Pope Francis prays as he addresses the crowd from the window of the apostolic palace overlooking St. Peter's Square during his Angelus prayer at the Vatican on Oct. 18.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (C), followed by U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Callista Gingrich, walks past a Swiss Guard as he arrives on October 1, 2020 after being welcomed by Monsignor Guillermo Karcher (R) at San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican.
Christian conservatives in the United States are using religious freedom in China as a smokescreen in their ongoing culture war against Pope Francis. It might win votes at home but won’t sway the Holy See.
Pope Francis leaves the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter's Square in Vatican City after the Sunday Angelus prayer on July 22, 2018.
Pope Francis prays in front of a crucifix that in 1552 was carried in a procession around Rome to stop the Great Plague, at the San Marcello al Corso church in Rome on March 15.
The world’s major faiths face a test, and some religious leaders are failing by endangering human lives in the name of adhering to tradition—and ushering in a new age of secularism in the process.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini (L) holds a rosary as Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte (R) delivers a speech in the Italian Senate in Rome, on Aug. 20.
Italian Catholics are deeply divided between traditionalists and supporters of Pope Francis’s liberal vision. Matteo Salvini is seeking to give the Vatican’s detractors a new political home.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini delivers a speech holding a rosary during a rally of European nationalists ahead of European elections on May 18, in Milan.
Henry IV, king of the Germans, surrenders his crown to Pope Gregory VII, who sits enthroned. (Woodcut by John Foxe/Rare Books and Manuscripts Library/Ohio State University Libraries/Wikimedia Commons)
Pope Francis in a procession to the Basilica of Santa Sabina before Ash Wednesday mass on February 14, 2018 in Rome. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images)
Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience at St Peter's square on October 14, 2015 at the Vatican. Pope Francis apologised Wednesday on behalf of the Catholic Church for a series of scandals which have recently shaken the city of Rome and the Vatican. The Vatican has been the focus of several controversies including the coming out of a gay priest and the leak of a controversial letter, while the pontiff himself ended up in the headlines for a gaffe which helped oust Rome's mayor. AFP PHOTO / VINCENZO PINTO (Photo credit should read VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images)
This photo taken on May 11, 2016 shows villagers outside the Catholic church in Changjing, in China's southern Guangxi region.
The finishing touches are being put to a new museum in Dingan, the village where French missionary Auguste Chapdelaine died in 1856 and just a few kilometres from Changjing where he lived, celebrating the patriotism of his execution and condemning the spiritual opium of religion. / AFP / GREG BAKER / TO GO WITH China-culture-religion-Roman-Catholic-politics,FEATURE by Benjamin Carlson (Photo credit should read GREG BAKER/AFP/Getty Images)
VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - APRIL 29: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (L) greets Pope Francis (R) upon his arrival before Pope Francis receives in audience the participants at the international conference promoted by the Pontifical Council for Culture on the progress of regenerative medicine and its cultural impact, at Paul VI Audience Hall in the Vatican City, Vatican on April 29, 2016. (Photo by Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - JANUARY 16: Pope Francis waves to thousands of followers as he arrives at the Manila Cathedral on January 16, 2015 in Manila, Philippines. Pope Francis will visit venues across Leyte and Manila during his visit to the Philippines from January 15 - 19. The visit is expected to attract crowds in the millions as Filipino Catholics flock to catch a glimpse of the leader of the Catholic Church in the Philippines for the first time since 1995. The Pope will begin the tour in Manila, then travelling to Tacloban to visit areas devastated by Typhoon Haiyan before returning to Manila to hold a mass at Rizal Park. The Philippines is the only Catholic majority nation in Asia with around 90 percent of the population professing the faith. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)
The charismatic Pakistani general aimed to be a great national leader but failed by shredding the constitution and recklessly doing Washington’s bidding.
