Pope Leo XIV blessed the 159 cyclists competing in the Giro d’Italia as the three-week race’s final stage began with an unprecedented ride through the Vatican gardens behind St. Peter’s Basilica.

Pope Leo XIV has declared himself a Roman as he completes the final ceremonial steps cementing his role as the bishop of Rome.

Pope Leo XIV’s election as the first American to lead the Catholic Church elevated him to the rare position of being a U.S. citizen who is also a foreign head of state.

Pope Leo XIV's record handling sex abuse cases while he was an Augustinian superior and bishop in Peru has come under renewed scrutiny since his election May 8.

Pope Leo XIV has called for humanitarian aid to reach the Gaza Strip and for an end to the “heartbreaking” toll on its people.

Survivors of clergy sexual abuse are amplifying calls for a global zero-tolerance policy and other reforms from the American hometown of the new pope.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance has extended an invitation to Pope Leo XIV to visit the United States during a meeting at the Vatican.

Pope Leo XIV, history’s first American pope, has vowed to work for unity so that the Catholic Church becomes a sign of peace in the world.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that the Vatican can be a venue for Russia-Ukraine peace talks.

There's more muddle now to an issue that has split the photographic community.

Pope Leo XIV has affirmed core Catholic teaching on marriage and the unborn in his first meeting with the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See.

In his public appearance as pope, Leo called himself an Augustinian, putting an unusual spotlight on his religious order.

Before becoming Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Prevost presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms of Pope Francis’ pontificate by having women serve on the Vatican board that vets nominations for bishops.

The contrast between President Donald Trump and Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV couldn’t be more stark, politically, personally or in their world views.

Some conservatives and traditionalist Catholics are cautiously optimistic over the historic election of Pope Leo XIV.

Pope Leo XIV has called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the “precious gift of free speech and the press.”.

Tens of thousands of faithful Catholics gathered in St. Peter’s Square to watch Pope Leo XIV deliver the first Sunday blessing of his pontificate exactly at noon.

News that the global Catholic church would get its first-ever U.S.-born pope was welcomed by Catholics across the ideological spectrum in Pope Leo XIV’s homeland, raising the question of whether he might be able to ease some of the deep divisions within its ranks.

Pope Leo XIV has called for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza with the release of hostages and delivery of humanitarian aid.

The new pope, Leo XIV, is scheduled to deliver his first such prayer on Sunday from the loggia where he first appeared in public after being elected three days ago.

Pope Leo XIV has laid out the vision of his papacy and has identified artificial intelligence as one of the most critical matters facing humanity.

In a signal of continuity, Pope Francis’s successor didn’t wear the papal red velvet loafers to his inaugural Mass before cardinals Friday at the Sistine Chapel.

Pope Leo XIV, now the successor of St. Peter, leads the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church in a sacred role that few others will ever hold.

The new pope, Leo XIV, has something in common with many of his peers in the Catholic hierarchy.

Pope Leo XIV in 2012 made comments critical of what he called the “homosexual lifestyle” and the role of mass media in promoting acceptance of same-sex relationships that conflicted with Catholic doctrine.

Pope Leo XIV has celebrated his first Mass, a day after his historic election as the first U.S.-born pope in the church’s 2,000-year history.

Details have begun to emerge of how votes swiftly coalesced to make Pope Leo XIV history’s first American pope.

When white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel revealing that a new pope had been chosen, John Prevost turned on his television in Illinois and watched in awe as his brother’s name was announced.

Catholic Chicagoans gathered in churches, cheered from classrooms and celebrated from their homes as the historic decision was announced that a native son, Cardinal Robert Prevost, had been elected pope.

Peruvians are elated after a Catholic cardinal who spent years guiding the faithful in the South American country was elected pope and hoped he will visit them soon in his new role.

Pope Leo XIV's choice of name signals a commitment to social justice, very much in line with the late Pope Francis’ global ministry.

Cardinal Robert Prevost, the first U.S. pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church, previously led a Catholic religious order.

Robert Prevost may have made history Thursday by becoming the first pope from the United States.

The spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians has warned against the unchecked rise of artificial intelligence and automation, calling it an “impending robotocracy.”.

Cardinal Robert Prevost has taken the name Leo XIV.

Cardinals are meeting in a secret, sacred conclave for a second day as they seek a new pontiff to follow Pope Francis.

Robert Prevost has been elected the first pope from the United States in the history of the Catholic Church.

At 3 p.m., black smoke rose above the Sistine Chapel in Rome, signaling that the first vote did not produce a new pope.

A change in popes is a complicated process.

With a Vatican official calling out “extra omnes” and the door to the Sistine Chapel shutting, the conclave to elect Pope Francis’ successor has officially begun.

One hundred and thirty-three cardinals are sequestering themselves behind the Vatican’s medieval walls for the start of a conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis.

Black smoke has poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney, indicating no pope was elected on the first ballot of the conclave to choose a new leader of the Catholic Church.

The Associated Press says it has found “no definitive evidence” to warrant changing the credit for one of its most famous photographs.

The United States is the home country of 10 of the 133 cardinals eligible to vote for the next pope of the Catholic Church.

Cardinals have wrapped up their pre-conclave meetings before they enter the conclave to elect a new pope.

Before he died, Pope Francis donated one of his popemobiles to be converted into a mobile health unit to serve the children of Gaza, officials said Monday.

Nuns don’t have a vote in the election of a pope.

All Vatican personnel involved in supporting the upcoming papal conclave must take an oath of secrecy — under penalty of automatic excommunication.

Cardinals hailing from 71 different countries are eligible to elect a pope this week in the most geographically diverse conclave in history.

At Masses across Rome and socioeconomic lines, Catholics prayed the next pope focuses on poverty and peace days before the conclave that will elect Pope Francis’ successor.

