Pope Francis

February 18, 2025 11:31 PM

Vatican cancels pope’s weekend engagements as he battles ‘complex’ infection

Pope Francis, who is spending his fifth day in hospital for what doctors described as a "complex" respiratory infection, will not take part in this weekend's Holy Year events, the Vatican said on Tuesday. The 88-year-old pontiff has been suffering from a respiratory infection for more than a week and was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on February 14. All public events on the pope's calendar were cancelled through Sunday, the Vatican said in a brief statement. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bru...

September 27, 2024 2:52 PM

Pope Francis, pressed by Belgium on sexual abuse, says Church acting ‘decisively’

Pope Francis was pressed firmly by Belgium's king and premier on Friday for more concrete action to address sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, an issue once more in the spotlight as he visits. Both King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo raised the issue in public in unusually forceful language for a papal foreign trip, always a carefully choreographed event. Philippe told Francis in a speech welcoming him to Belgium that it had taken the Church "far too long" to address the scandals....

September 4, 2024 1:36 PM

Pope Francis, in Muslim-majority Indonesia, warns against religious extremism

Pope Francis on Wednesday urged political leaders in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, to guard against religious extremism, which he said distorted people's religious beliefs through "deception and violence". In his first speech during an ambitious 12-day journey across Southeast Asia, where Christians are a small minority of the regional population, the pontiff said the Catholic Church would increase its efforts toward inter-religious dialogue in hopes of helping t...

September 3, 2024 3:21 PM

Pope Francis arrives in Indonesia to begin ambitious Asia-Pacific tour

Dozens of excited Indonesians waved on Tuesday as a motorcade carried Pope Francis through the capital as he began the first leg of an ambitious Asia-Pacific tour expected to urge global action on climate change as part of his longest trip yet. The 87-year-old pontiff, who will also visit East Timor, Singapore and Papua New Guinea over the next 10 days, was seated in a wheelchair as a lift disembarked him from a chartered aircraft at Jakarta airport. Two children in traditional clothes present...

July 1, 2024 10:34 PM

Vatican bans tattoos and body piercings for St Peter’s Basilica workers

The Vatican has banned workers at St Peter's Basilica from having visible tattoos or body piercings to maintain "decorum". The new regulation, published at the weekend, applies to the roughly 170 lay employees of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the department in charge of the basilica. Father Enzo Fortunato, head of communications for the basilica, said on Monday that it codifies norms that "have been in place in the past in a different form". However, he denied Italian press reports indicating t...