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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis congratulated Italy on Monday after tennis player Jannik Sinner became the country's first man to win a Grand Slam singles title in nearly a half century. Sinner won the Australian Open title on Sunday and Francis made the acknowledgement during an audience with the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona. “Today we have to congratulate the Italians because yesterday they won in Australia, so we congratulate them, too,” the pope said. “In tennis, as in life, we can’t always win,” Francis added. He's got a mix of great skill, great desire and great character.

Persons: — Pope Francis, Italy, Jannik Sinner, Sinner, Francis, can’t, ” Francis, ”, Davis, Italy’s, Sergio Mattarella, Adriano Panatta, Panatta, he's, “, ” Panatta, He's, I've, ” Sinner, Daniil Medvedev, ___ Organizations: VATICAN CITY, Real, de Tenis, “, Davis Locations: de Tenis Barcelona, Australia, Barcelona, Italy, Sunday's

☆ Pope Francis Cancels Plans to Attend COP28 Due to Flu
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pope Francis has made protection of the environment a signature issue of his reign. Photo: Evandro Inetti/Zuma PressROME— Pope Francis has canceled plans to attend the COP28 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai this weekend on account of persistent “influenza and inflammation of the respiratory tract,” the Vatican said. The announcement adds to concerns about the health of the pope, who will be 87 next month, and who has had a number of ailments in recent years.

Persons: Pope Francis, Evandro Inetti, Zuma Press ROME — Pope Francis Organizations: Zuma Press, United Locations: Dubai

☆ Pope Francis Fires Conservative U.S. Bishop
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-11 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, took part in a protest in June over the Los Angeles Dodgers honoring a pro-LGBTQ+ group at Dodger Stadium. Photo: Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters ConROME— Pope Francis removed Bishop Joseph Strickland, one of the pope’s most vocal critics in the U.S. hierarchy, the Vatican said Saturday. The Vatican said that the pope had “relieved [the bishop] of the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Tyler,” Texas, and appointed Bishop Joe Vázquez of Austin as “apostolic administrator,” or acting bishop, of Tyler.

Persons: Bishop Joseph Strickland, Kirby Lee, Reuters Con ROME — Pope Francis, Bishop Joe Vázquez Organizations: Los Angeles Dodgers, Dodger, USA, Sports, Reuters Con, Vatican Locations: Tyler , Texas, U.S, Tyler, ” Texas, Austin

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis said Wednesday that he will travel to Dubai for three days during the COP28 climate conference hosted there. Francis said during an interview on Italian television network RAI that he would depart for Dubai on Dec. 1 and stay until Dec. 3. Excerpts of the interview were broadcast on Wednesday evening and recorded a few hours earlier. Francis offered no details of his trip's program, including any appearance at the conference. The first Conference of the Parties, as COP is formally called, was held in 1995 in Berlin, and the gathering has since been held in various cities and on different continents.

Persons: — Pope Francis, Francis Organizations: ROME, RAI, of Locations: Dubai, Berlin

