franco Origlia/Getty Images (VATICAN CITY) — Pope Francis, whose time as head of the Catholic Church was noted for an everyman humility and outreach efforts to people of disparate backgrounds and faiths, has died at 88, the Vatican has confirmed. “At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the […]

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images (VATICAN CITY) — Who was the very first pope? How many popes have there been? Has anyone ever refused the office? For an institution that has existed for nearly 2,000 years, most people know very little about the papacy and its history. Here are some of the most commonly asked questions – […]

Arturo Mari – Vatican Pool/ Getty Images (VATICAN CITY) — The process by which a new pope is elected has undergone numerous changes in the nearly two millennia that the Catholic Church has existed, with the current procedure a combination of ancient traditions and modern updates as recent as 2013, reflecting changes instituted by Pope […]

Franco Origlia/Getty Images (VATICAN CITY) — Pope Francis made a short and unannounced visit Saturday to St. Peter’s Basilica to pray before this evening’s Easter vigil and greet some of the faithful present. The 88-year-old pontiff, in a wheelchair, arrived at around 6 p.m. local time accompanied by his nurse and stayed for about a […]

(Photo by Contributor/Getty Images) (LONDON) — Russian President Vladimir Putin declared an “Easter truce” in the war in Ukraine on Saturday, saying that the Russian side will cease military action from 6 p.m. local Saturday night until midnight April 21. Putin said he assumes that “the Ukrainian side will follow our example,” according to a […]

David Barnes appears in court in Russia on Feb. 13, 2024. Via ABC News. (LONDON) — American David Barnes’ appeal to be released from a Russian detention center has been denied, causing prosecutors in Moscow to celebrate while Barnes’ friends and family in Alabama fear for his future. In a hearing that lasted roughly three […]

Thousands of Palestinians displaced by Israel continue to return to their lands in the north from the south with their vehicles in Gaza on January 29, 2025. (Photo by Moiz Salhi/Anadolu via Getty Images) (LONDON) — In mid-January, when two U.S.-based contracting firms tapped to secure a critical vehicle checkpoint in Gaza scrambled to sign […]

Marco Iacobucci/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images (ROME and LONDON) — Pope Francis arrived on Thursday for a meet-and-greet with inmates at a prison in Rome amid the Catholic Holy Week, making a public appearance for one of the first times since his lengthy hospital stay. The pontiff, 88, made the short drive from the Vatican […]

State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Anadolu via Getty Images LONDON — Three people, including a child, were killed in a “massive” Russian drone strike overnight on Dnipro, Ukraine, the local governor said. “Thirty people were injured, five of them children,” Serhiy Lysak, who leads the local administration, said on the Telegram messaging app. The injured later […]