In one of the most significant and controversial decisions of his papacy, Pope Francis has dismissed a proposal to allow married men to be ordained in the Amazon region of South America to ease an acute shortage of priests there.

Pope Francis has declined to approve the ordination of married men to address the priest shortage in the Amazon, sidestepping a fraught issue that has dominated debate in the Catholic Church and even involved retired Pope Benedict XVI.

Pope Francis staged a surprise visit to admonish the IMF chief and several finance ministers to help alleviate the debt burden of struggling countries, calling for “a new financial architecture” to ensure social justice.

After his resignation in 2013, Pope Benedict chose to live in the Vatican in silence. But his presence, his influence, and a growing campaign is causing problems for Pope Francis and threatens to undermine his papacy, writes TP O’Mahony.

Bishops have given a guarded response when asked if they plan to follow their Italian counterparts and change the wording of the Lord's Prayer.

The move is part of a new effort to hold the Catholic hierarchy accountable for failing to protect their flocks.

The Pope has had a cut at hairdressers for indulging in gossip while coiffing their customers’ locks.

At least 25 new social housing units will be provided for homeless families after the Capuchin Day Centre provided €5m in funding to the Peter McVerry Trust, with the Pope’s visit providing a surge in donations.

Pope Francis has said women have "legitimate claims" to seek more justice and equality in the Catholic Church, but stopped short of endorsing more sweeping calls to recognise the "urgency of an inevitable change" to give them leadership roles.

Who would ever, in any sense, regard the lighting of a candle as an act of atonement or reparation? asks Fergus Finlay.

Philip Pullella Pope Francis, ending a landmark conference on sexual abuse of children by clergy, has called for an “all-out battle” against a crime he said should be “erased from the face of the Earth”.

Pope Francis set the right tone in previewing the Vatican’s summit on clerical sexual abuse when he told the Church’s hierarchy that what is expected of them is not only condemnation of the crimes against children and teenagers but also tangible action to ensure that the cover-up culture is closed down and that justice is done.

Pope Francis opened a landmark sex abuse prevention summit by warning senior Catholic figures that the faithful are demanding concrete action against predator priests and not just words of condemnation.

Apart from achieving independence, joining the European Union, and almost unlimited access to education, nothing has changed this society as dramatically as the Catholic Church’s spectacular loss of power.

His stated intention to decentralise the Catholic Church’s power and reform its central bureaucracy, the Curia, has not endeared Francis to traditionalists, says TP O’Mahony

Pope Francis has lifted the suspension imposed in 1983 on Nicaraguan priest and poet Ernesto Cardenal, the Vatican's ambassador to Nicaragua said.

The four-day summit which begins on Thursday is the first time a Pope has called such a large group of senior clergy together to discuss the protection of children in the Church.

Pope Francis has defrocked former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick after Vatican officials found him guilty of soliciting for sex while hearing Confession and sexual crimes against minors and adults, the Holy See said today.

Dublin-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell has been named by Pope Francis as the new 'Camerlengo', a high-ranking member of the clergy who runs the Vatican between the death or resignation of a pontiff and the election of a new one.

The declaration by Pope Francis, describing paedophilia as one of the “vilest” of crimes, is the clearest indication yet that he may be prepared finally to tackle the issue of child sex abuse within the Catholic Church.

Bishop of Kilmore Leo O’Reilly has retired from his position on health grounds and has had his resignation accepted by Pope Francis.

A call by Pope Francis for clerical paedophiles to turn themselves in has been described as a “non-runner” by the head of an agency for child sexual abuse survivors.

Pope Francis has vowed that the Catholic Church will "never again" cover up clergy sex abuse and demanded that priests who have raped and molested children turn themselves in.

The Government spent more than €1m on “luxury toilets” for high-ranking guests, portaloos, and a marquee as part of a €15m spending spree for the August visit of Pope Francis to Ireland.

Research by Queen’s University Belfast has found a plurality of Irish people believe that Pope Francis did not do enough to address clerical abuse during his recent papal visit to Ireland.

In recent days the Pope has been suggesting that Catholics pray for the whole month of October to tackle Satan, who his holiness thinks is responsible for the scourge of child abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.

The devil is alive and well and working overtime to undermine the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis has said.

The chairman of a Dáil committee has said he does not believe the Catholic Church will hand over hundreds of millions of euro in abuse compensation to the State by Christmas.

TP O’Mahony warns that a papacy that promised Church reform will remain mired in controversy unless Francis ensures accountability for the mishandling of abuse cases.

The mystery of how many people attended the Papal Mass in the Phoenix Park finally appears to have been solved.

I would like to express some personal views on Pope Francis’s visit, the World Meeting of Families, and the Roman Curia.

Trump will dismiss any opposition as petty spite, and tell the world that the true Irish loved him, writes Fergus Finlay

The Vatican’s retired ambassador to the United States, Carlo Maria Vigano, has accused Pope Francis and other officials of covering up that they were aware of sex abuse allegations against Theodore McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington.

The recent visit by Pope Francis has given us all time for some necessary reflection.

After Pope Francis’ lukewarm reception in Ireland, it may be the words of the Taoiseach LeoVaradkar that will be remembered.

Pope Francis came and he went. In terms of the past sins visited on the Irish population by the Catholic Church, not a lot of difference was made.

Technology is taking over young people’s lives and contributing to the disintegration of the family unit, a respected Capuchin Brother from Cork has warned.

For one section of Ireland the Papal visit was their chance to come together and affirm what they believe in, notwithstanding the wrongs done to so many, writes Michael Clifford in Phoenix Park

A majority of Irish people say that the Pope did not go far enough when he addressed clerical abuse during his Irish visit.

An association representing enlisted soldiers in the army has expressed its concern that troops were exposed to disused hypodermic needles while they were safeguarding Pope Francis at the Phoenix Park.

The Primate of All Ireland has said the ultimate proof of the Pope’s success in his visit to Ireland will be whether “decisive” action is taken to increase accountability over clerical child sex abuse.

The fable of the boy who cried wolf too often but was ignored by his village is universal in European folklore. Its primary message is not to ignore a warning no matter how frequently repeated.

Leo Varadkar’s speech on Saturday was a powerful affirmation of what a modern Ireland must look like, says Fergus Finlay.

Minister Katherine Zappone has shared what she said to Pope Francis when she met him outside Áras an Uachtaran on Saturday.