- 2d ago
Himalayan border floods leave at least 392 dead and over 1,400 missing across Nepal and Tibet
Glacier collapse and massive flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border have killed at least 392 people, while more than 1,400 remain missing as emergency teams deploy across damaged mountain valleys.
- 5d ago
Vatican foreign minister meets Sergey Lavrov in Moscow to urge Ukraine peace talks
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday, calling for an end to the four-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine and focusing on humanitarian agreements.
- 6d ago
Cardinal Zuppi condemns migration rhetoric and confirms Vatican diplomatic trips to Moscow
At the Rimini Meeting, Italian Episcopal Conference President Matteo Zuppi called for European migration reform and confirmed upcoming Vatican diplomatic visits to Moscow.
- Aug 23
Pope Leo XIV urges priority for people over borders and institutions in Rimini address
Speaking to 5,000 attendees at the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples in Italy, Pope Leo XIV called for the dismantling of unjust power dynamics and rejected the logic of military rearmament.
- Aug 22
Pope Leo XIV visits San Marino and addresses 60,000 youth in Rimini
Pope Leo XIV conducted a pastoral trip to San Marino and Rimini on 22 August 2026, meeting state leaders, speaking to 60,000 youth at Rimini Fiera, and celebrating a beachfront mass for 25,000 people.
- Aug 16
Rocío opens third Jubilee Year ahead of Virgin's transfer to Almonte on August 19
The village of El Rocío in Huelva opened its third Jubilee Year on Saturday, August 15, with Bishop Santiago Gómez Sierra presiding over ceremonies ahead of the transfer of the Virgin del Rocío to Almonte on August 19, the first such transfer in seven years.
- Aug 11
Pope Leo XIV fills Stade de France in under an hour as 200,000 register for Paris Mass
Free registrations for Pope Leo XIV's September visit to France opened on 10 August and were overwhelmed within hours, with the Stade de France reaching capacity and over 200,000 signing up for the Champs-Élysées Mass.
- Aug 8
Pope Leo XIV to meet clergy abuse victims during September France visit
Pope Leo XIV will privately meet victims of clerical sexual abuse during his September 25-28 apostolic trip to France, the Vatican announced on August 7, as it published the itinerary covering Paris, Lourdes and Metz.
- Aug 6
Nawrocki marks first year as president with strategy pledge, cost inquiry and political crossfire
President Karol Nawrocki marked the first anniversary of his swearing-in on August 6 with a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, announcing a forthcoming development strategy, while Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk demanded a full cost breakdown and political opponents criticized his veto record.
- Aug 5
Pope Leo XIV will visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in November in his first Latin American trip as pontiff
Pope Leo XIV will visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from November 6 to 17, 2026, in his first Latin American trip as pontiff, returning to Peru where he served as bishop of Chiclayo and marking the first papal visit to Argentina in nearly four decades.
- Aug 1
Patti Smith meets Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican: two Chicago natives, a crucifix and a joke about English
The 79-year-old rock icon and poet, wearing a crucifix, was received by the pontiff in the Apostolic Palace on Friday, with Vatican official Antonio Spadaro describing the 'lengthy' talk as a chat between 'old friends'.
- Jul 16
Sharon Stone joins Nobel laureates in Rome to sign AI disarmament declaration, tells Trump: 'Make your mother proud'
At the Global Nobel Laureates Assembly in Rome, actress Sharon Stone, serving as ambassador of Pope Leo XIV's encyclical 'Magnifica Humanitas', urged world leaders to keep human dignity at the centre of AI governance and signed a declaration calling for a ban on autonomous nuclear weapons systems.
- Jul 10
Spanish minister asks bishops' leader: 'What if we called the Church a band of sexual aggressors?'
Presidency minister Félix Bolaños sent a letter to the head of Spain's Episcopal Conference after Luis Argüello described the State as a 'band of thieves' during a summer school address.
- Jul 7
Cardinal López Romero steps aside after five women accuse him of sexual misconduct
The Archbishop of Rabat temporarily withdraws from public ministry after at least five women accused him of sexual violence, triggering a Vatican investigation.
- Jul 6
Madrid Book Fair dismisses director Eva Orúe after five years, citing a 'change of cycle' and a need to put bookstores first
The Asociación de Librerías de Madrid removed Eva Orúe as director of the Feria del Libro on Monday, three weeks after the 2026 edition closed with lower attendance and revenue. Orúe said she does not share the reasons given.
- Jul 6
UN chief warns AI is developing faster than rules can keep up, urges global governance
Antonio Guterres told the first UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva that artificial intelligence is outpacing regulation, and called for harmonised global rules to protect children and prevent a 'vibe-coded' future.
- Jul 5
Pope Leo XIV marks US Independence Day on Lampedusa, urging Europe and America to embrace migrants
On the day the United States celebrated its 250th anniversary, the first American pope chose the migrant gateway of Lampedusa to deliver a sharp rebuke to Western immigration policies.
- Jul 4
Trump marks 250th Independence Day at Mount Rushmore, warns US 'will never be a communist country'
President Donald Trump delivered a speech at Mount Rushmore for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, declaring the United States the most powerful nation on Earth and warning that American identity is under attack from internal radicals who would turn the country communist.
- Jul 3
Ultimo draws 250,000 to Rome, breaking Vasco Rossi's Italian concert record
The Roman singer-songwriter drew 250,000 spectators to Tor Vergata on July 4, surpassing the 225,000 mark set by Vasco Rossi in 2017, and later announced he had written 'the most important song of my life'.
- Jul 2
Vatican excommunicates six Lefebvrist bishops after illicit consecrations in Switzerland, warns followers of same penalty
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith declared the consecration of four bishops without papal consent a schismatic act, imposing automatic excommunication on the six clerics involved and threatening the same for any faithful who formally adhere to the breakaway group.
