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Pope Francis laicizes Belgian bishop Roger Vangheluwe due to allegations of abuse.
2024-03-21

On New Year's Day, Pope Francis livestreams his message from the library of the Apostolic Palace. He states "the Virgin Mary’s motherly care encourages us to use our God-given time for building up the world and peace, not destroying it." In the Catholic Church, January 1 is the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God.
2021-01-1

Pope Francis arrives in Yangon to begin a six-day trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh, where he is expected to meet with the Rohingya people.
2017-11-27

Pope Francis, at the start of a two-day nuclear disarmament conference at Vatican City, says countries should not stockpile nuclear weapons even for the purpose of deterrence.
2017-11-10

106 of the 108 papal nuncios and other papal diplomatic representatives meet in Rome for three days of meetings. On the final day, Pope Francis presides at a Mass with the nuncios.
2016-09-15

Pope Francis's visit to Armenia this weekend may stress relations with Turkey. The Pope is seeking to avoid reigniting the diplomatic dispute that arose last year when he described the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as a genocide. The Vatican prefers the Armenian phrase "Medz Yeghern," which roughly translates as "the great evil or calamity."
2016-06-23

Pope Francis, in an Apostolic Letter, done "Motu Proprio" (Latin: "On his own initiative"), creates the Secretariat for Communications, the second such Secretariat he has created, after the earlier Secretariat for the Economy, as part of a reform of the Roman Curia (Secretariats are the highest level of Curial dicastery, or department). It will incorporate Vatican Information Service (VIS), the News.va and Pope apps, the Vatican Television Center, the Vatican.va website and .va domain name, the L'Osservatore Romano newspaper, the Holy See Press Office, Vatican Radio, and the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. He named the Reverend Monsignor Dario Edoardo Vigano, formerly the Vatican Television Center Director, as the first Prefect.
2015-06-27

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 visits Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI before celebrating his first Christmas Mass.
2013-12-24

Thousands of people gather in Rome's Saint Peter's Square to hear Pope Francis deliver his first Angelus prayer and blessing.
2013-03-17