Pope Francis

The New Orleans Saints got a surprise shout-out on Sunday from Pope Francis, with fans and at least one player taking the inadvertent tag as a good omen for the NFL team.

Pope Francis' main bodyguard Domenico Giani, the Vatican's security chief, resigned Monday over a leak to the media of details of a financial wrongdoing probe.

The pastor's voice bellows through an old converted cinema in a rundown Buenos Aires barrio and hundreds of hands reach out in prayer.

Pope Francis opened a synod on Sunday to champion the Amazon's poverty-stricken and isolated indigenous communities by condemning the destructive "interests" he blamed for the fires that devastated the region.

Pope Francis will travel to Thailand in November, the Vatican said Friday, in a visit to Asia that will sweep in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which were both decimated by atomic bombs in 1945.

Over the decades, popemobiles have typically been the preserve of major car manufacturers such as Mercedes, Ford and Fiat.

Pope Francis said Sunday he was late to his weekly Angelus prayer because he had been stuck in a Vatican elevator and had to be freed by firemen.

Pope Francis said Sunday he will create 13 new Catholic cardinals next month, including some from the developing world and a Vatican expert on aiding migrants and refugees.

President Rodrigo Duterte has publicly attacked the Catholic Church leaders and their core beliefs. He even cursed Pope Francis when he was not even president.

Migrants are human beings who symbolise all those rejected by globalisation, Pope Francis told a special mass on Monday, saying "the weakest and most vulnerable must be helped".

Pope Francis on Sunday called for "humanitarian corridors" to help rescue migrants in response to an air strike last week that killed dozens in a Libya detention centre.

Pope Francis said Monday he wants to visit Iraq as early as next year in spite of the security conditions.

Pope Francis has named a special envoy to prioritise spirituality at the Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes in France over "managerial and financial" aspects.

Pope Francis said Sunday politicians should "never sow hatred and fear" in an answer to a question about Matteo Salvini, Italy's strongman and leader of the far-right.

Pope Francis apologised to the Roma people on Sunday for the Roman Catholic Church's "discrimination" against them as he wrapped up a visit to Romania.

Pope Francis warned Monday against a rise of intolerance and racism as far-right nationalists and eurosceptic parties made historic gains in European elections.

Pope Francis reiterated Saturday that abortion is unacceptable, saying its use amounted to the hiring of a "paid killer."

Pope Francis on Saturday urged journalists to desist from publishing fake news, saying it could cause harm, and instead "take time to understand" issues before reporting on them.

Pope Francis on Friday accepted the resignation of a Brazilian bishop reportedly suspected of extorting priests and covering up sexual abuse, the Vatican said in a statement.

Pope Francis on Thursday passed a landmark new measure to oblige those who know about sex abuse in the Catholic Church to report it to their superiors, in a move which could bring countless new cases to light.

Pope Francis on Monday welcomed hairdressers, hairstylists and beauticians to the Vatican but warned them not to indulge in gossip while feathering locks or painting fingernails.

Pope Francis on Friday led the traditional Easter week "Way of the Cross" procession in Rome, which was this year took the theme of modern-day slavery and human trafficking, including the prostitutes who ply their trade on Italy's streets.

Pope Francis on Wednesday thanked the firefighters who risked their lives to save the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on behalf of the entire Catholic Church.

Internet-based "fake news" is fomenting prejudice and hatred, Pope Francis said on Tuesday, warning our culture "has lost its sense of truth and bends the facts to suit particular interests".