The nearly 400-year-old sculpted canopy towering over the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica will be surrounded by scaffolding for most of 2024 as it is washed, repaired and restored.

The world needs Christians who do not “stay in their slippers on the couch,” but get out and share the Gospel, especially through acts of charity, Pope Francis told members of an Italian fraternity that promotes a spectacular devotion to St. Rose of Viterbo.

Vincenzo Riva, a man with neurofibromatosis, whose photograph with Pope Francis was seen around the world a decade ago, died in Vicenza, Italy, Jan. 10 at the age of 58.

It may seem insignificant to some, but praying the rosary every day is huge in the eyes of God, Pope Francis told an association of laywomen dedicated to the Holy Family and prayer.

One of the most dangerous vices is gluttony, turning people who are meant to be custodians of creation into mere consumers and even exploiters and predators, Pope Francis said.

Societies must consider how their people can share challenges and resources, the pope told representatives of a dialogue project bringing together socialists, Marxists and Christians.

The day after being released from Rome’s Santo Spirito Hospital, Bishop David M. O’Connell of Trenton, N.J., had a heart-to-heart moment with Pope Francis.

As soon as the liturgies of the Christmas season ended, the Vatican published the calendar of public liturgies Pope Francis will preside over in January and February.

The Catholic Church should revise its celibacy requirement for Latin-rite priests, a senior official in the Vatican’s doctrinal office said.

In the Sistine Chapel, where popes are elected, Pope Francis baptized 16 infants, who, he said, “give us the witness of how to receive the faith: with innocence and with an open heart.”