Sources: BBC
Pope Francis delivers a special Urbi et Orbi blessing in an empty Saint Peter's Square, praying for the end of the coronavirus pandemic and offering a plenary indulgence to repentant sinners before San Marcello al Corso's miraculous crucifix, which was moved from its original church in Rome two days ago. 2020-03-27
Pope Francis prays for victims of the earthquake in Albania and sends “heartfelt condolences” to Albanian President Ilir Meta. The quake's epicenter is less than 20 miles from Tirana, the country’s capital city, which has a population of 900,000. Additional earthquakes occurred in southern Bosnia and the Greek island of Crete. 2019-11-26
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
The Venerable Rev. Father Stanley Rother, a priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City (born in Okarche, Oklahoma), is beatified at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City by Cardinal Angelo Amato, head of the sainthood Congregation in the Roman Curia and Pope Francis's delegate. Rother, who became a missionary, was assassinated in July 1981 in the poor rural village of Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, and is the first Catholic martyr born a citizen of the United States. 2017-09-23
Pope Francis canonizes Jacinta and Francisco Marto, two of the three Fátima children who reported seeing the Virgin Mary in the spring and summer of 1917. The Martos, who died during the post-World War I international influenza pandemic, are the Catholic Church's youngest saints who did not die as martyrs. The other child, Lúcia de Jesus dos Santos, survived until the year 2005, when she was 97 years old. 2017-05-13
Pope Francis pleads for peace in a Christmas Mass in the Vatican. 2016-12-25
Pope Francis arrives in the Central African Republic, the last stop of his six-day African tour, becoming the first modern pope to enter an active war zone as the country is in a state of civil war. 2015-11-29
Montenegro, Norway, Iceland and Albania join the list of countries supporting sanctions including asset freezings and travel bans directed at Russian individuals. 2014-04-11
Pope Francis presides at the closing Mass of World Youth Day 2013 at Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach for a crowd estimated at 3-million. 2013-07-28
An Albanian hitman serving time in Greece takes six people hostage in an apparent escape attempt. 2013-03-17