The Associated Press

The Vatican has never been a democracy, but the incongruity of a government that is a moral authority on the global stage and yet an absolute monarchy is becoming increasingly evident. 

Pope Francis' personal doctor, Fabrizio Soccorsi, has died of complications due to COVID-19 on Saturday, a day before the pontiff announced he will receive the vaccine this week.

Democrats won both Georgia Senate seats — and with them, the U.S. Senate majority — as final votes were counted Wednesday, serving President Donald Trump a stunning defeat in his last days in office while dramatically improving the fate of President-elect Joe Biden’s progressive agenda.

A total of 294 out of 535 House and Senate members are Protestant — nearly the same as the last Congress, while religiously unaffiliated Americans are vastly underrepresented.

More than 2,000 faith leaders and activists are calling on Congress to honor the election result and avoid a "drawn out objection" when President-elect Joe Biden's win is set to be certified. 

Many religious leaders — some admired worldwide, others beloved only locally — died in 2020. Here are some of them.

Argentina's Senate passed a law legalizing elective abortion early Dec. 30 after a marathon 12-hour session, a victory for the women's movement that has been fighting for the right for decades.

Pope Francis has formally stripped the Vatican secretariat of state of its financial assets and real estate holdings following its bungled management of hundreds of millions of euros.

A Paris court on Dec. 16 convicted a former Vatican ambassador to France of sexually assaulting five men in 2018 and 2019, and handed him a suspended 8-month prison sentence.

The Trump administration on Dec. 14 moved to loosen Obama-era restrictions on religious organizations that receive federal money to provide social services.

People reportedly affiliated with the hate group Proud Boys tore down Black Lives Matter signs belonging to churches in Washington Dec. 12, setting at least one aflame.

These efforts reflect a widespread surge of interest among many U.S. religious groups in the area of reparations, particularly among long-established Protestant churches that were active in the era of slavery. 

As the U.S. Attorney's tenure likely nears its end with President-elect Joe Biden set to take office next month, there's no sign that any sweeping church indictment is afoot after two years of investigation. 

Police fatally shot a man on the steps of a landmark New York City cathedral Dec. 13 after he began firing two semiautomatic handguns at the end of a Christmas choral concert, police said.

President Alberto Fernández had proposed the bill in response to long-sought demands from women's rights activists in the homeland of Pope Francis.

A unanimous Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Muslim men who were placed on the government’s no-fly list because they refused to serve as FBI informants can seek to hold federal agents financially liable.

Pope Francis will celebrate Midnight Mass earlier than usual to comply with Italy’s anti-coronavirus curfew and will deliver his Christmas and New Year's blessings in ways that aim to prevent crowds from forming.

Pope Francis on Dec. 8 made a surprise early morning visit to the Spanish Steps in Rome to pray for people worldwide struggling in the pandemic. 

Pope Francis has revamped the Holy See's financial intelligence and anti-money-laundering unit following financial scandals, including an ongoing in-house corruption probe, Vatican officials said Dec. 5. 

The United Nations has voiced concern that refugees be allowed to make a "free and informed decision" about whether to relocate to the island in the Bay of Bengal.