VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has appointed Sister Raffaella Petrini, an Italian member of the U.S.-based Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, to be secretary-general of the office governing Vatican City State.

VATICAN CITY -- With the COVID-19 pandemic still underway and with restrictions on gatherings still in place in some countries, the Vatican has again extended the period of time when people can earn a plenary indulgence for visiting a cemetery and praying for the souls of the faithful in purgatory.

VATICAN CITY -- A Vatican conference will gather both Christian and non-Christian historians and experts to delve deep into the history of the church in the first centuries of Christianity.

VANCOUVER -- Sr. Hae-Jin Lim is quick to say her vocation story is about GodöÏÓãÊÓƵapp faithfulness, not her own.

CÓRDOBA, Spain -- More than 100 victims of SpainöÏÓãÊÓƵapp 1936-1939 civil war moved a step closer to sainthood after being beatified as martyrs for the faith. They included two teenage boys as well as an 88-year-old nun who died of bullet wounds after being tied to a window as a human shield.

MANCHESTER, England -- A prominent Anglican bishop has joined the Catholic Church and will be ordained as a priest at the end of October.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis named Msgr. Diego Giovanni Ravelli, who has served as an official of the papal almoner's office since 2013, as the new master of papal liturgical ceremonies, the Vatican said.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis will not be going to the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, as he had hoped.

VATICAN CITY -- A Vatican court cleared two priests involved in a controversial sex abuse case at a minor seminary once located at the Vatican.

VATICAN CITY -- A request by Vatican prosecutors to withdraw testimony in a megatrial regarding financial malfeasance prompted defense lawyers to call for the case to be thrown out.