JONATHAN Pryce has not slept. He is fresh off a plane from New York, where he is appearing in a play on Broadway, and is due to fly back to perform again the following day.

Despite the surging costs, secretary general of Oireachtas services Peter Finnegan said the price tag represents "outstanding" value for the taxpayer.

Reviewing the White Album is a bit like passing judgement on Michelangelo’s ceiling doodles for the Sistine Chapel or wondering why James Joyce didn’t use shorter sentences in Ulysses.

Robert Harris never meant to write novels. A political journalist, who, at 30, moved from the BBC to become political editor of the Observer, he enjoyed writing longer pieces; and between 1982 and 1990, he penned five works of non-fiction.

Two classmates who backed U2 rock star The Edge at a once-in-a-lifetime gig in the Sistine Chapel say the experience has inspired them to make music part of their lives.

Before his death from Aids at the age of 42, Robert Mapplethorpe challenged the stigma of being gay, and left a rich body of artistic photography, writes Richard Fitzpatrick

Pope Francis, galvanised by a scandal over Vatican finances, has ordered the most powerful bodies in the city-state to launch an unprecedented audit of its wealth and crackdown on runaway spending.

Jonathan deBurca Butler discusses brotherly love and the possibility that "these two fellas might just get on". 

The Pope has broken from his predecessors in seeking a more collegial approach to Church, governance, but the jury is still out on his ability to bring true reform, writes TP O’Mahony.

Two bronze sculptures which had languished in obscurity for more than a century may be the work of Michelangelo, researchers have revealed.

This little boy has a very special wish list.

The Welsh might have endured more damaging weekends for their national sport but nobody at Twickenham, or anywhere else for that matter, could remember one.

Pope Francis has outlined plans for reform of the Church to make it less “Vatican-centric” as he met with top cardinals tasked with helping him overhaul the 2,000-year-old institution.

Pope Francis has said he wants a missionary church with a modern spirit that gives hope to the poor, young and elderly, speaking as key meetings began on church reform.

What is it about a naked girl?

Cork-based David Puttnam is backing an initiative which provides revamped computers and IT training to disadvantaged schools. It’s levelling the technological playing field, writes Claire Droney

Religious observers are asking: “Is Pope Francis an exorcist?” after an incident in St Peter’s Square.

EVER wonder what showtime must have been like at Rome’s Colosseum? Cast your mind back to Ireland and Italy’s recent rugby showdown at the Stadio Olimpico. The Six Nations is as close as rugby gets to all-out gladiatorial combat: by the time the Irish and Italian teams were done tearing chunks out of each other, bruised and battered bodies were legion.

A bookmaker was left looking to the heavens after customers in a bar in the Kingdom relieved him of €6,000 in a flutter on the new pope.

The new shepherd of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics picked up his luggage at a Vatican hotel, thanked each member of the staff and even paid his own bill.

In his first Mass as pope, Francis showed how different he would be as a pastor, giving an off-the-cuff homily about the need to walk with God, build up his Church, and confess — at one point referring to children building sandcastles on the beach.

Pope Francis spent his first day as the leader of 1.2bn Catholics praying, paying his hotel bill, and catching the bus.

The banks are still not doing enough for stressed mortgage holders, writes David Hall.

Pope Francis put his humility on display during his first day as pontiff today, stopping by his hotel to pick up his luggage and pay the bill himself.

Pope Francis has opened his pontificate this morning with a visit to Rome’s main basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

President Michael D Higgins has conveyed his sincere best wishes to the new head of the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church’s surprising new leader from “the end of the earth” will celebrate his first Mass as pope today.

The first South American, the first non-European in more than a millennium and the first Jesuit, a new era in the Catholic Church was ushered in as Argentinian cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was last night elected Pope Francis I.

When the white smoke appeared from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel at shortly after 6pm yesterday, the conventional wisdom suggested that one of the cardinals seen as a front-runner had been elected as the 266th pope.

It is Pope Francis and his papacy that will define history, not his election, writes Frederick Kempe

Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio was tonight elected pope – the first ever from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium.

Cardinals elected a new pope to lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics tonight, overcoming deep divisions to select the 266th pope in a remarkably fast conclave.

The Catholic church has chosen a new pope.

In the absence of a pope, a seagull stole the show at the papal conclave.

Suspense is growing in the Vatican this evening where a large crowd has turned out to await news from the Cardinals who will select the next Pope.

Black smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel earlier today, meaning Roman Catholic cardinals did not elect a pope in their second or third rounds of balloting.

Black smoke has billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, meaning cardinals have not elected a Pope in their second or third rounds of balloting.

The Father Ted references have made it as far as St Peter's Square…

Catholics around the world are still waiting for a new Pope, as cardinals signalled at 7.41pm that they had failed on their first attempt to find a leader for the Church.

There are no clear frontrunners for the papacy after last night’s inconclusive first vote.

Black smoke has risen above the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, confirming there has been no agreement as yet (ie no two thirds majority) on the next Pope.

The conclave to elect a new pope follows a set ritual every day until the Catholic Church has a new leader. Here is an approximate schedule. Local time listed first.

Cardinals will enter the Sistine Chapel today to elect the next pope, with the Catholic Church facing more upheaval and uncertainty than it has seen in decades.

Catholic cardinals have gathered at the Vatican for their final day of talks before the conclave to elect the next pope.

Roman Catholic leaders have called on the faithful to pray for the cardinals gathered in Rome on the eve of the conclave to elect a new pope.

You’re expecting hundreds of thousands of guests.

Some of the leading candidates to be the next pope have held masses in Rome ahead of the start of the papal conclave on Tuesday.

The last cardinal who will participate in the conclave to elect the next pope arrived in Rome today, meaning a date can now be set for the election.