Vatican

The Vatican asked priests to take special anti-COVID-19 precautions this year when distributing ashes on Ash Wednesday, including sprinkling ashes on the top of people's heads rather than making a cross on people's foreheads.

Women have served as lectors and acolytes for decades. Now Pope Francis has changed canon law to formally recognize their ministry.

This week, host Colleen Dulle and Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell celebrate their 100th episode of "Inside the Vatican." They discuss a recent order from Pope Francis that stripped a top Vatican office of its financial assets.

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced Pope Francis to cancel his annual celebration of infant baptisms on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

Peace, he insisted, is a gift that requires a human response and human effort.

At the beginning of a year people hope will mark the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, he urged them to create a “culture of care."