Khan’s office has opened an investigation into potential war crimes by Israel in Gaza in the 2014 war. THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN KILLED IN THE CONFLICT SOARSThe number of children killed in the blockaded Gaza Strip since the start of the Hamas-Israel earlier this month has exceeded the number of children killed in armed conflict every year globally since 2019, international charity Save the Children said Sunday. It also mentioned the deaths of 33 children in the occupied West Bank and 29 children killed in Israel. The militant group Hezbollah, Hamas’ allies in Lebanon, has clashed with Israeli troops along the Lebanon-Israeli border since the Gaza war erupted on Oct. 7. PALESTINIAN RED CRESCENT SAYS ISRAEL ORDERS GAZA HOSPITAL TO EVACUATEJERUSALEM — A spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent says Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City received two calls from Israeli authorities Sunday morning demanding it evacuate.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, “ ‘, ”, Israel, Karim Khan, Khan, “, Jason Lee, ” U.N, António Guterres, Guterres, Hamas ’, ” Guterres, Rishi Sunak’s, Emmanuel Macron, Macron, VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis, “ Let’s, ” Francis, Ibrahim Faltas, Jonas Gahr Støre, U.N, Israel’s, ” Tedros Adhanom, Tarik Jasarevic, Nebal Farsakh, ” Thomas White, ” Mahmoud, Abdallah Sayed Organizations: Saturday, Health Ministry, Hamas, West Bank, ICC, Criminal, Gaza, Gaza Health Ministry, Country, MINISTER, LONDON, UN, UNIFIL, VATICAN CITY, ISRAEL HELSINKI — Norway’s, NRK, “, United Nations, MINISTRY, FIRE, WHO, World Health Organization, JERUSALEM, Palestinian, Pentagon, UNITED NATIONS, . Security Council, United Arab Emirates Locations: Gaza, Israel, EGYPT, GAZA, Rafah, Egypt, Cairo, Kathmandu, ISRAEL, ”, LEBANON BEIRUT, Lebanon, Houla, Naqoura, Ukraine, Palestine, St, NORWAY'S, Norwegian, Norway, “, UN, FIRE KATHMANDU, Nepal, GAZA CAIRO, PALESTINIAN, Al, Quds, Gaza City, SYRIA DAMASCUS, Syria, Iranian, Iraq, U.S, Assad, GAZA'S, CAIRO, Gaza’s

Rarely in recent times has a Vatican gathering generated as much hope, hype and fear as this three-week, closed-door meeting, known as a synod. But it nevertheless has drawn an acute battle line in the church’s perennial left-right divide and marks a defining moment for Francis and his reform agenda. Even before it started, the gathering was historic because Francis decided to let women and laypeople vote alongside bishops in any final document produced. While they have secured some high-profile positions in the Vatican and local churches around the globe, the male hierarchy still runs the show. Asked specifically about church blessings for same-sex unions, Francis suggested they could be allowed as long as such benedictions aren’t confused with sacramental marriage.

Persons: — Pope Francis, Francis, Francis ’, “, ”, JoAnn Lopez, Lopez, Cardinal Raymond Burke, ” Burke, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Burke, Francis didn’t Organizations: VATICAN CITY, Catholic Church, Catholic Locations: Indian, Seattle, Toronto, U.S, ”

ROME — Pope Francis has expressed in unusually sharp terms his dismay at “a very strong, organized, reactionary attitude” opposing him within the U.S. Roman Catholic Church, one that fixates on social issues like abortion and sexuality to the exclusion of caring for the poor and the environment. The pope lamented the “backwardness” of some American conservatives who he said insist on a narrow, outdated and unchanging vision. They refuse, he said, to accept the full breadth of the Church’s mission and the need for changes in doctrine over time. “I would like to remind these people that backwardness is useless,” Francis, 86, told a group of fellow Jesuits early this month in a meeting at World Youth Day celebrations in Lisbon. In other words, ideologies replace faith.”His words became public this week, when a transcript of the conversation was published by the Vatican-vetted Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica.

Persons: ROME — Pope Francis, “, ” Francis, ” Organizations: . Roman Catholic Church, Vatican Locations: Lisbon, “, Cattolica

☆ Pope Francis Says He Had Severe Pneumonia When Hospitalized in March
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pope Francis waves as he celebrates Mass on Sunday in Budapest. Photo: Attila Kisbenedek/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesROME— Pope Francis said on Sunday that he had suffered from a “sudden, strong illness,” which he described as pneumonia, when hospitalized in late March, and acknowledged that aging was slowing him down, but said he still hoped to continue his international travel. The pope, who is 86 years old, was speaking to reporters on his flight back to Rome after a three-day visit to Hungary.

☆ Pope Reveals He’s Working on Secret ‘Mission’ of Peace in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Jason Horowitz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

BUDAPEST — Pope Francis said on Sunday that the Vatican was involved in a secret “mission” to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine and that it would do “all that is humanly possible” to return children taken from Ukraine to Russia and reunite families. The pope’s remarks to reporters aboard the papal plane returning from a three-day trip to Budapest did not specify what the “not yet public” mission entailed. But Francis said he had privately discussed the situation with both Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary and with the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Budapest, Metropolitan Hilarion. “In these meetings we did not just talk about Little Red Riding Hood,” Francis said. He has opposed sending military aid to Ukraine and imposing international sanctions against Russia.

