The Vatican, in an apparent attempt to boost the confidence of the faithful in how their charitable contributions to the pope are used, on Thursday issued the first detailed disclosure of his main fund.

Pope Francis has taken a new series of swipes at Russia for its actions in Ukraine, saying its troops were brutal, cruel and ferocious and that the invasion violated a country's right to self-determination.

A note sent to papal ambassadors late last week by the Secretariat of State -- hammered home that there had been no change in Church doctrine.

The virus has killed more than 37,000 people in Italy, but thousands have also turned out in recent days to protest curbs on social activities.

The Pope's favourable stance on civil unions marks a step away from a 2003 document prepared by the Vatican's dogma office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Most of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics were in forced confinement as the Pope spoke.

The epidemic has wreaked havoc on international business, tourism, sports events, and schools, with almost 300 mn students sent home worldwide.

Pope Francis apologised for slapping the hand of a woman who grabbed him on New Year's Eve.

Thirty-five civilians, including 31 women, and seven soldiers were killed Tuesday in simultaneous attacks which lasted for several hours.

Francis will at noon on Wednesday give the traditional Christmas Day mass -- his seventh -- addressed to the world in front of St Peter's Square.

Thousands of Palestinians and foreigners converged in Bethlehem, revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

This will be the pope's third trip to Asia, taking him to two Buddhist-majority countries.

Former Irish president Mary McAleese has strongly criticized the Catholic Church over a lack of gender inclusion and LGBT rights.

A Vatican magazine has denounced how nuns are often treated like indentured servants in the Roman Catholic Church.

Pope Francis jokes that gossiping nuns are 'terrorists' during visit to the Church of the Nazarenas in Lima, Peru.

Pope Francis conducted an impromptu wedding of a couple of flight attendants aboard the papal plane as he traveled from Santiago to Iquique, Chile.

Nine churches have been firebombed in the past week, and scores of demonstrators were arrested during his first open-air mass in Santiago.

The Vatican pontiff's comments come in the wake of Hawaii false alarm over missile launch and North Korea scenario.

Catholic Church rocked by new sex abuse allegations as Sion bishop Jean-Marie Lovey apologises for clerical abuse by 10 paedophile priests in Switzerland.

The pope took particular aim at areas of global tension where President Donald Trump is playing a critical role.

Australian commission publishes report that finds "catastrophic failures" by Catholic Church to address child sex abuse allegations and calls on Vatican to overhaul celibacy rule.

The head of the Catholic church suggested that part of the Lord's Prayer was "not a good translation" and suggested it be changed.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warns that Donald Trump's decision to declare Jerusalem Israel's capital will play into the hands of terror groups in Middle East.

Pope Francis joins world leaders in criticising US President Donald Trump's expected recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Pope Francis met a group of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and pronounced the word he had so assiduously avoided only days earlier in Myanmar.

Pope's comments mark his first public denunciation of the military's "persecution" of Rohingya Muslims.

In his first public Mass in Myanmar, Pope Francis urged the country's long-suffering ethnic minorities to resist the temptation to exact revenge for the hurt they have endured.

Islamic terror group Isis has unveiled a poster urging jihadists to attack the Vatican in the run up to Christmas.

The "will he or won't he?" issue has dominated debate before Francis' trip, which began Monday and ends with a youth rally in Dhaka on Dec. 2.

Rohingya Muslims live in segregated conditions in the Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where they are regarded as stateless people and unwelcome migrants from Bangladesh.