Pope Francis

Pope apologises to Canadian indigenous for wrongs at residential schools

VATICAN CITY, April 1 (Reuters) - Pope Francis apologised to Canadian indigenous peoples on Friday for the Catholic Church's role in residential schools that sought to erase their cultures and…

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Pope Francis leads world’s Catholic bishops in consecrating Russia and Ukraine to the Madonna

Vatican News - Pope Francis presided over the annual “24 Hours for the Lord” Lenten penitential service in St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday evening. Toward the end of the liturgy,…

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Pope says ‘slaughters and atrocities’ committed daily in Ukraine

VATICAN CITY, March 20 (Reuters) - Pope Francis, continuing his implicit criticism of Russia, on Sunday called the conflict in Ukraine an unjustified "senseless massacre" and urged leaders to stop…

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Pope rules any baptised lay Catholic, including women, can head Vatican departments

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis on Saturday issued a new constitution for the Vatican's central administration, known as the Curia, stating that any baptized lay Catholic, including women, can head…

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Pope calls Ukraine war a ‘perverse abuse of power’ for partisan interests

VATICAN CITY, March 18 (Reuters) - Pope Francis, ramping up his implicit criticism of Russia, on Friday called the war in Ukraine a "perverse abuse of power" waged for partisan interests which…

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Russian Orthodox Church leader discusses Ukraine war with Pope Francis

VATICAN CITY(Reuters) - Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church and Pope Francis discussed the war in Ukraine on Wednesday, Kirill's office said, the first known contact between the two…

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Pope evokes spectre of nuclear war wiping out humanity

VATICAN CITY, March 16 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Wednesday evoked the spectre of a nuclear war, where whoever is left of humanity would have to start all over again…

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UPDATE – “In the name of God I ask you: stop this massacre” – Pope Francis to Putin

VATICAN CITY, March 13 (Reuters) - Pope Francis issued his toughest condemnation yet of the invasion of Ukraine, saying on Sunday the "unacceptable armed aggression" must stop. Speaking to thousands of people…

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UPDATED: Pope Francis says Ukraine conflict is “not military operation but a war”

Pope Francis on Sunday rejected Russia's assertion that it is carrying out "a special military operation" in Ukraine, saying the country was being battered by war. "In Ukraine rivers of…

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Pope to make often delayed visit to South Sudan in July

VATICAN CITY, March 3 (Reuters) - Pope Francis will visit South Sudan in July, the Vatican said on Thursday, making a trip he has repeatedly had to delay because of…

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Remember Ukrainians in shelters, Pope says; thanks Poland for refugee help

VATICAN CITY, March 2 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Wednesday asked people around the world to remember Ukrainians in underground shelters seeking protection from bombardments and thanked Poland for taking…

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‘Heartbroken’ Pope condemns warmongers, urges help for Ukraine

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis on Sunday made an impassioned call for humanitarian corridors to help refugees leave Ukraine and said those who make war should not be deluded into thinking…

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Pope went to Russian embassy to express concern over war to Moscow envoy

VATICAN CITY, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Pope Francis went to the Russian embassy to the Holy See on Friday and relayed his concern over Russia's invasion of Ukraine to Moscow's…

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Pope cancels Florence visit, Ash Wednesday service due to knee pain

ROME, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Pope Francis has been forced to cancel a trip to Florence this Sunday and Ash Wednesday services next week, because of an acute flare up…

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Pope pained by Ukraine crisis, calls for restraint

Pope Francis said Wednesday that he was pained by the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine and called for restrain after Russian recognized two rebel-held 'republics' in the east of…

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Carmelite Martyr Titus Brandsma amongst three to be made saints by Pope Francis

Pope Francis is to hold a Consistory on Friday, March 4 to create three new saints in the Catholic Church, the Vatican said Tuesday. The newly canonized will be Titus…

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Pope to visit Malta on April 2-3, Vatican confirms

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis will visit Malta on April 2-3, the Vatican said on Thursday, a trip that was originally to have taken place in 2020 but was postponed because…

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Ukraine’s Catholic leader invites Pope to visit and help bring peace

The leader of Ukraine's Eastern-rite Catholics said he has invited Pope Francis to visit the country, calling it a huge gesture that would help being peace at a time of…

