The original statue of Our Lady of Fatima will make a rare journey from its shrine in Portugal to Rome in October 2025 for a Jubilee celebration of Marian spirituality.

After experiencing progressive improvement the past few days, Pope Francis experienced “an isolated crisis of bronchospasm” which led to coughing and “vomiting with inhalation,” which worsened his respiratory condition, the Vatican said.

Vice President JD Vance said he was “surprised” by Pope Francis’ criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration policy, but said he is praying for the pontiff’s recovery amid his hospitalization.

Liturgical leaders in the church must serve as humble guides to prayer rather than be strictly focused on the application of rules, Pope Francis said.

While Pope Francis’ condition has continued to improve, the Vatican announced that he will not lead his traditional Ash Wednesday services in Rome March 5.

Pope Francis, now hospitalized with severe respiratory issues, has been “broadly popular among the nation’s Catholics throughout his tenure,” according to multiple surveys conducted by Pew Research over the past 12 years.

Pope Francis’ clinical condition continued to improve Feb. 27, the Vatican said, and he had respiratory physiotherapy in the morning and the afternoon.

The office governing Vatican City State was set to have a new president March 1 and, while in the hospital, Pope Francis changed the office’s statutes to give the new president two top-level assistants.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Despite his illness, age and hospitalization, Pope Francis is still demonstrating his deep faith and exercising his role as pontiff, said a cardinal who once served as an auxiliary bishop of Rome. “The pope offers profound meaning to human suffering — that same suffering that he himself has always flagged as […]

Pope Francis’ condition showed “further slight improvement” in the previous 24 hours, the Vatican said in its evening medical bulletin Feb. 26.