VATICAN CITY - During Holy Week and in the Easter season, the Vatican will take part in several initiatives highlighting the importance of ecology and the care for creation.

VATICAN CITY - Although he lives a relatively hidden life in a villa in the Vatican Gardens, retired Pope Benedict XVI continues to study modern theological questions and, occasionally, to comment on them publicly.

VATICAN CITY - Firming up his presence on social media, Pope Francis will make his debut on the photo-sharing app Instagram, a Vatican official announced. 

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis will declare Blessed Teresa of Calcutta a saint at the Vatican Sept. 4.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis celebrated the third anniversary of his election with a simple Tweet — “Pray for me" — and the usual Sunday recitation of the Angelus prayer with tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square.

VATICAN CITY - The sainthood cause of Argentine Cardinal Eduardo Francisco Pironio, who organized the first World Youth Days as president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, has been forwarded to the Vatican.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has approved new rules to tighten financial oversight of the canonization process after leaked documents revealed abuses and high costs in creating saints.

DETROIT - When Fr. Benjamin Kosnac decided to start offering confessions 30 minutes before every Mass, he wasn't sure anyone would come. 

VATICAN CITY - The number of baptized Catholics worldwide has grown at a faster rate than that of the world's population, according to Vatican statistics.

Pope Francis said four nuns executed by gunmen in Yemen at a home where they cared for elderly and disabled residents are “today’s martyrs.”