Longer life span, air travel and social media have all changed the modern papacy and challenged cherished Catholic traditions along the way.
Representatives from the First Nations Inuit and Metis communities, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, after their meeting with Pope Francis, on April 1, 2022.
AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino
A Catholic theologian writes about why papal apologies can be meaningful, even when some may see them as mere words.
Pope Francis presides over a special prayer in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on March 25, 2022, before heading out to Malta for a two-day visit.
AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File
Malta’s St. George Preca was canonized in 2007. Pope Francis’ visit to Malta renewed attention on Preca’s life and work and how it could provide guidance for the welfare of refugees.
Pope Benedict XVI acknowledges the crowd during an audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Oct.24, 2007. A January 2022 report faulted his handling of several sex abuse cases.
AP Photo/Plinio Lepri
Pope Benedict XVI’s many years of wrestling with the abuse crisis highlight the Catholic Church’s broader challenges addressing it.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI sits in St. Peter’s Basilica Dec. 8, 2015. A long-awaited report on sexual abuse faulted his handling of four cases.
AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia
A German report accused retired Pope Benedict XVI of mishandling several cases of sexual abuse in the 1970s and 1980s. Here are a few of our related articles on the Catholic Church’s crisis.
Pope Francis is presiding over a divided church.
Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images
Pope Benedict XVI expanded the Latin Mass in 2007 in an olive branch to traditionalists. His successor hopes reversing that decision may better serve unity in the church.
A liturgy expert explains that until the 12th century local bishops made decisions on Catholic liturgical practices even though the Catholic Mass was celebrated in Latin until 1970. How did that change?