Pope Francis touched down in Dublin on Saturday for an historic two-day visit to Ireland, where the Catholic Church is battling to regain trust following multiple sexual abuse scandals.

Pope Francis on Monday asked forgiveness for child abuse crimes and cover-ups within the Catholic Church, admitting that the pain of victims “was long ignored, kept quiet or silenced.”

A Venezuelan archbishop, who served as Pope Francis’ ambassador to Mozambique was named on Wednesday as the Vatican’s new substitute of the Secretariat of State.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Philip Wilson, an Australian archbishop convicted in May of concealing abuse by a notorious paedophile priest in the 1970s, the Vatican said Monday.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Thursday urged Pope Francis to sack an Australian archbishop convicted of concealing child sex abuse.

Pope Francis has called Donald Trump‘s “zero tolerance” policy that leads to the separation of migrant children from their parents at the US-Mexico border “immoral”.

Pope Francis has called for a “change in mindset’’ on migration policies, saying international cooperation was vital, as Italy and France engaged in a diplomatic spat over the issue.

 Pope Francis has accepted the resignations of three Chilean bishops following sex abuse scandals, including Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno, the city at the centre of the uproar, the Vatican said on Monday.

Pope Francis has named 14 Roman Catholic prelates to the high rank of cardinal, the elite group of churchmen who are his closest advisers and can enter a conclave to choose his successor if they are under 80.

Pope Francis announced Sunday that he will hold a meeting of the Church’s top council to appoint 14 new cardinals next month, including from Iraq, Pakistan, Madagascar and Japan.

Pope Francis said on Monday that Catholics should not give “excessive importance” to certain Church rules while disregarding others, urging opponents of abortion to show equal passion for the lives of the poor and oppressed.

ABUJA – Pope Francis on Wednesday appointed Rev. Fr. Paul Adegboyega Olawoore, the coadjutor bishop to the Diocese of Ilorin in Kwara state. 

John Ogah, an illegal Nigerian migrant adjudged a hero after foiling a robbery at an Italian shop, has been baptised by Pope Francis.

Pope Francis on Friday said he was “ashamed” that younger generations would inherit a world “fractured by divisions and wars”.

 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was disappointed by the refusal of Pope Francis to personally apologise for the role of the Catholic Church in abuse suffered by tens of thousands of Indigenous children at Canada’s infamous Indian residential schools.