pope popularity and pope trends

Atheists should be seen as good people if they do good, Pope Francis said on Wednesday in his latest urging that people of all religions - or no religion - work together.

The first-ever statue of Pope Francis has been unveiled in a potato field near Naples — an unorthodox homage to the fact that the Argentine pope’s ancestors were farmers in northern Italy.

Atheists should be seen as good people if they do good, Pope Francis said on Wednesday in his latest urging that people of all religions - or no religion - work together.

Pope Emeritus Benedict had made cleaning up the Vatican's reputation for shady money a top priority, and Pope Francis is continuing the effort.

The first-ever statue of Pope Francis has been unveiled in a potato field near Naples — an unorthodox homage to the fact that the Argentine pope’s ancestors were farmers in northern Italy.

As shocking as it may be to some observers and Catholics in the Global North, Pope Francis' informal exorcism neatly captures the rise of the Global South, where prayers for deliverance from evil are common Catholic currency.

The first-ever statue of Pope Francis has been unveiled in a potato field near Naples — an unorthodox homage to the fact that the Argentine pope’s ancestors were farmers in northern Italy.

The first-ever statue of Pope Francis has been unveiled in a potato field near Naples — an unorthodox homage to the fact that the Argentine pope’s ancestors were farmers in northern Italy.

"Bath Time." A photograph shared in the Boing Boing Flickr pool by Cody Pope.    

The first-ever statue of Pope Francis has been unveiled in a potato field near Naples — an unorthodox homage to the fact that the Argentine pope’s ancestors were farmers in northern Italy.

The question has bubbled up ever since Francis laid his hands on the head of a young man in a wheelchair Sunday.

The Vatican on Tuesday denied that Pope Francis had performed an exorcism after an Italian religious television channel said footage of the pontiff blessing a boy in a wheelchair showed he had.    

The first-ever statue of Pope Francis has been unveiled in a potato field near Naples — an unorthodox homage to the fact that the Argentine pope’s ancestors were farmers in northern Italy.

Italian bishops’ conference claims pontiff freed sick man from the devil    

The video take after celebrating Mass in St Peter's Square on Sunday shows Pope Francis pray over the boy, who then breathes deeply before convulsing and then looking shocked.

VIDEO: POPE Francis appears to have been filmed performing an exorcism in St Peter’s Square

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Is Pope Francis an exorcist?...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Amid the purveyors of belly casts and placenta pills, sonogram art and cord banks at a recent baby gear extravaganza stood a smiling Rosie Pope, pregnancy advice guru, mommy concierge to the rich and, with any luck, the Martha Stewart of maternity....

Greg Burke, the Vatican's communications adviser, says Pope Francis seems unaware that he has maps in his official residence which refer to the Falklands, rather than the Malvinas, which is how they are referred to in his native Argentina.    

Pope Francis is calling for renewal in the Catholic church as he wrapped up two days of mass gatherings in St. Peter's Square aimed at energizing the faithful.

Pope Francis is calling for renewal in the Catholic church as he wrapped up two days of mass gatherings in St. Peter's Square aimed at energizing the faithful.

Pope Francis has admitted nodding off while praying at the end of a long day, but said he thought God ‘understands’. The Pope spoke off the cuff to 200,000 people in Rome's St Peter's Square.

Pope Francis leads prayers ahead of Pentecost Sunday before thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, saying that a lack of ethics in public life is harming humanity.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis warned the Catholic Church to not close in on itself at a Mass to mark Pentecost Sunday attended by more than 200,000 people, urging the faithful to be open and...

Pope Francis shared personal moments with 200,000 people on Saturday, telling them he sometimes nods off while praying at the end of a long day.    

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis toured St. Peter's Square to greet tens of thousands of people attending a rally of prayer, music and speeches Saturday, and he embraced the brother of a Pakistani politician who was assassinated in his country after calling for greater religious freedom for Christians there....

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis shared personal moments with 200,000 people on Saturday, telling them he sometimes nods off while praying at the end of a long day and that it "breaks my heart" that the death of a homeless person is not news.

