Pope Francis has defrocked the Chilean priest at the center of the global sex abuse scandal rocking his papacy, invoking his "supreme" authority to stiffen a sentence originally handed down by the Vatican in 2011. In a statement Friday, the Vatican said Francis had laicized the 88-year-old Rev. Fernando Karadima, who was originally sanctioned to a lifetime of "penance and prayer" for having sexually abused minors.

Pope Francis on Tuesday acknowledged that young people are being driven away from the Roman Catholic Church because of the way it has handled the problem of clerical sexual abuse. Speaking to a room of young people during his trip to Estonia, Francis said the church needs to change its ways in order to regain the trust of future generations, The Associated Press reported.

Pope Francis has changed the teachings of the Catholic faith to officially oppose the death penalty in all circumstances, the Vatican has said. The Catechism of the Church, a codified doctrine which sums up teachings, had previously stated that the death penalty could be used in some cases. It now says it is "inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person".

A leading bishop has called on Catholics who voted 'Yes' in the abortion referendum to "consider coming to confession". Bishop of Elphin Kevin Doran said today that those who want to come to confession "will be received with the same compassion as any other penitent". When questioned by Sean O'Rourke on RTE Radio One, Bishop Doran replied; "Voting 'Yes' was a sin."

Pope Francis, in his Easter address on Sunday, called for peace in the Holy Land two days after 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers on the Israeli-Gaza border, saying the conflict there "does not spare the defenseless". The pope made his appeal in his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to tens of thousands of people in the flower-bedecked square below where he earlier celebrated a Mass.

Sixth century narrative had Mary Magdalene portrayed as a reformed former prostitute, but scholars now see her as a strong, independent woman who supported Jesus

Several Catholic churches have been vandalised in Chile in advance of Pope Francis' visit to the country next week.

Pope Francis in Christmas Eve remarks Sunday likened the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem to the migrations of millions of people today who are forced to leave homelands for a better life, or just for survival, and he expressed hope that no one will feel "there is no room for them on this Earth." Francis celebrated late evening Christmas vigil Mass in the splendor of St. Peter's Basilica, telling the faithful that the "simple story" of Jesus' birth in a...

Pope Francis celebrated his 81st birthday by blowing out a single candle on a rectangular pizza 13 feet long.

Conservatives pine for the days of unapologetic cultural supremacism. Do they really know what they’re getting themselves into? By Richard Cooke.

Over the centuries, Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre has suffered violent attacks, fires, and earthquakes. It was totally destroyed in 1009 and subsequently rebuilt, leading modern scholars to question whether it could possibly be the site identified as the burial place of Christ by a delegation sent from Rome some 17 centuries ago.

Pope Francis has a message for Catholics: Put down your smartphone during Mass. During a general audience at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Wednesday morning, Francis chastised Catholics who use their phones during Mass. “At some point, the priest during the Mass says, ‘Lift up your hearts,’” the pontiff said. “He does not say, ‘Lift up your cellphones to take pictures.’”

The long read: His modesty and humility have made him a popular figure around the world. But inside the church, his reforms have infuriated conservatives and sparked a revolt

Pope Francis called Wednesday for categoric opposition to capital punishment to be written into an update of the most important guide to Catholic teaching. His comments, which will be controversial with many fundamentalist Christians and some Catholics, came in a speech to clerics attending a conference in Rome to mark the 25th anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Several dozen conservative Catholic scholars and clergy have charged Pope Francis with spreading heresy, a bold but perhaps futile salvo against Francis and his reform-minded papacy. The widely publicized, theologically dense letter was delivered to the Pope with 40 signatures on August 11, according to its organizers. It has since gained 22 more signatures and was released to the public on Saturday. In a press release, the organizers say they speak for "a large number" of clergy and lay Catholics who "lack freedom of speech."

The Vatican is looking to develop a new doctrine that calls for excommunicating Catholics for mafia association and corruption. That’s the decision reached this week after the Vatican hosted its first-ever conference on fighting corruption and organized crime. The meeting gathered 50 prosecutors, bishops, victims and U.N. officials for a day of talks.

Interesting that this occurs on the heels of the bishops of Malta abandoning Church doctrine on marriage.

Pope Francis encouraged women attending a ceremony in the Sistine Chapel on Sunday to feel free to breastfeed their children in the church. "The ceremony is a little long, someone's crying because he's hungry. That's the way it is," the pontiff said. "You mothers, go ahead and breastfeed, without fear. Just like the Virgin Mary nursed Jesus," he told worshippers attending an annual ceremony commemorating the baptism of Jesus.

The theories of evolution and the Big Bang are real and God is not “a magician with a magic wand”, Pope Francis has declared. Speaking at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Pope made comments which experts said put an end to the “pseudo theories” of creationism and intelligent design that some argue were encouraged by his predecessor, Benedict XVI. Francis explained that both scientific theories were not incompatible with the existence of a creator – arguing instead that they “require it”.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny was in the Vatican today where he invited Pope Francis to come to Ireland. The last Pontiff to travel to Ireland was Pope John Paul II in 1979. However it appears that lengthy gap will now be bridged with Pope Francis likely to travel here in 2018.