Pope Francis’ popularity began immediately after his March 13, 2013, election when he walked onto the balcony and humbly greeted the crowd in St. Peter’s Square.

The Archdiocese of Turin, custodian of the Shroud of Turin, has announced that the shroud, venerated by many as the burial cloth of Christ, will be on public display April 19-June 24, 2015.

Lent is meant to wake up Christians and help them see that God can give them the strength to change their lives and their surroundings, Pope Francis said.

Paula Zanarini has not worked for two years. She blames her age, 38, for an inability to find or keep the jobs she had as a customer service representative for several telecom companies in Argentina.

Uganda’s Catholic bishops have begun reviewing a text of the country’s new anti-gay law in order to come up with “an educated” response, said a senior church official.

After hearing Pope Francis speak at the event, these young adults, from what is considered the richest neighborhood in Sao Paulo, decided to form a youth group.

Lent is a time to shed lazy, un-Christian habits and snap out of one’s apathy toward people harmed by violence, poverty and not having God in their lives, Pope Francis said.

Many Latin American church leaders, who in the past have felt excluded from the decisions made at the highest echelons of the church, expressed appreciation for the perspective Pope Francis has taken to the Vatican.

Pope Francis suggested the Catholic Church could tolerate some types of nonmarital civil unions as a practical measure to guarantee property rights and health care.

Catholic clergy in Crimea have defended Ukraine’s right to self-determination. Bishops called for prayers for peace, but a priest in the naval port of Sevastopol said the families of Catholic troops serving with Ukrainian and Russian forces were “deeply confused and worried” about the military confrontation in the Crimean peninsula.