Pope Francis

Brett Griffin Young with his partner and three children.

Surrogacy advocates fear pope’s position will create stigma

Reproductive rights

Commercial surrogacy is banned in many European countries. In the US, the laws vary from state to state. The pope wants to see the practice outlawed worldwide.

Pope Francis arrives for leading a prayer for peace inside St. Peter's Basilica, at The Vatican, Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. 

Roman Catholic Church remains inconclusive about reforms for women, LGBTQ after monthlong meeting wraps

Sacred Nation
During a recent morning mass, Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church, in Lviv, Ukraine, is packed.

Ukrainian Greek Catholics lament lack of support by Vatican amid war with Russia

Sacred Nation
Pope Benedict XVI greets the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, soon after his election, April 19, 2005.

Pope Benedict XVI was an icon of conservative Catholicism, theology professor says

Religion
Pope Francis meets the Canadian Indigenous people as he arrives at Edmonton's International airport, Canada

Pope set for historic apology for school abuses in Canada

Justice
In this March 26, 2020, file photo, a boy wears a mask as a preventative measure against the spread of the coronavirus, as he navigates floodwaters mixed with garbage following heavy rains, in the Kibera area of Nairobi, Kenya.

‘Connecting with God by caring for the environment’: Franciscan monk in Kenya shares Christmas message

The Big Fix

Pope Francis’s teachings about the moral urgency of the climate crisis are being spread from the Vatican all around the world by the Global Catholic Climate Movement. 

Several people are shown standing in St. Peter's square and holding heart-shaped signs.

Vatican condemns gender theory as bid to destroy nature

LGBTQ

The Vatican condemned gender theory on Monday as part of a “confused concept of freedom,” saying in a new document that the idea of gender being determined by personal feeling rather than biology was an attempt to “annihilate nature.”

pope

‘The conservatives have declared war’: Inside the accusations upending the Catholic Church

Religion

“The conservatives have declared war and they are convinced they can reform the Church with a frontal attack,” a senior Vatican prelate said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because “the line is silence” now.

a view of pope France from the left side

Former top Vatican official calls for resignation of pope over abuse crisis

In a detailed 11-page bombshell statement given to conservative Roman Catholic media outlets during the Pope’s visit to Ireland, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano accused a long list of current and past Vatican and US Church officials of covering up the case of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who resigned last month in disgrace.

Women from a haberdashery shop hold up their new Pope Francis Ireland flag

For Irish Catholics, there’s both enthusiasm and anxiety about Pope Francis’s visit

Religion

Pope Francis visits Ireland this weekend for the first time as head of the Catholic Church. In a country where 4 out of 5 people identify as Catholic, the trip will not be easy.