Claire Giangravé

Members of the transgender community, a U.S. doctor who provides gender-affirming care, and parents of a transgender daughter who struggled with her gender identity were among the 11 people present at the nearly 90-minute meeting.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet’s new book, "Word, Sacrament, Charism: Risks and Opportunities of a Synodal Church," hopes to offer a new perspective for synodal discussions by suggesting that the church should promote and enable charisms, intended as gifts by the Holy Spirit that are given to every baptized Catholic.

At a conference at the Vatican, physicists and theologians made the case for cooperation between faith and science.

"In thinking about the laws recently adopted in Ukraine, I fear for the freedom of those who pray, because those who truly pray always pray for all," Francis said after his Aug. 25 Angelus. The pope stated that "a person does not commit evil by praying" and urged Ukrainian leaders to "let those who want to pray be allowed to pray in what they consider their Church."

Pope Francis is waiting for ‘the appropriate time’ to visit Ukraine, according to that country’s ambassador to the Holy See, Andrii Yurash.

‘We think we have put together a dream team,’ said organizers of the event, which hopes to reconcile quantum theory and cosmology.

Holy See officials this week rushed to remedy tensions with Israel, which criticized the Vatican's pronouncements on the outbreak of violence in the Holy Land as too impartial and lacking a clear condemnation of Hamas.

Called to examine power structures in the Catholic Church, the Synod on Synodality will grapple in large part with the role of women.

A Vatican decision to not allow a progressive theologian to become the dean of a theological university in Italy highlights fractures within the church over sexual morality and also hints at divisions inside the Vatican.

Three Italian environmental activists will face their second trial hearing at the Vatican on Wednesday (May 24) for having glued themselves to the famous statue "Laocoön and His Sons" in the Vatican Museums last summer.

In dramatic testimony in the Vatican mega-trial on financial corruption. Jan. 13, a former Vatican diplomat admitted to influencing the deposition of  a key prosecution witness.

Former financial auditor Libero Milone seeks his day in court after claiming he was forced to resign by a ‘small mafia’ at the Vatican.

Members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom criticized a recently renewed Vatican deal with China, saying it emboldens the Chinese government to crackdown on Christian communities.

While the Vatican hopes for a diplomatic resolution, Catholic leaders cater to Ukrainian faithful on the ground.

The crisp images of the cosmos delivered by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope this week serve as "food for the human spirit," said the head of the Vatican Observatory.

From welcoming transgender women at the Vatican to promoting LGBTQ outreach around the world, some advocates say Pope Francis has created a space for inclusion without fear.

Archbishop Roque Paloschi of Porto Velho said the pope reassured him during a visit at the Vatican that despite the many challenges the pope faces, resigning "does not cross his mind."

Pope Francis' flurry of activity in August, seemingly setting the stage for his successor, has fueled rumors of an impending resignation.

Former Vatican envoy and outspoken papal critic Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò released a letter on March 7 blaming "deep state" forces in the United States, the European Union and NATO for triggering the current war and demonizing Russia.

While borrowing Catholic tropes to take whacks at the church is "nothing new," he noted, others have done it better.