POPE JOHN PAUL II

The Vatican says it imposed disciplinary sanctions on Nobel Peace Prize-winning Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo following allegations that he sexually abused boys in East Timor in the 1990s.

Highly influential French film director Jean-Luc Godard has died at age 91.

Pope Francis has begged for an end to Russia’s “senseless and tragic war” in Ukraine as he arrived in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan.

Pope Francis is traveling to Kazakhstan this week to participate in a conference of world religious leaders, with Russia's war in Ukraine clouding the visit.

Nearly two decades after his capture in Pakistan, the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 terror attacks is still in a legal limbo.

Pope John Paul I is widely recalled not so much for his life but for the murky circumstances of his abrupt death, 33 days after being elected pontiff in 1978, Now, admirers of the so-called "smiling pope” are using his approaching beatification to focus on the accomplishments of the pope instead of the intrigue surrounding his demise at age 65 which spawned best-sellers alleging he was poisoned or his health was neglected by detractors in the Vatican.

Pope Francis has wrapped up two days of closed-door meetings with about 180 cardinals including the newest ones.

Abel Ferrara is perhaps best known for his gritty New York exploitation films of the 1980s and 1990s that delved into the soulless evils of drug addiction, corruption and sexual violence.

A Vatican cardinal has marked the 80th anniversary of the gas chamber killing of the Jewish-born Catholic convert Edith Stein.

Pope Francis is visiting a Canada that is less Catholic, more secular and more religiously diverse than the last time the country hosted a pontiff two decades ago.

Pope Francis plans to apologize to Indigenous groups on Canadian soil for harms inflicted at church-run residential schools.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, a once-powerful Italian prelate who long served as the Vatican's No. 2 official, has died at 94.

A Vatican investigation into allegations that St. John Paul II’s longtime top aide was negligent in handling sex abuse claims in his native Poland has cleared him of wrongdoing.

President Joe Biden used his speech in Poland's capital to forcefully denounce Russia's Vladimir Putin, but Biden seemed to have a more subtle message for his Polish hosts.

Pope Francis has prayed for peace in Ukraine in a ceremony that harks back to a century-old apocalyptic prophecy about peace and Russia.

The Vatican has released the document laying out Pope Francis’ long-awaited reform of the Holy See bureaucracy.

Other Popes have managed to temper tyrants—can Francis do anything about Vladimir Putin?

The Vatican says Pope Francis is planning to visit Congo and South Sudan in July.

It has been 25 years since a Connecticut newspaper exposed one of the Catholic Church’s biggest sexual abuse scandals

It has been 25 years since a Connecticut newspaper exposed one of the Catholic Church’s biggest sexual abuse scandals.

A Connecticut newspaper exposed one of the Catholic Church’s biggest sexual abuse scandals by reporting 25 years ago Wednesday that eight men had accused the revered founder of the Legion of Christ religious order of raping and molesting them when they were boys preparing for the priesthood. It took a decade for the Vatican to sanction the founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, and another decade for the Legion to admit he was a serial pedophile who had violated at least 60 boys. In the meantime, the original whistleblowers suffered a defamation campaign by the Legion, which branded them liars bent on creating a conspiracy to hurt a man considered a living saint.

Pope Francis is vowing to provide justice to victims of clergy sexual abuse after an independent audit faulted retired Pope Benedict XVI for having botched four cases of abuse when he was archbishop of Munich, Germany.

Pope Francis has baptized 16 babies in the Sistine Chapel to resume a decades-old Vatican tradition.

Pope Francis is celebrating his 85th birthday.

Pope Francis says there are plans for a possible second meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Pope Francis was heckled by an elderly priest as he arrived for a meeting in Athens with the head of the country’s Orthodox church.

Pope Francis has warned that the “easy answers” of populism and authoritarianism threaten democracy in Europe and called for fresh dedication to promoting the common good.

Fernando González, the head of Caribbean newsgathering for The Associated Press, has died in Havana.

When President Joe Biden meets with Pope Francis on Friday, he won’t kiss the ring.

A Missouri man has been put to death for killing three workers while robbing a convenience store nearly three decades ago.

An Italian artist is defending his sculpture of a 19th century peasant woman against charges of sexism after its recent unveiling sparked calls for the work's removal.

Pope Francis is urging Slovakians look out for the neediest among them as he wraps up his four-day pilgrimage.

