The Vatican has distanced Pope Francis from Kim Davis, the focal point in the gay marriage debate in the US, saying she was one of dozens of people the Pope greeted in Washington and that their encounter “should not be considered a form of support of her position”.

“The achievements of an organisation are the results of the combined effort of each individual... Individual commitment to a group effort— that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilisation work.” —Vince Lombardi

It’s almost a year now since this column fulfilled a near life-long sporting ambition with a trip to Chicago to see the Bears host the Green Bay Packers at the iconic Soldier Field.

Pope Francis met privately yesterday with Russian president Vladimir Putin at the Vatican, using the talks to call for a sincere effort aimed at bringing peace to Ukraine.

The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots could produce one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time tomorrow night but the real winner may be debated for decades given the "deflategate" scandal hanging over the game.

A church volunteer has died after she was hit by scaffolding following a mass celebrated by Pope Francis in the central Philippine city of Tacloban.

The NFL loves it when a good plan comes together. Or so it must seem for the poor Detroit Lions, whose play-off demise on Sunday was sparked by a highly-questionable refereeing decision.

His head bowed and hands clasped in front of him, Pope Francis stood today for two minutes of silent prayer facing east inside one of Istanbul’s most important mosques, as he shifted gears toward more religious affairs on the second leg of his three-day visit to mainly Muslim Turkey.

Hippocrates said sport was the preserver of health, writes Brendan O'Brien.

The Vatican has altered the English version of a groundbreaking overture to gay people.

The Vatican has altered the English version of a ground-breaking overture to gay people.

Two great nephews of Pope Francis, and their mother, have been killed in a road crash in Argentina.

Pope Francis urged Asia’s Catholic youth to renounce the materialism that afflicts much of their society today and reject “inhuman” economic systems that disenfranchise the poor.

About 2% of Roman Catholic clerics are sexual abusers, an Italian newspaper yesterday quoted Pope Francis as saying, adding that the pontiff considered the crime "a leprosy in our house".

WORLD CUP POPES

Pope Francis has begged forgiveness from the victims of clergy sex abuse in his first meeting with abuse survivors.

Thurles last Sunday. One new discovery. A vaccine. When the terrible pandemics look set to engulf us, someone always mixes a potion before apocalypse.

A certain symmetry. The man who went before — Big Ron — met Alex Ferguson in autumn of 1986 and found him strangely distant. Soon after, the rumours Ron had heard proved correct.

The Vatican has hit back at a UN human rights committee that issued a scathing report on sex abuse by priests accusing it of straying beyond its mandate and discrediting the UN as a whole by adopting the “prejudiced” positions of anti-Catholic advocacy groups.

Screened in over 200 countries, Super Bowl will be lapped up by well over 100 million Americans for whom it has become as symbolic of their country as Apple Pie.

The Vatican has told Polish prosecutors that its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, under investigation for alleged sex abuse, is covered by diplomatic immunity.

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has emerged from his self-imposed silence inside the Vatican walls to publish a letter to a prominent Italian atheist defending his record on sexually abusive priests and discussing topics from evolution to theology to the figure of Jesus Christ.

Pope Francis’s relentless pace on his tour of Brazil is wearing out his aides.

The NFL in Dublin: it’s the tease that just won’t end.

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.

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.

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

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

A reigning pope and a former pope faced each other for the first time in at least 600 years on Saturday when Pope Francis travelled south of Rome for lunch with his predecessor, pope emeritus Benedict XVI.

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

Aside from the barricades that criss-crossed St Peter’s Square, there was little to hint that a new leader of the Catholic Church was due to be installed in Rome today.

There were no little old ladies dashing about with fresh cuts of altar flowers.

The Vatican has lashed out at what it called a “defamatory” and “anti-clerical left-wing” campaign to discredit Pope Francis over his actions during Argentina’s 1976-1983 military junta.

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.

The Vatican has said the conclave to elect a new pope is likely to start in the first few days of next week, signalling that cardinals are coming to an end of discussions about the state of the church and who might lead it.

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.

Benedict XVI has left the Vatican for the last time as pope, flying by helicopter to the Vatican’s vacation retreat hours before becoming the first pontiff to resign in 600 years.

Pope Benedict XVI will be known as “emeritus pope” in his retirement and will continue to wear a white cassock, the Vatican announced, again fuelling concerns about potential conflicts arising from having both a reigning and a retired pope.

The pope is to be known as “emeritus pope” after he retires and will continue to wear a white cassock, the Vatican has announced.

Pope Benedict XVI will stay at the papal summer residence outside Rome when he officially steps down on Thursday before moving into a former nunnery within the Vatican walls, the Holy See has announced.

The Vatican is raising the possibility that the conclave to elect the next pope might start earlier than March 15, the earliest date possible under current rules that require a 15-20 day waiting period after the papacy becomes vacant.

Pope Benedict XVI urged an end to “religious hypocrisy” and “rivalry” in the Catholic Church as he donned his papal mitre for the last time at an emotional Mass in St Peter’s Basilica.

It was an historic announcement that stunned both his inner circle and the wider religious world.