Francis refused the version of Catholicism that ingratiates itself with the powerful while abandoning the poor
These are the veto power of the Security Council, major powers ignore the UN and the UN secretary general cannot favour either side in the war
Since becoming pope in 2013, the Argentine pontiff has striven to tackle the decades-long sexual abuse scandals involving Catholic priests around the globe.
Mail & Guardian pictures editor Paul Botes presents some of the most striking images
of 2020
The aid worker allegedly called his security guard a ‘slave’
The major hurdle is not so much an absence of science, or safety, as it is unthinking religious, moral or cultural panic
The former Vatican number three, is appealing against his conviction on five counts of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in the 1990s
German Cardinal Reinhard Marx was speaking on the third day of an unprecedented summit of the world’s top bishops
The idea is that the 114 heads of bishops’ conferences will return home with clear ideas on how to spot and deal with abuse
The Vatican has already warned that in some countries the church is dragging its feet because of cultural difference over what constitutes child abuse
The Church has been hit by a series of child abuse scandals in recent years
The pope has admitted that the Church had ‘delayed’ in applying the necessary sanctions
‘Those who have suffered are his priority, and the Church wants to listen to them to root out this tragic horror’
Earlier this month, Philip Wilson was sentenced to a year in detention after becoming one of the highest-ranking officials to be convicted
The Vatican finance chief is fighting to clear his name over historic sexual offence allegations
The Vatican finance chief has become the highest-ranked Catholic ever to be sent to trial over historic sex offences
A trial against two former members of a Vatican foundation charged with embezzling charity money opened on Tuesday.
Response in Rome is mixed as locals see other problems go unaddressed.
The Vatican Library is often thought of as a repository of secrets. But that will change now that it will be one of the world’s great digital drives.
An ancient piece of papyrus that contains a mention of Jesus’s wife is not a forgery, according to Columbia, Harvard and MIT scientific analysis.
A intrepid hawk has been taken on by the Vatican to protect the pope’s doves after two were killed in front of horrified crowds by a crow and seagull.
The Vatican says a blunt UN report on sexual abuse of children by clergy was distorted and that the UN has been influenced by pro-gay marriage NGOs.
The Vatican has denied that Pope Francis "abolished sin", after a newspaper article said he had done so through his words and gestures.
In a drive for transparency, the Institute for Works of Religion has made its accounts public for the first time.
Pope Francis has told 800 nuns gathered at the Vatican that they should be spiritual "mothers" rather than "spinsters".
Pope Francis has flown in to a papal residence near Rome for an unprecedented encounter with "pope emeritus" Benedict XVI.
Pope Francis has inaugurated his papacy with an address calling for the defence of the weakest in society and of the environment.
Pope Benedict XVI bid an emotional farewell in front of his last general audience, saying he understood the gravity of his decision.
Pope Benedict has accepted the resignation of Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric, who has been accused of inappropriate behavior.
Fresh scandal has hit the cardinals who are due to choose Pope Benedict XVI’s successor as he spoke from his window for the last time.
Pope Benedict has lamented the "evil, suffering and corruption" that has defaced God’s creation in an address to the heads of the Vatican bureaucracy.
Sex abuse, secularisation, the Curia – the new pontiff has his work cut out, writes John Hooper.