Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who resigned from his role of Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh in February amid allegations of sexual misconduct, will be leaving Scotland to take part in a period of spiritual renewal at the Vatican.

The Vatican has ordered Cardinal Keith O'Brien to leave Scotland. Britain's most senior priest retired from the church in Scotland after admitting inappropriate sexual conduct with priests and planned to move to a house in Dunbar in East Lothian after vacating his official residence in Edinburgh.

Emily Mulcahy from Cobh and Edmond Roche from Fermoy, Co Cork were both part of a group of 44 individuals from around the world personally confirmed by Pope Francis in St. Peters Square. 

Pope Francis is making a reputation for himself as a frugal man who will forgo the luxuries associated with his office. Gone are the signature Prada red shoes, the ermine fur and the fabulous robes and golden thrones of his predecessor Pope Benedict.

Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley has been elected to a powerful Vatican advisory group by Pope Francis.

Torrentfreak.com, a website that analyzes file sharing, reports that an IP address in Vatican City has been downloading eyebrow raising torrents from pornographic websites featuring transsexuals and other fetishistic clips. 

The newly appointed Pope Francis will not move into the Apostolic Palace papal apartments. Instead he has opted to live in a suite at the Vatican guesthouse.

The odds of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI living out his days at the Playboy mansion are small, but not so small that some bookmakers won't lay odds on it.

According to Papal Dictate dating back as far as 1883 the pope is nominally the Bishop of Kilfenora, in County Clare. Along with attempting to mend a fragile Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis I is taking on this west of Ireland diocese.

Read more: Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio named Pope Francis - the new leader of the Catholic Church

Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley has become a contender to fill the recently vacated position of Pope, at least according to Irish bookmakers Paddy Power.

Seven out of ten Catholics in the U.S. believe the next pope should let priests marry, allow women to become priests, and allow birth control.

Sensational claims about the 'inappropriate influence' of secretive lobbies within the Vatican have transfixed the Italian media all week.

Catholics United have launched a petition against Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony attending the conclave in the Vatican, to chose a successor for Pope Benedict XIV.

For the first time since 1415, we are going  to have a conclave or papal election with no Pope to bury beforehand.  But the procedures for the election are not affected by this ‘novelty.’ Dan Brown might seem an unlikely source for information on a Papal election but the detailed description in Angels and Demons was apparently taken from a book by a Jesuit scholar and is quite accurate.

Father Tony Flannery of the Redemptorist, a high profile Irish priest known for his views on issues such as female ordination and homosexuality, refused a Vatican edict to apologize this weekend for some of his positions in order to remain a priest in good standing.