Religion News

OTTAWA — Canada's ambassador to the Holy See says the Vatican will be the capital of the world Saturday during the funeral of Pope Francis, who earned the respect of vastly different people.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — He called me “la prima della classe,” or “the first in class.” It wasn’t necessarily a compliment.

PHOENIX (AP) — A woman whose doomsday religious beliefs led her to kill her two youngest children and engage in a plot to kill a romantic rival in Idaho was convicted Tuesday in Arizona for conspiring to murder her estranged husband.

Speculation surrounding a conclave to elect a pope is a time-honored tradition. But for the impending conclave following the death of Pope Francis , the ranks of armchair Vatican experts have swelled thanks to Hollywood.

The papacy of Pope Francis ended with the same core doctrine for LGBTQ+ people that he inherited: The Catholic Church still rejected same-sex marriage and condemned any sexual relations between gay or lesbian partners as “intrinsically disordered.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — In the streets around the Vatican, where Pope Francis used to make impromptu outings, some of the shopkeepers are mourning the man they knew, not as the leader of a church or head of state, but as an ordinary person.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hours after Pope Francis’ death was announced, Israel's Foreign Ministry posted a short message on X: “Rest in peace, Pope Francis. May his memory be a blessing." Several hours later, it was deleted without explanation.

This is a photo collection curated by AP photo editors. The Associated Press

OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) — The Polish and Israeli presidents joined thousands of Israeli youth and others in an annual march Thursday at the former Auschwitz death camp on Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.

After the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, ignited the devastating war in Gaza, a deadly new reality also took hold for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.