Pope Francis is urging Slovakia’s Roma to integrate better into the mainstream as he meets with the country’s most socially excluded minority group, who have long suffered discrimination, marginalization and poverty.

Polish political leaders have attended the beatification of two revered figures of the Catholic church in a Warsaw church.

Pope Francis is making his first foreign trip since undergoing intestinal surgery in July.

Pope Francis is paying a visit next week to a neighborhood in Slovakia most Slovaks would not even think about going, where until recently even the police would avoid after dark.

An activist says former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's court appearance in a sex abuse case marks a new phase in the global struggle to hold clerics accountable.

Pope Francis has resumed his routine of holding weekly audiences with the general public a month after he underwent bowel surgery.

The coronavirus has taken a heavy toll among Roman Catholic priests and nuns around the world, killing hundreds of them in a handful of the hardest-hit countries alone.

The Louisiana governor's mansion has staged some tough acts to follow.

The Vatican has detailed laws, rituals and roles to ensure the transfer of power when a pope dies or resigns.

The Vatican says Pope Francis is in good condition, alert and breathing on his own after the pontiff underwent a three-hour operation that involved removing half of his colon.

One of Germany’s most famous Catholic boys’ choirs plans to establish a separate choral group for girls for the first time in its more than 1,000-year history.

A magistrate slain by mobsters in Sicily has been beatified by the Roman Catholic church, the last formal step before possible sainthood.

Hans Kueng, a dissident Catholic theologian who fell out with Pope Benedict XVI, has died at age 93.

The Vatican on Monday released the itinerary of Francis’ March 5-8 visit to Iraq, his first foreign trip since being grounded for 16 months due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 84-year-old pontiff, who has been vaccinated against COVID-19, apparently intends to go ahead with the trip despite the pandemic and lingering security concerns. Francis had intended to visit Iraq that year, as did St. John Paul II in 2000, but both had to call off their trips due to security concerns. The next day, Francis travels to Najaf, home of al-Sistani, one of the world’s leading Shiite leaders. AdThe slow return of displaced Christians to northern Iraq since the territory was liberated from the Islamic State in 2017 remains a contentious issue.

Pope Francis is once again canceling public appearances due to nerve pain. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)ROME – Pope Francis said Monday he is still planning to visit Iraq in March, even if most Iraqis have to watch him on television to avoid the coronavirus. “I am the pastor of people who are suffering,” Francis told Catholic News Service during an audience to mark the 100th anniversary of the news agency of the U.S. bishops conference. Francis is scheduled to visit Iraq March 5-8 in what would be the first-ever papal trip to the country. AdVirus cases in Iraq have been steadily dropping since peaking in late summer and are averaging around 800 new cases a day.

FILE - In this Aug.22, 1997 file photo, Pope John Paul II meditates by the grave of his former friend geneticist Jerome Lejeune, during a private visit to the Chalo-Saint-Mars cemetery near Paris. Pope Francis on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021, approved the heroic virtues of Dr. Jerome Lejeune, who discovered the genetic basis of Down syndrome, lived from 1926-1994 and was particularly esteemed by St. John Paul II for his anti-abortion stance. Pope Francis on Thursday approved the “heroic virtues” of Dr. Jerome Lejeune, who lived from 1926-1994 and was particularly esteemed by St. John Paul II for his anti-abortion stance. John Paul visited Lejeune's grave during the Paris World Youth Day in 1997. He has likened abortion to hiring a “hit man” to take care of a problem.

As the first vaccines neared approval last year, some Catholic bishops warned they might be morally unacceptable. “The Church, on multiple levels, has said that it’s morally acceptable to receive the vaccines that are currently available. Among Protestant evangelical leaders, who generally have strong anti-abortion views, there’s been relatively little anti-vaccine rhetoric, according to the Rev. In the past, the council has ruled that some vaccines for other diseases were unacceptable because they used pork-derived gelatin. But on Friday the council gave its approval to China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, paving the way for its distribution in Indonesia.

They were among many religious leaders — some admired worldwide, others beloved only locally — who died in 2020. It occurred in April, during a period in which numerous Church of God in Christ bishops and pastors died of COVID-19. 2 leader, Bishop Amfilohije -- who also died after COVID-19 complications -- both downplayed the dangers of the pandemic and avoided wearing masks in public. Edward Kmiec, 84, who between 1992 and 2012 served as the Roman Catholic bishop of Nashville, Tennessee, and Buffalo, New York. John Yambasu, 63, a bishop of the United Methodist Church in Sierra Leone who died in a traffic accident in August.