☆ Pope Returns to Hungary, to Delight of Viktor Orban
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Jason Horowitz | Elisabetta Povoledo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

BUDAPEST — Pope Francis, who has made welcoming migrants, embracing minorities and warning against nationalism central tenets of his pontificate, visited Budapest for the second time in less than two years on Friday. The trip gives Prime Minister Viktor Orban, perhaps Europe’s chief opponent of migrants, closest ally of Russia and most vocal critic of gay rights, a political gift he is sure not to waste. During a 10-year pontificate in which Francis has met with multiple strongmen and dictators to both protect his flock and push for the protection of human rights and peace, he has rarely confronted his hosts, looking instead for areas of agreement, even if it risks legitimizing policies he finds abhorrent. In Hungary, a dressing down is even less likely, as some analysts see the pope and Mr. Orban as having a similar desire for the war in Ukraine to end, and with Francis defining the trip in terms of Christian unity. He has called it an opportunity to “re-embrace” the Hungarian church in a visit to “the center of Europe, over which icy winds of war continue to blow, while the movements of so many people place urgent humanitarian issues on the agenda.”

☆ Pope Francis Allows Women to Vote in Bishops’ Assembly for First Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pope Francis has ruled out the ordination of women as priests or bishops but has vowed to make women more prominent in church leadership. Photo: Evandro Inetti/Zuma PressROME— Pope Francis will allow women to participate in an assembly of bishops as voting members for the first time this year, in his latest move to increase the presence of women in leadership roles in the Catholic Church. The Vatican said on Tuesday that the next meeting of the Synod of Bishops, scheduled for this October at the Vatican, will include at least 40 women voters, including members of religious orders as well as laywomen.

☆ Pope Francis, in Easter Message, Calls for Peace in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pope Francis leads the Easter Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican. ROME— Pope Francis highlighted the war in Ukraine in his traditional Easter message on Sunday, calling for the international community to help end the fighting there. The pope, who has frequently deplored the suffering of Ukrainians since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, followed his usual practice of not naming Russia as the aggressor but prayed for the wounded and bereaved and the return of prisoners on both sides.

☆ Pope Francis Hospitalized for Respiratory Infection
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pope Francis appeared for his weekly public audience on Wednesday morning. ROME— Pope Francis has been hospitalized for a respiratory infection that will require several days of therapy, the Vatican said on Wednesday. The pope had complained of breathing difficulties over the past few days and on Wednesday afternoon was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital for tests, the Vatican said.

☆ Pope Francis Says Criminalizing Homosexuality Is Wrong
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pope Francis discussed homosexuality during an interview with the Associated Press at the Vatican. ROME— Pope Francis said that laws punishing homosexuality are unfair and that the Catholic Church should work for their repeal. The statement, in an interview with the Associated Press published on Wednesday, is the latest in a series of conciliatory gestures by Pope Francis toward gay people.

☆ Pope Francis Mourns Cardinal Pell, Who Called His Reign a ‘Catastrophe’
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pope Francis on Saturday said prayers at the funeral of Cardinal George Pell in St. Peter’s Basilica. VATICAN CITY— Pope Francis said the final prayers at Cardinal George Pell’s funeral on Saturday, but didn’t lay to rest the grievances of many conservatives for whom the late cardinal was a leading spokesman. Cardinal Pell, a pugnacious Australian who died on Tuesday, served Francis as Vatican finance minister but differed sharply with the pope’s progressive approach, including his leniency on divorce and homosexuality. The late cardinal bluntly criticized his boss in a memo, published last year under a pseudonym, which described the current pontificate as “a disaster in many or most respects; a catastrophe.”