While Pope Francis accomplished a lot in his 12-year papacy, he left much unfinished business and many challenges for his successor — from the Vatican’s disastrous finances to the wars raging on multiple continents.

Cardinal Álvaro Ramazzini is taking to his first conclave the same spirit that guided his decades-long front-line ministry among the migrants, poor and Indigenous people in Guatemala’s highlands.

President Donald Trump has posted an artificial intelligence-generated image of himself dressed as pope.

Vatican workers have installed the simple stove in the Sistine Chapel where ballots will be burned during the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope.

Growing numbers of people are making bets on next week’s conclave to elect the next pope.

British Cardinal Vincent Nichols provides an insider's view of what's going on these days before the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis.

President Donald Trump has dispatched Vice President JD Vance all over the world in the opening months of the administration.

The month of April saw the death of history’s first Latin American pope.

Preparations for the conclave to find a new pope accelerated Friday with the installation of the chimney out of the Sistine Chapel that will signal the election of a successor to Pope Francis.

“Conclave” the film may have introduced moviegoers to the spectacular ritual and drama of a modern conclave, but the periodic voting to elect a new pope has been going on for centuries and created a whole genre of historical trivia.

Sister Inah Canabarro, a Brazilian woman who was the world’s oldest person, has died at age 116.

If the next pope is from sub-Saharan Africa, he would be the first in Catholic Church history.

The conclave that begins Wednesday to elect a successor for Pope Francis is the first in 46 ½ years for which the Vatican hasn't ordered a new cassock for the new head of the Catholic Church.

Martin Scorsese is a producing a documentary made with Pope Francis that will chronicle the late pontiff’s work with cinema in the global educational movement he founded before his death.

There are no official candidates for the papacy, but some cardinals are considered “papabile.”.

It could very well be the biggest sporting event ever held inside the walls of the Vatican.

The Italian cardinal at the heart of the Vatican’s “trial of the century” announced Tuesday he was withdrawing from participating in the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope.

Several moments were pivotal in Pope Francis’ relations with Native communities in the Americas.

Whoever succeeds Pope Francis will inherit his momentous and controversial legacy of relations with Indigenous people throughout the Americas.

Cardinals have decided the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis will begin May 7.

The Vatican says the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis will begin on May 7.

The Vatican is closing the Sistine Chapel to the public as part of preparations for the conclave to elect the next pope after the death of Francis.

The bells are ringing for the passing of a pontiff.

Roman Catholic faithful have begun visiting the tomb of Pope Francis.

Cardinals this week will start in-depth discussions on planning the conclave to choose Pope Francis' successor.

They came from around the world to rejoice in the naming of the first millennial saint, but they ended up bidding farewell to Pope Francis instead.

Pope Francis died on Easter Monday at the age of 88 after a 12-year papacy.

World dignitaries and Catholic faithful have attended Pope Francis’ funeral in St. Peter’s Square.

World leaders and rank-and-file Catholic faithful have said farewell to Pope Francis in a funeral that highlighted his concern for people on the peripheries and reflected his wish to be remembered as a simple pastor.

The Vatican is grieving the first head of the Catholic Church from the Americas and Saturday marks the beginning of the Novendiales, nine days of mourning. It also marks the fifth day of national mourning in Italy.

President Donald Trump is among more than 50 heads of state and other dignitaries attending the funeral for Pope Francis in Vatican City on Saturday.

While Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re presides over Pope Francis’s funeral service at St. Peter’s Square, some of the most prominent world leaders will be in attendance.

The head of the basilica that is housing Pope Francis's tomb says it reflects his “humble, simple and essential" life.

Speculation surrounding a conclave to elect a pope is a time-honored tradition.

Pope Francis visited a record 10 African countries throughout his pontificate, often venturing to areas ravaged by war, poverty or natural disaster.

Hours after Israel's Foreign Ministry posted a condolence for the passing for Pope Francis, it was deleted without explanation.

Associated Press reporter Nicole Winfield, who covered Pope Francis at the Vatican during his entire pontificate, earned the nickname “la prima della classe” -- or “the first in class” -- from him in 2018.

Three days of public viewing of Pope Francis’ body by ordinary mourners and statesmen alike have ended and the pontiff's coffin sealed.

The clash in style between Donald Trump and Pope Francis and their positions on migration, the environment and poverty will come into sharper focus with the president in Rome for Francis’ funeral.

The man who would become Pope Francis always bought his shoes in the same place.

Pope Francis’ doctor has recounted the pope's last moments in Italian newspaper interviews.

Hong Kong’s outspoken Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen has been allowed to leave the southern Chinese city to attend Pope Francis’ funeral in Vatican City.

The papacy of Pope Francis ended with the same core doctrine for LGBTQ+ people that he had inherited.

So many people lined up to see Pope Francis lying in state at St. Peter’s Basilica that the Vatican kept the doors open all night, closing for just one hour from 6 a.m. until 7 a.m. Thursday.

Pope Francis’ beloved soccer club in his native Buenos Aires, San Lorenzo, has celebrated a Mass dedicated to its most famous fan two days after his death, with Argentina still awash in emotional tributes to the first Latin American pontiff.

Security is tight in Vatican City as thousands make their way in order to pay their respects to Pope Francis.

The body of Pope Francis was moved Wednesday morning to St. Peter’s Basilica for three days of public mourning for an Argentine pontiff remembered for his humble style, concern for the poor and insistent prayers for peace.

Pope Francis had a learning curve on clergy sexual abuse, with the turning point coming in 2018.

Thousands of people have begun filing through St. Peter’s Basilica to pay their final respects to Pope Francis at the start of three days of public viewing ahead of his funeral.

The Italian national Olympic committee has asked for sports events to be suspended on Saturday, the day of Pope Francis’ funeral.