THE brisk sales of copies of Time magazine, with Pope Francis on the cover as Person of the Year, is yet another indicator of the growing popularity of the pontiff from Argentina. Yet none of this can disguise the fact the Church over which he presides is, in the words of Hans Kung, “gravely ill”.

Pope Francis has told nuns from around the globe they must be spiritual mothers and not “old maids”.

...In addition to resolving the child abuse, corruption and banking scandals, will you shed infallibility and extend an olive branch to Christians in the east to unite the Church once more? asks AN Wilson

In a city awash with pilgrims, and more places of prayer than you could shake a stick at, it was hardly surprising to find so many Irish in Rome this weekend.

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.

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

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.

The Vatican lashed out at the media today for what it said has been a run of defamatory and false reports before the conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI’s successor, saying they were an attempt to influence the election.

Fifty years on from Vatican II, Catholics are still split on what it actually achieved. Desmond Fisher wonders what next for a Church in crisis

Amid all the rivalries and gossip exposed by a growing Vatican crisis, Pope Benedict’s deputy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, has emerged as the chief target of an unprecedented campaign of leaks.

I thought that on the anniversary of the excommunication of Martin Luther it would be a good time for me to add my tupennyworth regarding the silencing of dissent amongst Irish clergy by the Vatican.

A senior Irish cleric has launched a broadside at Pope Benedict XVI and his senior advisers, accusing them of attempting to row back on Catholic Church reforms initiated in the 1960s by Vatican II.

The Archbishop of Dublin is reportedly set to return to the Vatican later this year to take up a senior position with the Catholic Church's main administration body.