The Latest Breaking News from Church

The death of Pope Francis on Monday aged 88, after 12 years as leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has set in motion centuries-old traditions which will culminate in cardinals electing a new pontiff.

The Argentine pontiff, 88, died on Monday from a stroke, less than a month after returning home from five weeks in hospital battling double pneumonia. Pope Francis's coffin -- which he previously ordered should be of wood and zinc -- will then be taken inside the church and from there…

THE INDEPENDENT VIEW: As cardinals prepare to choose a new pope, they must not replace a moderniser with a traditionalist – and Pope Francis’s successor must be bold enough to finish what he started

As an at-times unwitting star on social media, Pope Francis knew how to exploit the internet to preach the gospel, broadening the Church's appeal while modernising its communications.

President Emmanuel Macron of France, a country that is largely Roman Catholic, lead the country's numerous tributes to Pope Francis who was "always on the side of the most vulnerable and the most fragile". The late pontiff, who died Monday aged 88, will be honoured with special masses in Notre-Dame…

Pope’s death was confirmed Monday morning and political and religious leaders are sharing expressions of mourning

Unlike his predecessors, Pope Francis has chosen not to be buried in the Vatican Grottoes but in the Roman Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he frequently prayed.

Tributes to Pope Francis quickly flooded in from faith leaders and politicians across the world after the Vatican announced the pontiff had died on Monday morning

Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell is currently the most powerful man at the Vatican.