Catholic Church

Pope Leo XIV accurately reflects the Catholic Church’s position in the developing world, where it is growing fastest

Cardinals choose new pontiff after fourth vote at the Vatican

Conclave eligible to elect the successor to the late Pope Francis are expected to meet within weeks

'Opted-out' children often just sit there – sometimes colouring a picture, listening to every word – segregated, othered and marked as different

As the cardinal electors in the Sistine Chapel took their oaths, a crowd of all ages gathered in St Peter’s Square

Cardinals to reconvene tomorrow for further ballots

Even at this late stage, it remains unclear who is most likely to become the Catholic Church’s next leader

As the conclave to choose the next pope begins, our readers share their views

Inside Politics podcast with Hugh Linehan

Ballots of 133 voting cardinals burned after each vote with black smoke signalling no agreement

The saying that ‘he who e’ters a conclave as pope exits as a cardinal” augurs badly for frontrunners

Odds are on a short conclave to elect Pope Francis’s successor, with 267th pope likely to be picked by Thursday or Friday

We will not make the necessary climate leap if divisions continue - between rite and reason, left and right, rural and urban or young and old

Cardinals with strong links to Ireland will be playing key role in the papal conclave from Wednesday

‘There is nothing funny or clever about this, Mr President. Do not mock us,’ say Catholic leaders

Cardinals have held their ninth in a series of near-daily meetings over next pontiff

O’Brien was widely praised after making a powerful contribution to RTÉ’s Questions & Answers in 2009

Chimney will be used by the conclave that will elect the successor of Pope Francis

Do you still go to Mass? Have you found religion later in life? Has your religious observance lapsed?

We love to plonk a dead relative in the sittingroom for a day or two

Former bishop of Ferns, who had resigned over handling of abuse complaints in diocese, fondly remembered by mourners

Cardinal Angelo Becciu removed from senior Vatican post in 2020 before trial

Co Monaghan native resigned at centre of storm that led to Ferns report, which set a template for various future statutory reports into abuse

Resignation followed allegations he failed to deal adequately with child sexual abuse claims

Likely issues include finances, sliding church attendance and growing hole in the pension fund

Conclave start date decided during closed-door meeting of cardinals at the Vatican

Provocative, largely beautifully written debut novel somewhat marred by a dispensable final chapter

Some 200,000 participate in second Mass following Francis’s death

Rite & Reason: As I filmed priests and reflected on this ancient rite, I learned the difference between a true confession and rote recitations

Mass mirrored most Catholic funerals, albeit with hundreds of cardinals and dignitaries present

Catholic Church begins nine days of official mourning

On one side stand the conservatives. On the other are the reformers. And in the centre are those who want an end to the polarisation

In Europe, after centuries of dominance, Christianity appears to be in retreat

Protestants as well as Catholics lined up to sign book of condolences in Belfast

Michael D Higgins, Micheál Martin, Ursula von der Leyen, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and Donald Trump among attendees

Bishop Paul Tighe, one of the most senior Irishmen in the Roman Curia, says pontiff’s legacy is ‘in the hearts of people'

The personal experience he vividly outlined on RTÉ television in 2009 was part of the reason Francis’s visit to Ireland nine years later was so different from the previous Irish papal visit

The men-only club will be out in force. Even Francis ‘the reformer’ could not assail that bastion

In the Philippines, where 80 per cent of the population is Catholic, popes are always revered. Francis, however, was especially well loved

For all their shortcomings, the recently deceased pontiff and the late Bishop Willie Walsh left the world a better place