Dancers dressed as traditional characters in the “Baile de Negras” dance on the feast day of the Virgin of the Candelaria (Candlemas) in the town of Diriomo, Nicaragua.
Candlemas falls forty days after Christmas and is celebrated by Catholics as the presentation of Christ at the Temple.
Pope Francis and hundreds of thousands of Catholics gathered in Poland for World Youth Day celebrations, which run through Sunday.
Christians worldwide celebrate Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent. Those observing the holy day are blessed with ash, usually drawn as a cross on the forehead.
See how past popes and papal visits were covered in the pages of The Sun, including Pope John Paul II’s visit to Baltimore in 1995. Click or tap on the images for full-screen views of the front pages.
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Six days after Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as the new head of the Catholic Church, the newly dubbed Pope Francis was formally installed as the church’s next pontiff. Addressing thousands of people at his inauguration mass at the Vatican, the first Latin American pope delivered a homily on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Photographer Daniel Becerril documented unconventional Catholic priest Adolfo Huerta, known as “Gofo,” who likes rock music, dyes his hair red, dresses in black, and enjoys riding his motorcycle. Huerta, who was ordained five years ago, found God and the priesthood while studying philosophy at the Pontifical University in Mexico City and working with HIV-positive patients and sex workers as a social activist. He says it is important to demystify faith and accept people’s differences without judgement, and in his sermons he references rock songs, quotes books and tells jokes.
Sometime in March – Vatican rules seem to indicate March 15 – an estimated 115 Catholic cardinals will enter the Sistine Chapel to deliberate and elect the next head of the Roman Catholic Church. The proceedings of this papal conclave will be kept secret while crowds gather outside awaiting the announcement of the 266th pontiff. To get a better idea of the proceedings, take a look at these photos from the election of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.
Masses of pilgrims queued to enter St. Peter’s Square to hear Pope Benedict XVI’s final weekly public audience in Vatican City, Vatican on Wednesday. The Pontiff attended his last weekly public audience before stepping down tomorrow. The weekly event, which would normally be held in a vast auditorium in winter, was moved outdoors to St. Peter’s Square so more people can attend. Pope Benedict XVI had been the leader of the Catholic Church for eight years and is the first Pope to retire since 1415. He cites ailing health as his reason for retirement and will spend the rest of his life in solitude away from public engagements.
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