This Month
Pope’s new memoir unlikely to quell Catholic dissent
In his new autobiography, Pope Francis outlines a recipe for “infinite possibilities” that will please neither conservatives nor radicals.
- Rowan Williams
December 2024
Biden commutes sentences for 37 out of 40 inmates on federal death row
The move will frustrate Donald Trump’s plan to expand executions. Unlike executive orders, clemency decisions cannot be reversed by a president’s successor.
- Updated
- Nandita Bose
Australian-based bishop among Pope’s new cardinal picks
At 44 years of age, Mykola Bychokthe, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, is also the youngest cardinal.
- Nicole Winfield
September 2024
East Timor gives Pope Francis a massive welcome
Timorese jammed the motorcade route, waving Vatican and Timorese flags and toting yellow and white umbrellas – the colours of the Holy See.
- Nicole Winfield and Niniek Karmini
April 2024
Albanese out, Pope in for G7 summit
Despite Australia being a regular fixture in recent years, Anthony Albanese is off the guest list for the June leaders’ summit of the world’s most advanced economies.
- Andrew Tillett
January 2024
World revels, but wars cast shadow over New Year festivities
Midnight advanced from one time zone to the next starting with Oceania, then the rest of Asia and the Middle East, followed by Europe, Africa and the Americas.
- Thomas Beaumont
December 2023
Netanyahu vows to ‘deepen’ Gaza campaign in troop visit
The Israeli prime minister issued the warning as an Israeli air strike reportedly killed an adviser to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Syria.
- Nidal al-Mughrabi, Bassam Masoud and Emily Rose
Pope laments war in Holy Land on solemn Christmas Eve
Francis warned against ‘the quest for worldly power and might, fame and glory, which measures everything in terms of success, results, numbers and figures’.
- Nidal al-Mughrabi, Bassam Masoud and Dan Williams
Cardinal guilty of mass fraud in Vatican ‘trial of the century’
The former papal confidant, who oversaw the management of Holy See funds, faces jail time after the verdict in the landmark court case.
- Anthony Faiola and Stefano Pitrelli
November 2023
Argentina elects ‘shock therapy’ libertarian Javier Milei as president
His plans include shutting the central bank, ditching the peso, and slashing spending, potentially painful reforms that resonated with voters angry at the economic malaise.
- Nicolás Misculin and Walter Bianchi
October 2023
US ready to respond to attacks on US personnel, says Blinken
The US Secretary of State said: ‘We don’t want to see our forces or our personnel come under fire. But if that happens, we’re ready for it.’
- Darlene Superville
June 2023
Berlusconi’s death draws tributes – even from critics
Reaction poured in from around the world, from national leaders to announcers who burst into tears on one of his television networks, for the populist three-time prime minister and media mogul.
- Daniella Matar and Andrew Dampf
May 2023
Zelensky sweeps into UK after three-stop continental tour
Mr Zelensky toured European capitals over the weekend to seek more aid as Ukraine prepares a long-anticipated spring offensive to retake territory seized by Russia.
- Jill Lawless
Zelensky hails Germany for $4.4b military aid
Both Ukraine and Germany are keenly aware that their relationship will be more important than ever before Ukraine’s looming counteroffensive against Russia.
- Erika Solomon
March 2023
Responding to Indigenous people, Vatican rejects discovery doctrine
The statement marked a historic recognition of the Vatican’s own complicity in colonial-era abuses committed by European powers.
- Nicole Winfield
- Opinion
- Automation
Deepfakes might be dictators’ most powerful weapon yet
In 1984, George Orwell predicted totalitarians would command you to reject “the evidence of your eyes and ears”. To save democracy, we might just need to.
- Misha Zelinsky
February 2023
Dozens dead after migrant boat breaks apart near Italian coast
The incident reopened a debate on migration in Europe and Italy, where the right-wing government’s tough new laws for migrant rescue charities have drawn criticism from the United Nations and others.
- Frances D'Emilio
January 2023
‘Unwavering courage’: Vatican holds funeral for George Pell
Pope Francis gave a final blessing for the Australian cardinal who lamented that the current papacy was a “disaster” and a “catastrophe”.
- Frances D’Emilio
Pope praises Pell’s ‘perseverance in his hour of trial’
Pope Francis’ condolence telegram lauded the Australian for his religious conviction and his work on Vatican finances. It also referenced the child abuse saga.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Church lays Benedict to rest, if not its divisions
A strange era in the modern church has come to an end, in which two popes – one resigned and one in power, one conservative and one liberal – coexisted in the tiny confines of the Vatican.
- Jason Horowitz