Vatican

Pope Francis has extended the authority of the Eastern Catholic patriarchs to their faithful living in the countries of the Arabian Peninsula.

When Vatican communication leaders met virtually with U.S. and Canadian Catholic journalists and communication leaders June 30, they urged the group to keep up their work, think of new ways to have a broader reach and not get weighed down by society’s current polarization.

Neither Pope Francis nor any of his closest collaborators have the COVID-19 virus, said Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office.

For the upcoming PBS special “Inside the Vatican,” a crew from the BBC spent a year going inside talking with clerics and laity doing jobs of importance.

The Friday Lenten meditation for priests who work at the Vatican turned into an online event March 6 as Vatican officials continued to study precautions for avoiding the spread of the coronavirus.

After decades of anticipation, the Vatican archives are ready to welcome, starting March 2, scores of scholars wishing to study documents related to the wartime pontificate of Pope Pius XII.

The Vatican donated thousands of protective masks to several Chinese provinces affected by the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.

An Italian author who was once tried and acquitted by a Vatican court for publishing leaked documents is claiming in a new book that decades of mismanagement, shady deals and decreasing donations will leave the Vatican no choice but to default.