Vatican News

Vatican prosecutor accuses cardinal of orchestrating failed investment

July 20, 2023

The Vatican's chief prosecuting attorney began his closing arguments outlining final charges against 10 defendants, including a cardinal, stemming from an investigation launched in 2019 by internal reports of suspicious financial activity.

Pope Francis names 21 new cardinals

July 10, 2023

Pope Francis named 21 new cardinals, including U.S.-born Archbishop Robert F. Prevost, who took the helm at the Dicastery for Bishops in April, and French Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Vatican aims to return Ukrainian children, not mediate war, says cardinal

July 5, 2023

The Vatican is developing a plan to return to Ukraine children illegally deported to Russia but is not jockeying to mediate the war, Pope Francis' peace envoy said upon his return from his mission to Moscow.

Pope Francis expresses closeness to Orlandi family after new evidence in case

June 26, 2023

Forty years since the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, a Vatican schoolgirl who mysteriously vanished at the age of 15, Pope Francis publicly expressed his closeness to her family.

Vatican judges order climate activists to pay $30,000 in damages

June 12, 2023

The Vatican's criminal court ordered two climate activists to pay more than $30,000 in damages after they glued themselves to an ancient sculpture in the Vatican Museums to draw attention to the effects of climate change.

Pope Francis has named two-thirds of cardinals eligible to elect his successor

June 2, 2023

Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the retired archbishop of Naples, celebrated his 80th birthday June 2 and, consequently, became ineligible to enter a conclave to elect a new pope.

Vexing vexillology: Even the Vatican gets its flag wrong

June 2, 2023

The flag of Vatican City, yellow and white with crossed keys under the papal tiara, is incorrect in many emojis, flying outside the United Nations and often even on Vatican buildings.

Cardinal Zuppi, Pope Francis' peace envoy, talks about war in Ukraine

May 23, 2023

"War is a pandemic. It involves us all," said Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Italian prelate chosen by Pope Francis to lead an initiative for peace in Ukraine.

Man arrested after car breaches Vatican gate, drawing gunfire from police

May 19, 2023

A man with apparent psychiatric problems forced his way through a Vatican security gate late May 18 by speeding past Swiss Guards and Vatican gendarmes in a vehicle before being apprehended in a Vatican courtyard.

Pope Francis issues new 'fundamental law' for Vatican City State

May 15, 2023

Pope Francis updated the "Fundamental Law of Vatican City State," opening the possibility that laypeople can be members of its governing commission and emphasizing that the independence of the city-state is essential for the mission of the Holy See.