Complaints of Vatican whitewash as O'Brien leaves Scotland for penance in exileThe four men whose accusations of sexual misconduct led to the dramatic resignation of Britain's leading Catholic cleric as archbishop have attacked a Vatican announcement last week that he will leave the country for a period of "prayer and penance". The three priests and one ex-priest, whose...

Cardinal Keith O'Brien has been told to leave Scotland for 'prayer and penance', after resigning over charges of sexual misconduct. But his accusers still wait for a proper inquiryWhen news came last week that Cardinal Keith O'Brien was being exiled from Scotland for "prayer and penance", memories came flooding back to Lenny, the former priest who has accused O'Brien of...

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel, mindful of the importance of Christian voters in September elections, met with Pope Francis on Saturday during a quick trip to Rome that focused on helping victims of Europe's economic crisis and emphasizing the continent's Christian roots....

Obama rules out unilateral action in Syria as Russia ships advanced missiles to Assad Top news: U.S. President Barack Obama again ruled out unilateral U.S. military action in Syria at a press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday. "It's not going to be something that the United States does by itself. And I don't think anybody in...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Gauchos, the legendary Argentine cowboys from the vast Pampas of Pope Francis's homeland, are being celebrated in a rare exhibition in no less a place than St. Peter's...

Spanish Benedictine nun is emerging as one of the most outspoken – and atypical – leaders of southern Europe's far leftThe speedometer on Teresa Forcades' battered silver Peugeot saloon shows 130kmh, but Spain's most famously radical nun is so busy talking she seems oblivious to the 80kmh speed limit signs above the motorway near her Sant Benet convent on the slopes...

Vatican Bank says it will launch its own website as well as publish annual report    

Pope Francis has attacked the global financial system, saying it has created a 'cult of money' that is turning humans into expendable consumer goods.

Pope Francis issued a strong call for world financial reform on Thursday, condemning a heartless "dictatorship of the economy" and saying the economic crisis had made life worse for millions in rich and poor countries.

Pope Francis has called on world leaders to put an end to the "cult of money" and to do more to help the poor.    

EXCLUSIVE: TOWIE babe adds Essex glam to grime band’s latest video for single All or Nothing where she plays a DJ

NEW pontiff was unexpectedly handed the birds by one of the crowd on a sojourn around St Peter’s Square in the Vatican

Cardinal Keith O’Brien recused himself from the March conclave that elected Pope Francis after a newspaper reported unnamed priests’ allegations that he acted inappropriately toward them

The network nods to its rocky season with a 'Scandal'-inspired sketch before rolling out a dozen new hopefuls, including Whedon's Marvel drama, 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'— ABC is trying to get a handle on things, Olivia Pope-style.    

Disgraced former archbishop to leave the country for several months for undisclosed location, announces VaticanCardinal Keith O'Brien, the disgraced former archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, will leave Scotland for a period of "spiritual renewal, prayer and penance" after he admitted inappropriate sexual conduct with priests, the Vatican has said.In a statement, the...

Papers, please is the latest from Lucas Pope, creator of unsettling developing world newspaper sim The Republica Times. A "dystopian document thriller", Papers simulates the pleasure of immigration inspection in a grim Soviet-style republic: "Among the throngs of immigrants and visitors looking for work are hidden smugglers, spies, and terrorists. Using only the documents...

Egypt's politics since the 2011 revolution has consistently combined bare-knuckled combat with abstruse legal maneuvering, as if WWE wrestlers were attempting to operate parts of their contest within the framework of a Japanese tea ceremony. There are four major differences. First, wrestling matches and tea ceremonies last minutes and hours, but Egypt's legal-political...

Nawaz Sharif scores resounding win in Pakistan Top news: With initial returns indicating Nawaz Sharif secured a resouding majority in parliamentary elections Saturday, the former prime minister, who was ousted in a coup in 1999, has begun discussions to form a government, even as allegations of widespread voting fraud abound. Current estimates indicate that Sharif's...

More talked about than Margaret Thatcher’s death but not quite as popular as the election of the Pope. That was Sir Alex Ferguson’s Twitter epitaph following news of his retirement last week.

Among those proclaimed saints were the 'Martyrs of Otranto', 813 Italians who were slain in the southern Italian city in 1480 for defying demands to renounce Christianity by Turkish invaders who overran the citadel.

