Joshua J. McElwee

Pope Francis named thirteen new Catholic cardinals Sept. 1, tasking bishops from two African nations, Indonesia, and a rural town in Guatemala to be part of the church's most elite body of prelates. 

Following the decision of a panel of Australian judges to uphold the conviction of Cardinal George Pell for sexually assaulting two choirboys in the 1990s, the Vatican clarified Aug. 21 that the church investigation into Pell's conduct is on hold until the prelate exhausts his expected final appeal.

A panel of Australian judges has upheld the conviction of Cardinal George Pell for sexually assaulting two choirboys in the 1990s, ordering the Vatican's former number-three official to continue serving a six-year prison term.

French Bishop Marc Stenger and Kenyan Sr. Teresia Wamuyu Wachira have been elected to the shared leadership of the global Catholic peace organization Pax Christi International.

Pope Francis is preparing to make only his second visit to sub-Saharan Africa next month, and it appears that it could be one of the most politically delicate among his previous 30 trips abroad.

A high number of bishops in dioceses across the country are reaching the traditional retirement age of 75. The unusual circumstance of such a grouping of openings gives the pope a unique chance to make a long-lasting mark in a relatively short period of time on the direction of the U.S. church. 

Pope Francis has named a new director of the Vatican press office, tasking a British-Italian staffer of the office to take over leadership in a permanent capacity seven months after the surprise resignations of its former director and vice director.

Cardinal Pedro Barreto Jimeno says the agenda, which raises the possibility of ordaining older married men as priests in rural areas, "largely expresses the feelings and desires of many representatives of the Amazon people."

Francis' appointments for the religious congregation, which is formally named the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, were announced July 8.

Pope Francis reminded the world's Catholic archbishops June 29 that they are called to lives of service and of taking up the burdens of their people, telling them that shepherds "do not live for themselves but for the sheep."

The head of the Knights of Malta, an international religious order that operates in about 120 countries, has formally forbidden the use of the pre-conciliar Latin language Mass in the order's liturgical celebrations worldwide.

The Vatican office responsible for overseeing Catholic educational institutions around the world has blasted modern gender theory, claiming in a new document that it seeks to "annihilate the concept of 'nature.' "

Commentary: Taking part in the press conferences Pope Francis holds aboard his flight home after a trip abroad is one of the most stressful and difficult jobs for Vatican correspondents. Here is some insight on what it's like.

The draft of Pope Francis' document to reorganize the Vatican's sprawling bureaucracy significantly reorients the mission of the Catholic Church's central command, emphasizing that officials must no longer consider themselves a "superior authority" but servants of the pope and the world's bishops.

"Tradition is the guarantee of the future and not the container of the ashes," Pope Francis said aboard the flight back to Rome after his three-day visit to Romania.

Blaj, Romania - At a June 2 Eastern rite liturgy attended by 60,000, Pope Francis honored Romanian Catholics who were persecuted by the country's communist-era authorities.

Tens of thousands of Romanians converged to celebrate Mass with Pope Francis June 1. Francis urged that they not listen to people wanting to "provoke division" among them, but instead "live together as brothers and sisters."

Pope Francis expressed hope May 31 that the Catholic and Romanian Orthodox churches will work more closely together in the future. Catholics and Orthodox, said the pope, are meant to work together, especially in matters of charity and service to others.

Pope Francis will undertake some of the most intensive in-country travel yet planned in his six years of trips abroad, beatifying seven bishops from the Romanian Greek Catholic Church and, in a rare move, praying with an Orthodox patriarch.

The Vatican's highest court has dropped its investigation into a former Vatican official accused of soliciting a woman for sex in the confessional.