VATICAN CITY (RNS) ‘I will be reading them,’ the president told the pontiff after Francis gave him his encyclical on climate change and other papal writings at their summit meeting Wednesday.

ROME (RNS) The pontiff’s visit to a public housing project in Ostia near Rome was the latest in his surprise “Mercy Fridays” visits.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Callista Gingrich, 51, is a Catholic and wife of the former speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Francis sent a personal greeting to researchers discussing black holes, gravitational waves and assorted scientific questions at the Vatican Observatory.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Speaking in Portuguese, the pope defined his two-day official visit to the Catholic shrine May 12-13 as a ‘pilgrimage of hope and peace.’

ROME (RNS) ‘We wish to emphasize the urgency of the climate crisis and deepen our commitment to care for our common home,’ said Sister Sheila Kinsey, spokeswoman for the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters, one of the groups that chose to divest.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Well, it was more swaying than dancing. Still, it’s not something popes normally do, and the video became yet another internet hit for Francis.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The pope and the president — who have sparred on immigration, climate change and capitalism — are scheduled to meet on May 24.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Francis said Egypt’s rich history and cultural heritage should be the basis for ‘the construction of social and civil order’ in which all citizens regardless of their origin or religion can work together.

ROME (RNS) The election of an Italian knight was seen as a victory for Pope Francis, who had ousted the previous leader after an internal clash that pitted hard-liners against reformers.

ROME (RNS) Meanwhile the ousted head of the Order of Malta defied Vatican orders and returned to Rome to help elect his successor in a soap opera that has become a proxy battle between church conservatives and reformers.

ROME (RNS) A team of scientists, art historians and other experts uses technology to reimagine the original colors of a monument that is a potent symbol in Jewish history and for the Catholic Church.

ROME (RNS) Bishop Gianfranco Todisco told parishioners his ‘only true motive’ to resign from his diocesan duties was his drive to dedicate himself to missionary work.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) O’Reilly, who last year challenged the pope’s views on immigration and promised to convince him of the need for reform, shook hands briefly with the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics at the Vatican.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) In his Easter Sunday blessing, Francis also urged the faithful to remember ‘all those forced to leave their homelands as a result of armed conflicts, terrorist attacks, famine and oppressive regimes.’