Today in Rome, Pope Francis presided over a mass to canonize Mother Teresa. Meanwhile, Indian nuns from the Catholic Order of the Missionaries of Charity watched the mass via live telecast, while others flocked to her tomb in the Indian city of Kolkata to celebrate her proclamation as a saint.
Pope Francis and hundreds of thousands of Catholics gathered in Poland for World Youth Day celebrations, which run through Sunday.
New Vatican Swiss Guards are sworn-in every May 6 to commemorate the day in 1527 when 147 Swiss Guards died protecting Pope Clement VII during the Sack of Rome.
Christians across the globe will celebrate Easter throughout this weekend, including Good Friday, when according to Christian tradition Jesus Christ was crucified and died.
Pope Francis celebrated an open-air mass in Ecatepec — a rough, crime-plagued Mexico City suburb — on Sunday. He has chosen to visit some of Mexico’s most troubled regions during his five-day trip to the world’s second most populous Catholic country.
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.
Pope Francis pushed open the great bronze doors of St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday to launch his Holy Year of Mercy, declaring that mercy trumps moralizing in his Catholic Church.
Francis stood in prayer on the threshold of the basilica’s Holy Door then walked through it, the first of an estimated 10 million faithful who will pass through over the course of the next year in a rite of pilgrimage dating back centuries.
A thin and frail Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI walked through the doorway right after Francis, gingerly negotiating the two steps with the help of a cane and his longtime assistant. It was a rare outing for the 88-year-old Benedict, whose historic resignation led to Francis’ election and a papacy dedicated to showing the merciful side of the church.
Some 5,000 extra police, carabinieri and soldiers have been deployed around Rome, and a no-fly zone imposed on its skies, to protect the pilgrims who are flocking to Rome on foot, by car, train and plane to participate in the yearlong celebration.
The day in photos around the world.
Images of Pope Francis as he tours and speaks in Washington, D.C.
The day in photos around the world.
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