Pope

Vatican workers installed the simple stove in the Sistine Chapel where ballots will be burned during the conclave to elect a new pope and began taking measures to block any electronic interference with their deliberations, as jockeying continued Saturday outside over who among the cardinals was in the running.

The death of a pope starts a centuries-old ritual involving sacred oaths by the cardinals electing a successor, the piercing of ballots with a needle and thread after they’re counted, and then burning them to produce either the white or black smoke to signal if there’s a new leader for the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics.

Pope Francis made a surprise entrance to St. Peter´s Square during a special Jubilee Mass for the sick and health workers on Sunday, marking his first public appearance at the Vatican since his release from the hospital two weeks ago.

Pope Francis has shown “a truly surprising improvement” since returning to the Vatican to convalesce after surviving a life-threatening bout with double-pneumonia, the doctor who coordinated the pontiff’s five-week hospitalization said Saturday.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — As the cast of “Conclave” descended steps leading to backstage at the Shrine Auditorium, they got a fresh round of applause from staff and crew at the Screen Actors Guild Awards to go with the big ovation they’d gotten moments earlier from the ballroom crowd.

Pope Francis has been taken by ambulance to a hospital in Rome on Wednesday after suffering from alleged respiratory issues. 

Pope Benedict XVI warned in a 2006 book that “Western self-hatred” had become “pathological”, and that the decline of marriage, the family, and depopulation could be the death knell for European identity. 

Benedict did more to tackle predator priests than any of his predecessors combined, and especially more than John Paul, according to the Associated Press.

From the Mainstream Media, to the Conservative Party, to wimpy Libertarians, so many haven’t covered themselves with glory this year…

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump knelt in prayer behind the scenes during their visit to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis cancelled official engagements for the third day in a row Saturday as he battled an apparent cold.

Rome police arrested a 69-year-old American man dressed as the pope as he tried to enter the Vatican Monday.

Left-wing pop star Madonna claimed in a interview this week with Australian television presenter Andrew Denton that there’s something “sexual” about seeing Jesus Christ “practically naked” hanging on the cross. 

In a Tuesday interview with Australian television presenter Andrew Denton, singer Madonna suggested that Jesus Christ would have favored a woman’s right to undergo an abortion. 

Ireland’s Leo Varadkar had said he will challenge Pope Francis on the ‘equality’ of same-sex families on his upcoming visit, with the establishment demanding the pontiff scrap the church’s “evil” teachings on homosexuality.

VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis is urging everyone to combat the “shameful crime” of human trafficking, noting that it’s often linked to migrant smuggling.

Catholic symbolism including crosses, halos, Marian apparitions, saints, angels, cardinals, clerics, and popes were all on fashion display at the Met Gala in New York Monday evening, provoking adulation from some and consternation or indignation from others.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Belgian religious congregation is defying Pope Francis’ order to stop allowing euthanasia in its psychiatric hospitals, insisting that its decision to do so is fully consistent with Catholic doctrine.

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Francis expressed his support Sunday for the British parents of a baby with a rare genetic disease, saying he hoped doctors would allow them to “care for their child until the end”. Ten-month-old Charlie Gard,

MEDJUGORJE (BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA) (AFP) – Pope Francis is dismissive of claims that the Virgin Mary appears daily in Medjugorje, but Danielle Pitau is convinced that her pilgrimage to the small Bosnian town cured her of cancer.

When President Trump visits the Vatican next week, he will be transformed by the radiant wisdom of His Holiness, the Pope, into a fully fledged climate change believer.

TEL AVIV – Israel is waging war against the Muslim world with drugs and “sex mania,” a leading Islamic cleric appointed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a TV sermon this week.

BERLIN (AP) — Pope Francis has warned in an interview with a German newspaper of the dangers of rising populism in western democracies.

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Francis will meet with the leaders of all EU nations at the Vatican on March 24 ahead of the bloc’s special summit in Rome, Vatican sources said Thursday.

VATICAN CITY (AP) – God’s love may be free, but the Vatican says it has a copyright on the pope. Unnerved by the proliferation of papal-themed T-shirts, snow globes and tea towels around the world, the Vatican has warned it

ROME (AP) — The head of the Knights of Malta resigned after entering into a public spat with Pope Francis over the ouster of a top official involved in a condom scandal, a spokeswoman for the ancient lay Catholic order said Wednesday.

TEL AVIV – Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) has urged the Vatican to assist in preventing future anti-Israel UNESCO resolutions following Wednesday’s vote denying Jewish and Christian ties to Jerusalem.

Newly released documents from Wikileaks have exposed the efforts of hard-left billionaire George Soros to make Pope Francis quiet down on social issues like abortion and man-woman marriage and make income equality and global warming the centerpiece of his visit last year to the U.S. The documents show how these wealthy groups worked closely with the Pope’s closest advisers including two U.S. Bishops and one Latin American Cardinal.

At least 2.5 million pilgrims from around the world attended mass with Pope Francis on Sunday on the final day of a global Catholic youth festival in Poland, organisers said. “We estimate between 2.5 and 3.0 million people,” 2016 World

“I’m disappointed I didn’t break through,” Jeb Bush confessed during an interview with MSNBC Monday night. “This would have been an extraordinary time to serve as President. The country is desperately looking for leadership… I think it requires someone who is not always trying to win, but to solve problems.”

(AFP) – Pope Francis will travel to the Greek island of Lesbos on the frontline of Europe’s refugee crisis next week, Greece announced Tuesday, as a controversial EU accord to send migrants back to Turkey stalled. The trip by the

GOP frontrunner Donald Trump – despite his spat with the Pope last week – won the most Catholic county in South Carolina.

The makers of the world’s most embarrassing ever pop albums now have some serious competition. A Canadian rapper called Baba Brinkman is crowdfunding a “scientifically peer-reviewed” record on climate change with which he hopes to defeat sceptics through the medium

From the outset of his pontificate, Pope Francis has predicted that he would have a short reign, and now a leading Vatican watcher has profiled a series of likely candidates to take his place when the time comes.

An adult film company called the Dogfart Network, the self-described “undisputed kings of interracial porn,” is offering Kim Davis–the Rowan County, Kentucky clerk who was incarcerated for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses–$500,000 for “redemption” through pornography.

Donna Laframboise has a good story about a climate change conference for high level international lawyers which was recently staged in London and financed, inter alia, by the Supreme Court; the UK government; and King’s College, London – and endorsed with a special