Pontiff avoids word Islam and nature of deaths as he makes saints of 800 killed by Ottoman Turks in 1480 for not convertingPope Francis has canonised more than 800 15th-century martyrs who were killed after refusing to convert to Islam – a delicate and arguably unwelcome ecclesiastical move he inherited from his predecessor Benedict.The "martyrs of Otranto", whose identities...

Men were beheaded by Ottoman soldiers for refusing to convert to Islam in 15th century    

Pope Francis has proclaimed as saints 800 Italians who were beheaded by Ottoman raiders in the 15th century after they refused to convert to Islam - making them the biggest group canonisation ever.    

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Sunday proclaimed as saints some 800 Italians killed in the 15th century for refusing to convert to Islam, and said many Christians were still being...

Pope Francis held out Laura of St. Catherine of Siena Montoya y Upegui as a potential source of inspiration to Colombia’s peace process.    

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis on Sunday gave the Catholic church new saints, including hundreds of 15th-century martyrs who were beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam, as he led his first canonization ceremony Sunday before tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square....

Katherine B. O'Connor, 19, a Carnegie Mellon University student was charged Friday with indecent exposure by campus police after a Catholic bishop complained about her parading nude from the waist down while dressed as the pope.

You probably heard about a Chicago man who registered PopeFrancis.com back in 2010. Shortly after Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina was elected Pope, the lawyer who registered PopeFrancis.com offered to donate the domain name to the Vatican and the new Pope. PopeFrancis.com is now being used, and a Whois search shows that Direzione delle Telecomunicazioni SCV...

A John Paul II lookalike has been arrested in Rome because he apparently looks too much like the former Pope.    

A Carnegie Mellon University student faces misdemeanor charges after she dressed as the pope during an art school parade last month. Police said her costume was indecent because it failed to cover her pubic hair, which was crafted to resemble a crucifix, not because she parodied the leader of the Roman Catholic church, CBS Pittsburgh reports.Campus police charged the “pontiff”...

Two popes prayed together on Friday at the Vatican, one Catholic and one Orthodox, in a sign of improving ties following the election of new leaders for both churches.    

A German cardinal who visited him said he was 'shocked' at how his state of health had deteriorated.

"Scandal": Shonda Rhimes' whacked-out buzzfest of a political drama comes to a much-fanticipated close after its first full season (it debuted as a mid-season replacement.) As super-sleuth and super-stylin' D.C. power-fixer Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) continues her on-again/off-again (currently very much on) affair with the perpetually lovesick President Fitz (Tony...

A U.S. diplomat gave the first public account of the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi by a U.S. official who was on the ground in Libya. Former Deputy Chief of Mission Gregory Hicks, second in command to Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who was among four Americans who died in the attack, testified on Wednesday in front of the House Oversight...

Egyptian church officials say Coptic Christian Pope Tawadros II has left for the Vatican, marking the first such visit in 40 years.    

Egyptian church officials say Coptic Christian Pope Tawadros II has left for the Vatican, marking the first such visit in 40 years.    

Francis, 76, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, made the comments while addressing a gathering of nuns from around the world at the Vatican.

Francis urges priests to live simple lives among the poor    

Pope Francis urged a gathering of hundreds of nuns in the Vatican not to be "old maids" but to act like "mothers" to the faithful.    

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Wednesday that clergy who were "careerists" or "social climbers" were doing serious damage to the Catholic Church, his latest utterance aimed at...

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis is calling for courageous defense of children to protect them from abuse....

Games between rivals AS Roma and Lazio often prompt violent skirmishes    

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI came home to the Vatican on Thursday for the first time since he resigned February 28, beginning an unprecedented era for the Catholic Church of having a retired pontiff living alongside a reigning one.

Engineer becomes ninth person to be detained over country's worst industrial accident, as number of deaths climbs to 501The death toll from the collapse of a Bangladesh factory building has passed 500, officials said, as police investigating the disaster arrested an engineer who warned the day before the tragedy that the eight-storey complex was unsafe.The detention of...

Emeritus pope will reside in a converted monastery on the edge of the Vatican gardens