The world-famous Harlem Gospel Choir, which has perfomed alongside Bono and sang for popes and the UN General Assembly, is to perform at Cork Opera House.

On a sunny, mild day, guests sat outside the monastery on Vatican City grounds where Benedict has lived since he became the first pontiff to resign in 600 years.

Four powerful cardinals have already gone public with their doubts about the current pope, while some have virtually accused him of heresy, writes TP O’Mahony

Pope Francis has paid a sombre and largely silent visit to the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, becoming the third consecutive pontiff to make the pilgrimage to the place where Adolf Hitler’s forces killed more than a million people.

Pope Francis has said his predecessor as pontiff is having trouble getting around, but remains sharp of mind and memory, according to an interview published on Sunday.

The image of Pope Francis as a great reformer doesn’t yet hold true, writes TP O’Mahony

Cuban president Raul Castro arrived at the Vatican yesterday to thank Pope Francis for his role in brokering the rapprochement between Havana and Washington.

Former president Mary McAleese has said Ireland owes it to people who were “pushed into the shadows” or died by suicide because of outdated views on homosexuality to back next month’s marriage equality referendum.

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.

The Shroud of Turin, the burial cloth some believe covered Jesus, will go back on public display next year.

WORLD CUP POPES

Pope Francis said he will have his first meeting with a group of sex abuse victims at the Vatican early next month and would show zero tolerance for anyone in the Catholic Church who abused children, including bishops.

In a letter by B Cotton (April 24), which addressed the recent article in the Irish Examiner (April 17) about ‘Catholics for Choice‘, your correspondent states that ”as a practicing Catholic... contraception is banned, because sex was made by God to bring children into the world and not for self-gratification”.

The Vatican is turning to social media to reach out to the millions of pilgrims expected to attend the first double canonisation of popes in the history of the Catholic Church.

The Pope has defended the Church’s record on tackling the sexual abuse of children by priests, saying “no-one else has done more” to root out paedophilia.

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 announced today that he would travel to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan on May 24-26, his first visit to the Holy Land.

“IT’S nothing short of miraculous,” Don Franco Ottonelli says as he admires his brainchild, a modern, new apartment complex for immigrants and the homeless near the centre of Acqui Terme, a town in north-west Italy.

HOW great is the gap between the official teaching of the Catholic Church, especially in the sphere of sexuality, and the actual practice and behaviour of Catholics? Thanks to an initiative by Pope Francis, we are about to find out.

THEY are dismissed as con artists or depicted as cinematic heroes, as authentic as the ghoulish Halloween figures they battle.

Pope Francis today effectively demoted a highly conservative Italian cardinal who led the Vatican’s department on clergy.

FRANCIS has been Pope for just over six months and he has already ushered in what can only be described as a kind of ecclesiastical perestroika. It’s a message that may well find resonance in a country like Ireland where many people describe themselves as Catholics but no longer attend Mass regularly.

Pope Francis has said pastors should emphasise compassion over condemnation when discussing the divisive social issues of abortion, gays and contraception.

Pope Francis’s “prime minister” Tarcisio Bertone has lashed out against Vatican “moles and vipers” after it was announced he is being replaced with a top diplomat.

Pope Francis today recruited a veteran Vatican diplomat to be his top aide, replacing the Holy See’s secretary of state who in recent years increasingly became a divisive figure in a church hierarchy mired in embarrassing scandal and financial probes.

He has nothing against gay priests, but the new Pope remains opposed to the ordination of women.

Pope Francis has said he will not judge priests for their sexual orientation. “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” he asked.

A recent speech by Pope Francis held clear echoes of a centuries-old tradition stressing the need for radical, progressive action, and insights on matters of social justice, writes TP O’Mahony

Pope Francis said he had not wanted to become the pontiff and that he had decided against moving into the luxurious papal apartments in order to preserve his mental health.

The Vatican has denied Pope Francis performed an exorcism after an Italian religious television channel said footage of the pontiff blessing a boy in a wheelchair showed he had.

Two captive doves have celebrated their freedom with a soaring flight over St. Peter’s Square thanks to Pope Francis.

Fears grew for the health of pope emeritus Benedict last night after a visiting German cardinal expressed shock at how thin he had become since resigning.

IN TERMS of symbolism, Jorge Mario Bergoglio hasn’t put a foot wrong since becoming the first Jesuit and the first South American to be elected Pope and taking the name Francis.

Benedict XVI has moved back to the Vatican, opening an uncertain era in Catholic Church history where an “emeritus pope” and a ruling pontiff will live as neighbours for the first time.

A Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi has denied a report that claims the health of former Pope Benedict has deteriorated.

Victims' advocates are said to be unimpressed after Pope Francis called for the Catholic Church to act “with determination” against clergy sex abuse cases.

Pope Francis is calling for the Catholic Church to act “with determination” against clergy sex abuse cases.

Pope Francis celebrated a trimmed-back Easter Vigil service after having reached out to Muslims and women during a Holy Week in which he began to put his mark on the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis wants to stay, for the time being, in a simple Vatican residence instead of the spacious and regal papal apartments.

Pope Francis has travelled to Castel Gandolfo to have lunch with his predecessor Benedict XVI in an historic meeting.

Crowds are beginning to gather in the central square of Castel Gandolfo in Italy to catch a glimpse of history: Two Popes meeting for lunch and presumably discussing the future of the Catholic Church.