Tag: pope francis

“You are not a royal court,” the pontiff tells more than 100 scarlet-clad “princes of the church” arrayed before him in St. Peter’s Basilica.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Anticipation is mounting for a series of closed-door discussions on Thursday and Friday, when the cardinals will hold what are expected to be frank talks about issues such as contraception, cohabitation, gay marriage and whether divorced and remarried Catholics can receive Communion.

(RNS) A Harley-Davidson motorcycle briefly owned by Pope Francis sold Thursday (Feb. 6) for $325,000, more than 25 times the resale value for a similar bike.

ROME (RNS) Bogus papal statements date back to the earliest days of the church. But with the explosion of social media and self-published blogs, they have become far more frequent in recent years -- and especially in recent months.

Pope Francis' Christmas Day outreach to atheists was off script but not out of character for the pontiff. He often invites all to work for the common good.

(RNS) He’s Time magazine’s Person of the Year, the most talked about topic on Facebook and the most popular baby namesake in Italy. No surprise, Pope Francis is also the top Religion Story of the Year and the Religion Newsmaker of the Year, according to a poll of Religion Newswriters members.

Time Magazine named Pope Francis as Person of the Year. (Read Time’s story about the man, and the choice, here.)