Pope Francis

This is the first time during his administration that Biden gave the award with distinction, the White House said.

In a yearly address to diplomats delivered on his behalf by an aide, Francis appeared to reference deaths caused by winter cold in Gaza.

Women are still excluded from ordination as priests, and discussions about female ordination continue to create divisions within the Church.

I am also a man of faith, of Jewish faith, and as such, could not comprehend the [nativity] Scene as I saw it in the media.

Pope Francis has elevated women to leadership roles at the Vatican throughout his 11-year papacy, naming a range of women to second-in-command positions at various offices.

Cardinal McElroy criticized Trump's mass deportation campaign in 2019, adding that Catholics "simply can't stand by and watch [immigrants] get deported."

Rebibbia prison, built in 1946, is Italy's largest penal institution, housing over 62,000 inmates, with a critical overcrowding rate exceeding 132%.

The Pope had condemned the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, stating "This is cruelty. I want to say this because it touches my heart."

The pope also complained, "Yesterday they (Israel) did not allow the Patriarch (of Jerusalem) into Gaza as promised.”

On July 17, 1794, at 8:00 p.m., the nuns were executed in the Place du Trône, today's Place de la Nation, after being convicted of hostility to the French Revolution.