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Pope denounces “concentration camps” in Libya, urges EU to find solution to migration

VATICAN CITY - Dumping plastic in waterways is "criminal" and must end if humanity wants to save the planet for future generations, Pope Francis said in a television interview on…

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Pope praises Moroccans for showing unity over boy trapped in well

VATICAN CITY, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Sunday praised the people of Morocco for coming together to try to rescue a small boy trapped in a well and…

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Attenborough, Pope Francis, Tsikhanouskaya among nominees for Nobel Peace Prize

British nature broadcaster David Attenborough, the World Health Organization and Belarusian dissident Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya are among the nominees for this year's Nobel Peace Prize after being backed by Norwegian lawmakers who have a track…

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Pope’s appeal to the media: Check facts but always respect people

Pope Francis denounced fake news about COVID-19 and vaccines Friday, blasting the “distortion of reality based on fear” but also urging that people who believe such lies are helped to…

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On day of prayer for Ukraine, Pope recalls country’s historical suffering

VATICAN CITY, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Wednesday led a day of prayer for peace in Ukraine, calling for dialogue to prevail over partisan interests to resolve the…

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Support your children if they are gay, Pope tells parents

VATICAN CITY, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Wednesday that parents of gay children should not condemn them but offer them support. He spoke in unscripted comments at…

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UPDATE – Pope Francis to visit Malta on April 2 – reports

Media reports indicate that Pope Francis will be visiting Malta on April 2nd. According to the reports, which haven’t been confirmed yet by the official Vatican sources, the Pope’s visit…

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Pope confers lay ministries on women, formalising recognition of roles

VATICAN CITY, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Sunday for the first time conferred the lay Roman Catholic ministries of lector and catechist on women, roles that previously many…

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Pope calls for world day of “prayer for peace” over Ukraine crisis

VATICAN CITY, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Sunday called for an international day of "prayer for peace" on January 26 to stop the Ukraine crisis from worsening, saying…

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Two close aides of Pope Francis test positive for COVID-19, Vatican says

The second and third ranking Vatican officials under Pope Francis have tested positive for COVID-19, the Vatican said on Tuesday. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is secretary of state, had slight…

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Pope congratulates reporter who saw him at record shop

Pope Francis has congratulated the reporter who caught him visiting old friends who run a Rome record shop this week, joking that it was his "bad luck" that the news…

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WATCH: Pope Francis slips out of the Vatican to visit Rome record shop

Pope Francis, a lover of classical music, slipped out of the Vatican on Tuesday evening to visit old friends who run a Rome record shop and came away with a…

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Pope backs COVID immunisation campaigns, warns of ideological misinformation

VATICAN CITY, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Monday condemned "baseless" ideological misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, backing national immunisation campaigns and calling health care a moral obligation. Francis spoke…

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Pope calls for dialogue, justice to end unrest in Kazakhstan

MILAN, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Pope Francis called on Sunday for dialogue and justice to put an end to violent unrest in Kazakhstan, adding he was saddened by news about…

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Pope decries Church conservatives encased in “suit of armour”

VATICAN CITY, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Pope Francis took an apparent dig at conservatives resisting change in the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday, lamenting those whose religion he said was…

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Violence against women insults God, Pope says in New Year’s speech

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis used his New Year’s message on Saturday, January 1, to issue a clarion call for an end to violence against women, saying it was insulting…

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Pope Francis admits he is ‘lazy’ in new Netflix documentary

Pope Francis admitted to being “lazy” and conflict averse in a new Netflix docuseries in which the man at the centre of a major effort to reform the Catholic Church…

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Look beyond the lights and remember the poor, Pope says on Christmas eve

VATICAN CITY, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Pope Francis, leading the world's Roman Catholics into Christmas, said on Friday that people who are indifferent to the poor offend God, urging all…

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Photo Story: Mattarella meets Pope for last time as Italian president

President Sergio Mattarella went to the Vatican on Thursday to meet Pope Francis for the last time as Italy's head of State.Mattarella's seven-year term as president ends early in February.The…

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Pope calls for ‘serious international dialogue’ to defuse Ukraine tensions

VATICAN CITY, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Pope Francis, in his first comments on the tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine, called on Sunday for serious international dialogue to…

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UPDATED: Pope ends visit to Greece focused on the plight of migrants

