After only a few days, the new pope is already impressing people with his unregal approach, writes Tom Heneghan

Pope Francis’s apt choice of symbols has nods to tradition as well as his Argentinian roots, writes Daniela Petroff

Jonathan deBurca Butler explores whether an Irish saint and Nostradamus really did predict the current pope

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 must end the scandal of Church secrets being leaked to newspapers, Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn said, underlining one of the challenges facing the new Roman Catholic leader.

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.

Italian bishops were quick to congratulate the new pope. Too quick – they got the wrong man.

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.

Pope Francis is the first ever from the Americas, an austere Jesuit intellectual who modernised Argentina’s conservative Catholic church.

World and religious leaders have welcomed the election of Argentine cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to the papacy.

Brian Murphy and Michael Warren profile the man formally known as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio

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.

THE worldwide outpouring of affection for Pope John Paul II may have convinced the cardinals choosing his successor that today’s Roman Catholic Church has no room for a so-called “transitional” leader.