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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

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, is sentenced to 12 months in detention for covering up child sexual abuse in the 1970s. Pope Francis appoints Port Pirie Bishop Gregory O'Kelly as Apostolic Administrator, but with special near-full powers to govern the Archdiocese, though for now Wilson is still the Archbishop.
2018-07-3

In a new apostolic exhortation, "Gaudete et Exsultate", Pope Francis mentions Satan or the Devil twelve times. Warning against Catholic media transgressing the eighth commandment, he calls to "see how the unguarded tongue, set on fire by hell, sets all things ablaze."
2018-04-9

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

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

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

Pope Francis appoints a panel of nine high-ranking prelates from around the world to advise him of the running of the Catholic Church and advise him on the reform of the Vatican bureaucracy.
2013-04-13

Giving his first audience at the Vatican, Pope Francis tells journalists he wants "a poor Church, for the poor".
2013-03-16

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina is elected as the new pope, taking the papal name Pope Francis. He is the first pope of the Catholic Church from Latin America and the first Jesuit pope.
2013-03-13