The Vatican has long been an important channel for peace negotiations, and Pope Francis has repeatedly called for an end to the fighting both in Ukraine and in the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas ...

When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger took the name Benedict XVI when he was elected Pope in April 2005, influential Catholics in the United States cheered his choice of names. The name, obviously, honored ...

ROME – When Pope Francis was elected in 2013, Italians initially made much of the fact that his father’s family hailed from the nothern Italian region of Piedmont. It quickly emerged, however, that on ...

Did Pope Benedict XV and the Holy See try to stop the Armenian Genocide? Well-known German historian Michael Hesemann says the Vatican Secret Archives have provided clear evidence that they did so.

News / Leading Irish priest says child sex-abuse scandal 'goes right to the top in Rome' / Click here Niall O'Dowd column: Ground Zero in Irish Catholic child sex abuse scandal / Click here News/ ...

--Pope Benedict XVI at his first General Audience, April 27, 2005 Today is the anniversary of the death of Pope Benedict XV, born Giacomo della Chiesa in 1854. He reigned as Pope from September 3, ...

Among the many audiences the Holy Father granted at the Vatican today, one stood out for its historical significance. In an audience he gave to the Pontifical Oriental Institute, Pope Benedict XVI ...

Some 15,000 people were present this morning in St. Peter’s Square as Pope Benedict XVI gave the first General Audience of his new pontificate and explained some of the weight behind his use of the ...

In 1981, Pope John Paul II named Cardinal Ratzinger as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The cardinal’s conservative stance drew him closer to John Paul and he became one of ...

Vatican City — Despite a biography title labeling him the “Unknown Pope,” Benedict XV had a tremendous impact on life of the Church, and his legacy of diplomacy and efforts for peace live on today. On ...