Pope Francis' death set off a series of traditions that culminates in a vote for his successor. Here are some of the possible ...

The 2025 papal conclave at the Vatican ended with the election of American-born Cardinal Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV. Here ...

To convey how all-encompassing the Roman Catholic Church was during the Middle Ages, the historian R.W. Southern once offered ...

Contenders for pope emerge from the U.S., Asia, and Africa—raising the chance of a non-European successor to Francis.

With more than 61 million Catholics and the second-highest number of cardinals after Italy, a guessing game is emerging on whether an American could be elected pope.

The last three popes each chose very different paths between Rome and home—sometimes confrontational, sometimes aloof.

ROME — The new Chicago-raised Pope Leo XIV faces an immediate challenge in his native country: taming the brawling U.S. tribe of Catholics, riven by political divisions that have thwarted the will of ...

WASHINGTON — Robert Prevost has been elected as the first American pope, and made his first public appearance since donning the robes of the pontiff Thursday afternoon to address the crowd ...

"I hope to be able to respond to [the challenges] with a healthy dialogue," said Cardinal Robert Prevost in 2023.

The name a new pope chooses will "indicate a certain spirit and direction and vision of the new pope," said Dennis Doyle, a theologian and professor emeritus of religious studies at the University ...

VATICAN CITY — As more than a billion Catholics around the world await the election of a new pope, all eyes are on the Sistine Chapel, where 133 cardinals have begun the secretive process known ...

Sixteen days after the reign of Pope Francis ended with his death on Easter Monday, the Catholic Church is looking to the future. The papal conclave got underway Wednesday afternoon in Rome ...