Pope Francis

Robert Francis Prevost’s election to the papacy has captivated audiences at the Vatican and online alike. How did the Pope become a pop-cultural symbol?

Leo XIV’s pontificate will likely be defined by his approach to the violent conflicts rending the globe, which his predecessor, the late Pope Francis, referred to as “a Third World War in pieces.”

The President loves posting A.I. images of himself. The staff writer Katy Waldman sees these often bizarre representations as the “statements of intent” of a budding authoritarian.

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He built his lovable persona not on the page but via pictures and improvised chat, the stuff of screens.

“The traditionalist side of the Catholic Church in the United States has tolerated Francis, resented him, denigrated him, ignored him,” the writer Paul Elie says. “But also attached themself to his popularity when it suited their purposes.”

Amid the extreme political polarization in his home country, the Pope found himself at odds with nearly every President.

In a historic moment characterized by autocrats and would-be autocrats, Francis was the antithesis of a strongman.

Pope Francis has long advocated for immigrants, refugees, and the vulnerable—but the Church, like other institutions, may need to find new ways to sustain its commitments.

A new account of the papacy’s recent history reveals the transformation of the office in the mass-media age.

The dispute involves Catholic precepts on immigration and charity—which the Church has administered for decades through U.S.A.I.D.

The Vatican’s Synod on Synodality was nothing like papal gatherings of cinematic lore, but it clearly reflects Francis’s view of what the Church should be.

Pope Francis’s appearance on “60 Minutes” is a first. What does it say about the papacy?

A new document that strives to reconsider matters of human dignity nevertheless echoes Church rhetoric from decades ago.

A rhetorical dispute between the Church and the Israeli government shows the limits—and the possibilities—of the Pope’s role in times of conflict.

What was clear going in was that the event could have been a capstone to Francis’s first decade as Pope.

Francis’s recent journeys ahead of the October synod may be signals about the future direction of the Church.

Can a progressive cardinal—who’s seen as a possible future Pope—help bring an end to the war in Ukraine?

Addressing the group, Francis spoke about the role of the imagination in the life of Catholicism.

The discord has become a stand-in for conflicts over the decline in Catholics’ participation in Mass, over the progressive orientation of Francis’s pontificate, and over Vatican II itself.