ROME-- He cares about the poor. But he rejects the Marxist Liberation Theology meta-narrative where “the poor” are a class. He knows and has helped poor people in familial ways as individuals. For Pope Francis the beauty is in the details, the white cassock, the small car, riding the bus, carrying his own luggage.

ROME-- The South Americans, the Italians, and the journalists think the Cardinals chose well, the surprise Pope, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina.

ROME-- Pope Francis marked his first full day as pontiff with a solemn visit to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome yesterday, underlining the Jesuit's devotion to Mary.

VATICAN CITY - Catholic cardinals today chose Argentine Jesuit Jorge Mario Bergoglio as leader of the Church, taking the name Pope Francis.

ROME-- Is it a sacred office or a CEO job?

ROME-- We Are Church, an influential Catholic dissident movement held a press conference in Rome today to outline their thoughts on the conclave and their hopes for the new Pope.

  VATICAN CITY -- The conclave to elect the next pope will begin Tuesday March 12, the Vatican said.

ROME-- The College of Cardinals has imposed a media blackout in the run up to the conclave which will elect the new Pope.

ROME-- The Sistine Chapel closed to tourists on Tuesday as the Vatican prepares to hold the conclave to elect the new Pope following Benedict XVI’s resignation la

 ROME – Chilean Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz and Italian Cardinal Domenico Calcagno should be excluded from the conclave for covering up for paedophile priests, abuse victims say.

 The Roman Catholic Church has been in the business of communications for 2,000 years, but can still find a way to surprise.

 ROME -- None of the American cardinals eligible for election as pope have impressed the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests,  SNAP, its leaders said today.

VATICAN CITY- Benedict XVI resigned his pontificate and flew out of the Vatican Thursday after pledging to obey his successor to St Peter's Throne.

ROME-- After his abdication as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church Cardinal Ratzinger will continue to be what he has always been, Theologian in Residence.

 VATICAN CITY – Hungarian Cardinal Péter Erdő is an "attractive possibility" to become a "goulash pope" in a conclave that doesn't seem to have a front runner, top Vatican watcher John Allen says.

ROME - Pope Benedict being in the monastery in the Vatican Gardens might influence the conclave.

ROME - Soon Benedict will retire to a monastery,  no longer Holy Father but a godfather, not of Cosa Nostra, more like the mostly

 VATICAN CITY– Catholic Cardinals sent a white smoke signal this evening from the Sistine Chapel after they were able to elect a new pope.

ROME - It is such a sad debacle, the original errors of conception and execution in the first version have been compounded and increased.