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Pope Francis blesses two large bells headed to Ukraine and Ecuador. The bells are part of an initiative by the Polish Yes to Life foundation. They each weigh more than 2,000 pounds, are nearly four feet in diameter, and were cast by the Felczyński bell foundry in Przemyśl, Poland.
2021-10-27

A court in the Holy See agrees to return to the investigative phase of an ongoing trial against Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu for alleged embezzlement, abuse of power and fraud, and other charges. Becciu was fired from his position in the Vatican City by Pope Francis in 2020 for alleged nepotism, which Becciu also denies.
2021-10-5

The Holy See announces that Pope Francis will resume public audiences in September for the first time in nearly six months. However, the events will be limited to 500 people, held in a closed courtyard of the Apostolic Palace.
2020-08-26

Since convening on 6 October, the synod of Catholic bishops from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela, and Suriname gather with Pope Francis in Rome. According to the bishops, "a deep personal, social and structural conversion" is needed in response to the "unprecedented" environmental and social crisis in the Amazon.
2019-10-27

Pope Francis visits Romania, meeting with Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church and holding an open mass in front of 80,000 people.
2019-06-1

A court in Radom, Poland, hands a six-month suspended prison term and a 10,000 zloty fine to a Russian pilot who caused a security scare during Pope Francis's 2016 visit for World Youth Day. The Russian had flown from the Czech Republic to compete in an international aerobatics competition and unknowingly violated a no-fly zone imposed for the papal visit. After failing to contact the aircraft, local authorities scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to intercept it.
2018-04-20

Pope Francis urges respect for the status quo for Jerusalem and calls for "wisdom and prudence" to avoid further conflict.
2017-12-6

Pope Francis returns to Rome after finishing his trip to Cuba and the United States.
2015-09-28

Popes John XXIII and John Paul II are declared saints by Pope Francis in the first papal canonization since 1954.
2014-04-27