pope

The Roman Catholic Church has announced that Pope Francis was rushed to a hospital and will be admitted to the hospital.

Pope John Paul II, who headed the Catholic Church from 1978 through his death in 2005, will soon officially become a saint. The sainthood was expected for the widely beloved pope, for whom thousands of Catholics chanted "Santo subito" ("Sainthood now”) in St...

After weeks of continuous media scrutiny, there is now a new pope as Buenos Aires Cardinal Jorge Bergogolio has taken the title, going under the moniker Pope Francis I.

Jorge Bergoglio, the 76-year-old archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, has been elected as pope. He is the first Latin American to lead the Catholic Church. Bergoglio, who has taken the name Francis I, is also the first Jesuit priest to become pope.

The process by which the next pope will be elected, known as the conclave, began Tuesday morning at about 11:30. Here are some key points you should know about:

Tuesday evening, a plume of black smoke rose out of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, signifying that the first round of balloting to elect a new pope had passed without any nominee receiving the necessary two-thirds majority.

Saturday Night Live doesn't often tackle religion, but when it rains, it pours! You may have already seen the instantly viral 'Djesus Uncrossed,' but have you seen the fake advertisement for a service that assists Popes with their retirement plans? It manages to combine relevant comedy with a spot-on commercial parody, effectively killing two SNL birds with one stone. Check it out below.

All those robes seem mighty grand, until a gentle breeze starts a-blowin'. We wouldn't be surprised if it was the wind that led to Pope Benedict XVI's abdication. Robes flying everywhere. Hats soaring off. It's not easy being pope.

The news of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation quickly spread across social media platforms on Monday. While the pope remained silent on his recently opened Twitter account, his Facebook page (which we completely fabricated) got weird. Check out how (we imagine) the pope's "friends" reacted to his resignation:

Retirement can be a strange transition. What to do with the sudden influx of free time? Most people use the time to travel, to jump more fully into their hobbies and passions, or perhaps to start new careers they’ve always been curious about but never had the guts or the freedom to try. Pope Benedict XVI has announced his retirement, and while we’re sure the pension plan is heavenly, we’ve got som

The news of Pope Benedict's resignation has got us feeling like it's 1415 all over again. HEY-O! Seriously, this is the first time a Pope has stepped down it nearly 600 years, so it's pretty big news. We all know what that means -- time for jokesters to trot out their bits on Twitter...

The technologically-savvy Pope Benedict XVI has already encouraged priests to blog and helmed the launch of the Vatican’s YouTube channel and Pope2You mobile and Facebook apps. So it’s really no surprise that as part of his newly-launched news portal, the pontiff sent his first tweet recently — from the papal iPad. You can follow the Vatican on Twitter at @news_va_en.