Asking the pope for voluntary laicization is unusual, especially for a bishop and particularly for a cleric who denies abuse allegations against him.

Pope Francis joined Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders on Friday in calling for the great religions to work together for peace.

The Vatican said that it imposed disciplinary sanctions on Nobel Peace Prize-winning Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo following allegations that he sexually abused boys in the 1990s.

Pope Francis told the Russian Orthodox hierarchy and other faith leaders Wednesday that religion must never be used to justify the “evil” of war.

Pope Francis had hoped his trip to Kazakhstan this week would offer a chance to meet with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church—who has justified the war in Ukraine—and plead for peace.

Abel Ferrara is directing the upcoming "Padre Pio," starring Shia LaBeouf, about the stigmatic saint of 20th-century Italy. The film centers itself around the rise of fascism in Italy.

Pope Francis has met with a fourth group of transgender people who found shelter at a Rome church, the Vatican newspaper reported Thursday. L’Osservatore Romano said the encounter took place Wednesday on the sidelines of Francis’ weekly general audience.

Pope Francis will travel next month to Kazakhstan, where he could meet with Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has supported Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

“It’s not strange. It’s not a catastrophe. You can change the pope,” Pope Francis said while sitting in an airplane wheelchair during a 45-minute news conference.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Pope Francis on Wednesday and received Communion during a papal Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, witnesses said, despite her position in support of abortion rights.