Time-honored rituals, drafted and refined over centuries, allow for ritual mourning and provide order at a dramatic moment of ...
A scholar of global Catholicism writes how Francis has opened the church to the outside world in ways no pope had done before ...
The pontiff's condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease, according to doctors.
The Vatican has detailed laws and rituals to ensure the transfer of power when a pope dies or resigns, but not when he is ...
What happens when a pope is incapacitated? Is he still pope? Pope Francis' age and prolonged illness have raised questions ...
The Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, will lead the first prayer Monday. Francis, who has double pneumonia and is in ...
Upon the resignation or death of a pope, a group of clergy members known as the College of Cardinals would be called to ...
When you visit Our Lady's Gifts in Little Italy, it feels like you are in a church. Maybe that's because it used to be one.