Pope Francis on Thursday bolstered criminal legislation against child abuse in the Vatican and increased criminal liability for employees of the tiny city state in a legislative overhaul.

Pope Francis gave the go-ahead on Friday for John Paul II to be made a saint and granted a rare exception for canonisation at the same time for John XXIII, who shares the current pontiff’s reformist v

Pope Francis today cleared Pope John Paul II for sainthood, approving a miracle attributed to his intercession and setting up a remarkable dual canonisation along with another beloved pope, John XXIII.

A Vatican official has been arrested in a purported plot to bring 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland aboard an Italian government plane.

Pope Francis said on Friday he had no wish to live in the apostolic apartments inhabited by previous pontiffs, “for psychiatric reasons”.

The Vatican on Tuesday played down a report by Italian Catholic media that Pope Francis had carried out an exorcism on a young disabled man on Sunday that made world news.

Pope Francis urged the faithful to translate the sacraments they received during Easter Sunday into their daily lives as he addressed tens of thousands the day after the holiest day in the Christian calendar.

Pope Francis on Friday called for the Roman Catholic Church to “intensify” its dialogue with Islam, echoing hopes in the Muslim world for better ties with the Vatican during his reign.

Pope Francis inaugurated his papacy on Tuesday with an address calling for the defence of the weakest in society and of the environment, saying otherwise the way was opened to death and destruction.

Pope Francis thrilled tens of thousands of people today gathered for his installation Mass, taking a long round-about through St Peter’s Square and getting out of his jeep to bless a disabled man in a wheelchair in the crowd.