Pope Paul VI

Continuing his recovery from a mild cold, Pope Francis said that he would be unable to attend his annual Lenten retreat with Roman Curia officials.

Pope Francis did not attend a traditional penitential service with priests of the Diocese of Rome due to a mild cold, the Vatican said.

While the newly elected Pope John Paul II stood before Catholic cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on the 16th of October 1978, half a world away in Argentina a middle-aged priest named Jorge Mario Bergoglio was following the election on the radio of his car.

The loss of the papal states and the declaration of Rome as the capital of a united Italy 150 years ago was a "providential" event that changed the city and the church, Pope Francis said.

After decades of anticipation, the Vatican archives are ready to welcome, starting March 2, scores of scholars wishing to study documents related to the wartime pontificate of Pope Pius XII.

Amid the buzz surrounding the last week of this month's summit of bishops on the Amazon, the debate surrounding a small statue has captured Rome.

The cardinals who voted in conclave to elect Pope Francis did so hoping he would reform the scandal-plagued Vatican Curia and make it more responsive to the concerns of the universal church. Six years later, his reform proposals are reportedly to be promulgated at the end of June, although they will probably be leaked earlier. Will they satisfy the critics of the Curia?

Preservation of the family, marriage and the unborn were the main themes of the annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Washington April 23.