☆ Pope Condemns Iran’s Death Penalty for Protesters
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ROME— Pope Francis on Monday condemned Iran’s executions of protesters in response to the demonstrations in recent months against the clerical regime. “The right to life is also threatened in those places where the death penalty continues to be imposed, as is happening in Iran in these days,” the pope said. He spoke of the protests as “demanding greater respect for the dignity of women,” though he didn’t mention the protest movement’s broader challenge to the Islamic Republic.

☆ Pope Benedict XVI Funeral: Pope Francis Presides Over Vatican Ceremony
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

VATICAN CITY— Pope Francis presided over the funeral of his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday, in a solemn and grand ceremony, but one that didn’t focus on the deceased’s life or accomplishments. Francis’ homily was mostly a meditation on the last words of Jesus, from the Gospel reading earlier in the Mass. The pope mentioned Benedict only in a few remarks, recalling “the wisdom, tenderness and devotion that he bestowed upon us over the years.”

☆ Pope Francis Presides Over Funeral for Pope Benedict XVI
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

VATICAN CITY— Pope Francis presided over the funeral of his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday, in a solemn and grand ceremony, but one that did not focus on the deceased’s life or accomplishments. Francis’s homily was mostly a meditation on the last words of Jesus, from the Gospel reading earlier in the Mass. The pope mentioned Benedict only in a few remarks, recalling “the wisdom, tenderness and devotion that he bestowed upon us over the years.”

☆ Pope Francis May Have a Freer Hand After Death of Benedict
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ROME— Pope Francis has been the leader of the Catholic Church for almost 10 years, but he has been the only pope in the Vatican just since Saturday. The death of Pope Benedict XVI after a decade in retirement has ended an extraordinary arrangement that helped define the current pontificate. While Pope Francis has already taken a markedly different tack than his predecessor, he may feel even freer to do so now.

☆ Pope Francis to Preside Over Predecessor’s Funeral, in a Vatican First
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

VATICAN CITY— Pope Francis will preside over the funeral of his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday, bringing a historically unique situation—that of two popes residing practically side by side in the Vatican—to a similarly unusual close. The event will be in a much lower key than the last papal funeral, that of St. John Paul II in 2005, when heads of state and government flocked to Rome along with millions of mourners, some of whom waited a dozen hours or more to file past the Polish pope’s body lying in state in the basilica.

☆ Pope Francis Says Retired Pope Benedict XVI Is ‘Very Sick’
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pope Francis, standing with a cane, with Pope Benedict XVI, seated, in the Vatican in August. ROME— Pope Francis on Wednesday said that his 95-year-old predecessor, retired Pope Benedict XVI, was very ill and asked the faithful to pray for him. “Remember him—he is very sick—asking the Lord to console him and support him in this testimony of love for the church until the end,” Pope Francis said.

☆ Pope Benedict XVI Is Very Sick, Says Pope Francis
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ROME— Pope Francis on Wednesday said that his 95-year-old predecessor, retired Pope Benedict XVI, was very ill and asked the faithful to pray for him. “Remember him—he is very sick—asking the Lord to console him and support him in this testimony of love for the church until the end,” Pope Francis said.

☆ Pope Francis Says He Has Written Resignation Letter in Case of Incapacity
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pope Francis maintains a heavy daily schedule but has said he would step down if unable to fulfill his duties. ROME— Pope Francis said he signed a letter of resignation in the first year of his reign to provide for the possibility that he would become incapable of fulfilling his duties. “I signed it and said, ‘If I should become impaired for medical reasons or whatever, here is my resignation,’” the pope told the Spanish daily newspaper ABC in an interview published Sunday.

☆ In 10 Years, Pope Francis Has Disrupted the Catholic Church
▼ + stars: | 2013-03-13 | by ( Francis X. Rocca | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican earlier this month. ROME— Pope Francis ’ reign promised from its first moments a decade ago to be distinctive. When Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the new pope on March 13, 2013, he appeared on a loggia on the front of St. Peter’s Basilica without the red cape that was traditional for the occasion, then broke with custom further by bowing his head to the crowd in the square below, asking them to bless him.

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