Pope Francis, the 265th successor to Peter, has died, and in the upcoming weeks the eyes of the world will be on the Catholic Church. This follows one of the most fruitful seasons of conversion in my experience, with many places reporting twice as many people entering the church as in previous years. First, let me offer my prayers for the soul of the Holy Father, and for the Cardinal electors to follow the promptings of the Spirit...

At 9 a.m. on a chilly, grey morning in South Bend, Indiana, 30 Notre Dame students were camped out on a tree-lined quad. Lawn chairs filled a long sidewalk, as the queued-up students shared food, blankets and conversation. No, they weren’t pregaming for a Fighting Irish football game. It was Holy Saturday, and the students were taking part in an annual “holy tailgate”...

Yesterday evening in Rome, Cardinal Kevin Farrell oversaw the sealing of the official papal apartments in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. Soon after, Farrell oversaw the sealing of doors at the pope’s suite of rooms in the Santa Marta guesthouse. Across Rome, and far from the city, bells tolled in church towers. In the Church’s basilicas, umbrellinos...

Convicted Cardinal Angelo Becciu told Sardinian reporters Tuesday that he is permitted to attend the conclave that will elect Pope Francis’ successor, and that a Vatican list designating him a “non-elector” has no legal value. “The pope has recognized my cardinal prerogatives as intact, since there was no explicit will to exclude me from the Conclave nor a request for my explicit renunciation in writing,” Becciu told L’Unione Sarda newspaper...

Pope Francis, who passed to his reward on the morning after Easter at age 88, was a version of the liberal pope that many Catholics had earnestly desired all through the long reign of John Paul II and the shorter one of Benedict XVI — a man whose worldview was shaped and defined by the Second Vatican Council and whose pontificate sought a renewal of its revolution, a further great modernization of the Catholic Church.

Who is qualified for the papacy? How does a papal election work? Here's the answer to everything you need to know about what it takes to become pope!

cna

cna

cna

blog