Pope Francis
Leo XIV’s papacy is off to a surprisingly promising start
Rome In the days before the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV, traditionalist Catholics were so worried about interference from…
It’s trust in English kindness that keeps the migrants coming
More than 12 million Brits engage in some form of voluntary work, many of whom have dropped everything to help those arriving in small boats
The secrets of ‘God’s influencer’
Assisi In a medieval church built of white stone, pilgrims and tourists shuffle past the body of a 15-year-old boy…
The Pope’s funeral was symbolic of the man
The funeral of Pope Francis is perhaps his last chance to set his mark on the papacy. The ever so…
How Rome copes with the Conclave
Ordinary Romans, famous for their cheerful working-class familiarity, loved Pope Francis for his common touch. For the first time in…
The extraordinary scale of the crisis facing the next pope
At 9.47 a.m. on Easter Monday we heard the words ‘con profondo dolore’ from a cardinal standing in the chapel…
Pope Francis had his priorities right
After he emerged from the Gemelli hospital in Rome last month, Pope Francis put out a reflection on ‘hospital’. Some…
Portrait of the week: Pope dies, EU cheese banned and trans women aren’t women
Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, no longer believes that a trans woman is a woman, his official spokesman…
Which pope has served the longest?
Papal reign The mostly elderly runners and riders to be the next pope are unlikely to challenge the record for…
After Francis, who?
After Francis, what, or rather, who? The coverage so far, rightly admiring of the Pope’s unvarnished, rather un-papal Christianity, has…
‘I’ve seen controllers come and go’: Radio 3’s Michael Berkeley interviewed
A few years ago I had a panic-stricken phone call from a female friend. ‘Help!’ she wailed. ‘Remind me what…
Does China have Vatican City in its sights?
Last Sunday the Vatican released the first photograph of Pope Francis since his ordeal began. He was wearing a stole…
The strange beauty of the vigil for the Pope
Steady rain during the day stopped just before Monday’s evening prayers for Pope Francis in Saint Peter’s Square. A line…
The Pope’s revenge: why the new Archbishop of Washington is such a controversial choice
For an 88-year-old man who has spent only five days in the United States and doesn’t speak English, Pope Francis…
Britain is stuck in a fertility trap
Pope Francis wants you to have sex. Or at least he wants Italians to have more sex. The country, he says,…
Cardinal Pell’s righteous fury at the Vatican’s theological direction
Cardinal Pell, a former head of Vatican finances, does not criticise Pope Francis directly in the piece he’s written for…
What is Pope Francis up to?
If you think your diary looks busy over the next few days, spare a thought for Pope Francis. The 85-year-old,…
Pope Francis has betrayed Cardinal Zen
When Cardinal Joseph Zen, the 90-year-old former Bishop of Hong Kong, was arrested by Chinese authorities on Wednesday and charged…
The truth behind the Pope Benedict inquiry
How are we to interpret the revelation that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI misled a sex abuse inquiry? That might seem an…
Pope Francis is losing his culture war
Since I wroteabout the Pope’s declaration of war on the Old Rite, something unexpected and beautiful has happened. Many bishops…
The Pope's merciless war against the Old Rite
I am going to have to boil this down as crudely as I can, because it’s a complex subject with a…
What the Pope's visit means for Iraq
You could be forgiven for taking a cynical view of Pope Francis’s visit to Iraq this weekend. How could the…
The Pope really doesn’t like Republicans
Last week we learned that Pope Francis has torn up the Catholic Church’s teaching that same-sex civil partnerships are gravely…
The real reason for Pope Francis’s disgraceful Pompeo snub
Why did Pope Francis refuse to meet Secretary Pompeo in Rome this week? The obvious answer is that he didn’t…
The Pope rebuffs his liberal supporters by rejecting married priests
Pope Francis today issued his official response to October’s ‘Amazon Synod’, which discussed a plan to ordain married men in…
