To help people, church must be in touch with 'reality,' Pope says
FLORENCE, Italy - If God and his word are to help people, Christians have to be in touch with what is really happening in people's lives, Pope Francis said during an afternoon Mass.
Pope calls for end to economic exploitation, power-hungry church
FLORENCE, Italy - Meeting workers and addressing a major gathering of the Catholic Church in Italy, Pope Francis demanded an end to economic exploitation, to clerics "obsessed" with power, to apathy among youth and to a cold, fearful church that forgets Christ is always by its side.
ROME - A priest has lost his post in northern Italy after saying he can “understand” pedophilia within the church. The priest appeared to blame children for sexual abuse and described homosexuality as a sickness.
ROME - A Tuscany priest is offering a baby bonus of more than $2,000 to Italian Catholic families who have three or more children. But there are strings attached.
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy - Pope Francis is shunning the expansive papal summer palace in Castel Gandolfo for the third time since 2013, a choice that is causing frustration among locals who rely on the tourists a papal visit brings.
VATICAN CITY - It took place in silence and lasted only a few minutes, but Pope Francis' time of prayer and contemplation before the Shroud of Turin was marked with gestures of reverence and tenderness.
Turin expecting millions of pilgrims for shroud exposition
TURIN, Italy - A thin white cloth draped over the glass-covered Shroud of Turin was pulled down and billowed to the floor, marking the official opening of the venerated icon’s exposition to the public.
VATICAN CITY - Italian police arrested at least nine people in what officials described as a terrorist cell that had planned, in 2010, to strike at the Vatican with a suicide bomber.
VATICAN CITY - The poor, migrants in search of a better life and the unemployed want what all human beings want: life, dignity and a chance to earn a decent living, Pope Francis said in several speeches urging compassion and assistance by both governments and individuals.
VATICAN CITY - The bishop of a southern Italian diocese has issued new directives aimed at keeping the mafia out of this year's Easter processions.
Reflecting on my Rome trip
PHOTO GALLERY: YSN reporter Vincent Mastromatteo shares what he saw at the Vatican when he visited last year.
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Of all the places a Catholic can be during Holy Week, few can beat Rome. The bustling capital of Italy is awash with pilgrims that week, and last year, 21 classmates and I were among them.
During shroud display, Turin reaches out to women who have aborted
ROME - With the aim of ensuring that the public display of the Shroud of Turin promotes conversion and healing, the archbishop of Turin has given priests throughout the archdiocese special faculties to offer absolution to women who confess to having had an abortion.
Italy and Vatican on guard after threat from Islamic State
ROME - The Italian government is on high alert after threats from the Islamic State called Italy “the nation signed with the blood of the cross.”
Sainthood cause for Focolare founder Chiara Lubich formally begins
FRASCATI, Italy - Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement, "lit a new light in the Church's journey toward unity," Pope Francis said.
Daughters of St. Paul: media mavens for 100 years
TORONTO - Over the years, the strongest of Pauline Sisters could manage the huge printing presses and handle the massive rolls of paper — work that men usually did. But these women religious were determined to share the Gospel the way their founder thought best a century ago: The Daughters of St. Paul were made for media.