If the pontiff was to pass, a complicated weeks-long process begins to appoint a successor. Here, we break down what will ...

The pope looms so large in everyday Italian life that there are lots of expressions that make light of even a dark event like ...

Francis, who lost part of a lung to a respiratory infection in his youth and has been plagued by ailing health recently, last ...

French Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline called for prayers to be said for Pope Francis during a press conference in the Vatican on ...

THE Pope could resign if his health gets any worse, according to a cardinal, to become the second in a row to shrug the papal robes. Pope Francis, 88, remains in hospital battling double-lung ...

Pope Francis has been diagnosed with double pneumonia after being hospitalised last week. The Vatican said the 88-year-old's ...

Pope Francis is continuing his recovery from pneumonia. The Vatican said he got out of bed to eat breakfast Thursday morning ...

The process of electing a new pope follows rules and rituals that have been followed, and sometimes tweaked, since the 13th ...

Cardinals, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), are bishops and Vatican officials from all ...

The election of a new pope is a rigorous process involving a series of rituals that unfold in stages. First, there is the ...

THE Pope’s funeral is being rehearsed after the ailing Pontiff warned he may not survive this bout of pneumonia. The Swiss ...

With Pope Francis’ health in question, speculation grows about how the Catholic Church would elect his successor.