Associated Press

When white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel revealing that a new pope had been chosen, John Prevost turned on his television in Illinois, called his niece and they watched in awe as his brother's name was announced.

After white smoke billowed Thursday from the Sistine Chapel, signaling that a pope had been chosen, students in every classroom at The Frances Xavier Warde School in Chicago had their eyes glued to TV screens.

At a recent service in the remote southern Mexican community of Simojovel, Catholic and Mayan symbolism mingled at the altar as the deacon — his wife beside him — read the gospel in his native Tsotsil and recalled Pope Francis' teachings: work together for human rights, justice and Mother Earth.

If the next pope is from sub-Saharan Africa, he would be the first in Catholic Church history. Catholic Africans think it is a long shot, though some are cautiously optimistic that Pope Francis' successor could be a Black cardinal from their continent.

Martin Scorsese is producing a documentary made with Pope Francis that will chronicle the late pontiff's work with cinema in the global educational movement he founded before his death.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump, talk before the funeral of Pope Francis in Vatican April 26.(AP/Ukrainian Presidential Press Office)

Some of the fundamental differences between the U.S. president and the late pope — not only their divergent styles but their positions on migration, the environment and poverty — will come into sharper focus as President Donald Trump travels to Rome for Pope Francis' funeral.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is usually quick to issue statements on the passing of major international figures. It took him four days to issue a terse, 28-word statement on the official Prime Minister account.

Dr. Sergio Alfieri coordinated Francis' five-week hospital treatment for double pneumonia and continued to oversee the pope's treatment after the pontiff returned to the Vatican on March 23 for two months of rest to allow a full recovery.

This recipe from Milk Street Bakes mostly sticks to tradition but amps up the flavor with tangy buttermilk instead of regular milk, along with orange zest and a little Lyle's Golden Syrup for its bittersweet caramel notes. 

For generations, people of the Upper Rio Grande Valley and beyond have walked to reach El Santuario de Chimayó to commemorate Good Friday.

More than 9,000 Catholic employers do not need to abide by federal regulations requiring accommodations for workers who seek abortions and fertility treatments, according to a ruling issued this week by a federal judge in North Dakota.

More than 200 religious figures from Nicaragua are in exile, making it difficult to hold Mass or hear confessions in the country, especially in small villages.

Four men broke into the Fellowship Baptist church in Motherwell Township, Eastern Cape province of South Africa, on April 10, stole two cellphones from members of the congregation and took away the pastor in his own truck, according to police.

A federal judge on Friday sided with the Trump administration in allowing immigration agents to conduct enforcement operations at houses of worship despite a lawsuit filed by religious groups over the new policy.

For more than 50 years, Spyridon Denaxas has prayed, worked and welcomed the faithful in an island monastery carved into a seaside cliff that's little changed since its founding more than a millennium ago.

Since the early days of the faith, many Catholics have prayed for intercession to saints’ relics — but their sale is strictly forbidden.

A Catholic priest was shot and killed Thursday by a man who approached him at his parish rectory in the town of Seneca, Kansas, church officials said.

A crackdown on foreign students is alarming colleges, who say the Trump administration is using new tactics and vague justifications to push some students out of the country. College officials worry the new approach will keep foreigners from wanting to study in the U.S.

A Jesuit priest says he prefers going to prison than paying a 500-euro ($541) fine for participating in a climate activists' street blockade in the southern German city of Nuremberg.