The world also said goodbye to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement who died in July. Other former political figures who died this year include Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, New York Mayor David Dinkins, Arizona Gov. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2020 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___David Stern, 77. The guitarist who supplied the scratching, seething sound that fueled the highly influential British punk band Gang of Four. He fused African rhythms with funk to become one of the most influential musicians in world dance music.

Cardinals sit as Pope Francis celebrates Mass the day after he raised 13 new cardinals to the highest rank in the Catholic hierarchy, at St. Peter's Basilica, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, Pool)VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis, joined by the church’s newest cardinals in Mass on Sunday, warned against mediocrity as well as seeking out “godfathers” to promote one's own career. The freshly-minted cardinals who did come to the Vatican wore protective masks and purple vestments, as the Church began the solemn liturgical season of Advent in the run-up to Christmas. Among those raised to cardinal's rank on Saturday by Francis was the current archbishop of Washington, Wilton Gregory, the first African-American cardinal. “When the Church worships God and serves our neighbor, it does not live in the night.

Pope Francis leaves at the end of a consistory ceremony where 13 bishops were elevated to a cardinal's rank in St. Peters Basilica at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020. Gregory also was one of the only new cardinals who kept his mask on when the group paid a singing courtesy visit to retired Pope Benedict XVI. He also eschewed a red cassock for Saturday's ceremony, using instead his brown hooded friar's robes covered with a white “rochet" vestment. The cardinals greeted Benedict, kissed his hand and sang a prayer as the retired pope, who is 93 and frail, listened. With Saturday’s new cardinals, Francis has named 73 of the 128 voting-age cardinals, compared to 39 for Pope Benedict XVI and 16 for St. John Paul II.

FILE - In this 1979 file photo, Pope John Paul II, left, poses with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was elected Pope on April 19, 2005 and chose Benedict XVI as his papal name. Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI is honoring St. John Paul II on the centenary of his birth and floating the idea that he should be called the Great, as only two other popes have been. (AP Photo/File)WARSAW St. John Paul II was honored on the centennial of his birth Monday with special Masses at the Vatican and in his native Poland, an anniversary that comes as the Polish church finds itself confronted by new allegations of clerical sex abuse. Celebrating the memory of Saint John Paul II lets remember this: The Lord loves his people, he visited his people, he sent a shepherd.To Poles, John Paul is best remembered for using the papacy to shake the foundations of an oppressive communist system that was toppled across Eastern Europe 11 years into his papacy. And that issue has also been on people's minds in recent days because of a new documentary exposing alleged sex abuse in Poland's church.

Italy partially lifted lockdown restrictions Monday after a two-month coronavirus lockdown. Before I became a priest I was a surgeon, so for me gloves are normal, he joked afterward. The Vatican has its own post-lockdown reopening norms, and as a sovereign state, is not beholden to the Italian government measures. But Wodzisz was thrilled anyway to be able to celebrate the centenary of John Paul's birth by visiting his tomb. We came to be close to the tomb, but we got a Mass!"

Cardinal Wuerl on the canonization of two popes with two living popes present Half a million people packed St. Peter's Square at the Vatican to watch Pope Francis canonize Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington, DC, was there and talks to the "CBS This Morning" co-hosts about the event.

Pilgrims flock to Vatican ahead of dual canonization The Catholic faithful from around the world are converging on Rome ahead of the historic canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II. Alan Pizzey takes a look at the final preparations before the historic day.

Catholic Church prepares to canonize two popes A massive crowd of pilgrims is expected to witness the ceremonies in Vatican City that will canonize Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II. The canonization of saints in the Roman Catholic Church began more than a thousand years ago when Pope John Paul XV bestowed the honor on a German bishop. Allen Pizzey reports.

From the archives: Massive crowds come see Pope John Paul II celebrate Mass in Central Park From the CBS News archives, throngs of people turn out to get a glimpse of Pope John Paul II as he celebrates Mass in New York City's Central Park in 1995. CBS News Peter Van Sant reports.

CBS News Radio Reporter, Mexico City