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Culture news

Rome's Jubilee year mascot is an anime-inspired pilgrim

Created by Roman designer Simone Legno, the mascot represents a pilgrim inspired by Japanese comics in an attempt to appeal to young people.

EuroVerify

AI-generated image of Vatican 'devil worship' goes viral

A picture showing priests and cardinals gathered around a Satanic-like figure in a black mass is circulating on social media, shared in various contexts.

Travel News

Rome’s Jubilee preparations see Trevi fountain replaced by ‘ugly’ pool

Rome is under construction ahead of next year's holy event.

Cinema

Thriller about electing a pope comes close to current Vatican debates

'Conclave' draws the crowds at the Rome Film Festival near the Vatican, but is it too close to the bone for Pope Francis?

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Italy

Pope closes Synod but questions over women's role in the church remain

The synod’s final document leaves key issues on women’s roles unresolved, with calls for greater inclusion going unanswered.

Europe News

Roberta Metsola praises Pope for promoting peace

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola met with Pope Francis on Friday to discuss key issues on the European agenda and emphasised the shared commitment to reconciliation and peace.

Vatican

Pope Francis names 21 new cardinals, including one from Ukraine

The pope named the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Australia, Bishop Mykola Bychok, in recognition of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Belgium

Pope to face appalling Catholic abuse legacy on Belgium trip

Revelations of Belgium's horrific abuse scandal have dribbled out in bits since 2010, when the country's longest-serving bishop was allowed to resign without punishment, after admitting he had sexually abused his nephew.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Vatican backs devotion at Bosnian shrine where Virgin Mary 'appeared'

The Vatican did not rule that the accounts that children and teenagers saw Mary in the village of Međugorje in 1981 were authentic, but it said that the spiritual experience of visiting the shrine justified pilgrimages there.

Timor-Leste

Pope calls for protection of young people during visit to Timor-Leste

It is an indirect acknowledgment of the abuse scandal involving Nobel Peace Prize-winning independence hero, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo.

Timor-Leste

Pope Francis lands in Timor-Leste for his Asia trip's third leg

About 98% of its 1.3 million people are Catholic, making it the most Catholic country outside the Vatican.

Green News

Pope interrupted by activists calling for an end to bullfighting

The animal rights organisation says 10,000s of bulls are killed annually in bullfighting dedicated to Catholic saints.

Ukraine

Ukraine war latest: Kyiv seeking 'common ground' with China

While Ukraine's foreign minister met his Chinese counterpart, President Zelenskyy spoke to the Vatican's secretary of state before lauding Ukraine's missile programme.

Culture news

Have archaeologists uncovered a pre-Vatican papal palace?

Experts say the architectural structure – where popes lived before the Vatican became the official residence – could have been built between the 9th-13th century AD.

Art

Inside the Vatican’s eye-opening pavilion at the Venice Biennale

The exhibition, With my eyes, has sight and perception at its heart and controversially transforms the Vatican pavilion from a women's jail into a gallery.

Green News

Pope: Vatican City will run solely on solar power thanks to new plant

A letter entitled ‘Brother Sun’ laid out the pontiff’s plans.

Culture news

Pope Francis meets more than 100 comedians at the Vatican

“In the midst of so much gloomy news, immersed as we are in many social and even personal emergencies, you have the power to spread peace and smiles,” Francis told the comedians.

World News

Pope clears way for online influencer to become saint

Carlos Acutis - who died in 2006 at the age of 15 - earned the nickname of "God's influencer" by spreading the teachings of the Catholic church online.

Art

Feet painted on façade of multi-storey chapel celebrated by Vatican

Italian visual artist Maurizio Cattelan is known for shocking crowds with his tongue-in-cheek installations and bombastic structures, but he has painted something a little more down-to-earth for one of the art world's most anticipated events, the 2024 Venice Biennale: a pair of feet.

World News

Vatican calls gender-affirming surgery violations of human dignity

The Vatican's new doctrine put both gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy on par with abortion and euthanasia.