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Following a meeting with indigenous delegates from Canada, Pope Francis apologizes for the "deplorable conduct" by members of the Catholic Church for actions in the church-run residential school system.
2022-04-1

At Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City, Pope Francis canonizes the 19th-century Anglican convert John Henry Newman, who was a unifying figure in both the Anglican and Catholic churches.
2019-10-13

Pope Francis issues a directive banning the sale of most tobacco in Vatican City as of January 1, 2018, because of its unhealthy attributes. A 2015 book stated the papal city netted $11 million (£8.7 million) per year from these sales.
2017-11-9

Pope Francis pleads for peace in a Christmas Mass in the Vatican.
2016-12-25

Pope Francis calls for a worldwide ban on the death penalty and urges Christian leaders to work to stop executions as part of the church's Holy Year of Mercy.
2016-02-21

The three-week synod on the family convened by Pope Francis at the Vatican concludes with traditional Catholic orientations toward marriage and the family intact.
2015-10-24

Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church canonises two saints from Palestine, Sister Mariam Baouardy and Sister Marie Alphonsine Ghattas.
2015-05-17

Pope Francis holds a private meeting with a transsexual man and his fiancée at the Vatican.
2015-01-27

Thirty young men join the ranks of the Swiss Guards today, taking an oath of allegiance to Pope Francis and promising to serve the Church by protecting him and his successors. Present at the guards' swearing-in are a number of Vatican dignitaries, the new Swiss ambassador to the Holy See, Pierre-Yves Fux, and Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who is the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State.
2014-05-6

Pope Francis canonizes a record-breaking 800+ new Catholic Church saints - Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI had submitted the 813 "Martyrs of Otranto" who had been beheaded by Ottoman soldiers for refusing to convert to Islam.
2013-05-12