ATHENS, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Pope Francis heard from young people including children of migrants who have fled war or poverty at a school in Athens on Monday, as he…

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Pope calls migrant crisis ‘shipwreck of civilisation’

LESBOS, Greece (Reuters) -Pope Francis condemned the exploitation of migrants for political purposes on Sunday during a visit to the Greek island of Lesbos, branding the global indifference to their…

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Orthodox priest shouts ‘Pope, you are a heretic’ at Francis in Athens

ATHENS (Reuters) -An elderly Greek Orthodox priest shouted "Pope, you are a heretic" as Pope Francis was entering the Orthodox Archbishopric in Athens on Saturday and was taken away by…

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UPDATED: Citing ancient Greeks, Pope Francis laments threats to democracy today

ATHENS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Pope Francis appealed on Saturday for a return to "good politics", saying democracy has deteriorated dangerously as discontented people are lured by the "siren…

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Pope Francis in emotional meeting with migrants in Cyprus

NICOSIA (Reuters) -Pope Francis, at an emotional meeting with migrants, said on Friday he had a responsibility to tell the hard truth about the suffering of refugees, many held in…

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Pope’s visit to Greece’s Lesbos lays bare divisions over migrants

Lucia Marcano was attending mass last month in the Catholic church on Lesbos when around 50 asylum-seekers from the island's migrant camp turned up, having heard that Pope Francis was…

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UPDATED: Pope calls for healing in split Cyprus, Orthodox archbishop attacks Turkey

NICOSIA, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Pope Francis called on Friday for healing during an outdoor Mass in Cyprus within sight of a huge Turkish Cypriot flag on a mountainside on…

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UPDATED: Pope deplores ‘terrible laceration’ of divided Cyprus, urges dialogue

Pope Francis on Thursday urged Cypriots to seek dialogue to heal the "terrible laceration" that has divided their island for nearly half a century, saying neither side should use force…

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With migrants in mind, Pope Francis visits divided Cyprus

Pope Francis visits Cyprus this week to lend his support to a conflict-riven island now on the front line of a new migratory route for people fleeing their countries for…

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Pope to help 50 migrants in Cyprus relocate to Italy after trip to island

Pope Francis has arranged to have 50 migrants from Cyprus be relocated to Italy to mark his trip to the Mediterranean island next week, a Vatican source said. The 50…

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Pope promises to help moribund Lebanon rise again

VATICAN CITY, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Pope Francis, meeting the prime minister of Lebanon, on Thursday compared the country to a dying person and promised to do everything in his…

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Pope Francis tells young people to dream

Pope Francis told young people they had been “entrusted with an exciting but also a challenging task: to stand tall while everything around us seems to be collapsing; to be…

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Vatican releases itinerary of Pope’s visit to Cyprus and Greece

Pope Francis will be travelling to Cyprus and Greece from 2 to 6 December, embarking on his next international apostolic journey to the two nations. The Holy See Press Office released…

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Photo Story: Pope Francis’ mass for the World Day of the Poor

Pope Francis celebrates a mass in Saint Peter's Basilica marking the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of the Poor, Vatican City, 14 November 2021. Here Pope Francis said that God’s…

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Pope thanks journalists for helping expose Church sex scandals

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Saturday thanked journalists for helping uncover the clerical sexual abuse scandals that the Roman Catholic Church initially tried to cover up. The pope…

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Photo Story: Pope Francis visits Assisi, meets sisters of the Poor Clare community

A handout picture provided by the Vatican Media shows Pope Francis meeting the sisters of the Poor Clare community in Assisi, Italy, on Friday 12 November 2021. Pope Francis visited…

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UPDATED: Pope to visit Cyprus and Greece Dec 2-6

The Vatican on Friday officially announced that Pope Francis will visit Cyprus and Greece, including the island of Lesbos that hosts many foreign migrants, on Dec. 2-6, confirming a Reuters…

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World should respond to climate change as if hit by a global war, pope tells COP26

Pope Francis said on Tuesday that the twin wounds inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change were comparable to those caused by a global conflict and should be confronted…

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Emotional Biden praises Pope Francis’ style of Catholicism

An emotional U.S. President Joe Biden, who has come away from his visit with papal backing in his conflict with conservative U.S. bishops, praised Pope Francis for being "everything I…

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