Sylvia Poggioli

A Vatican investigation into church leaders' failings that allowed the rise of a now-disgraced former U.S. cardinal has led some Catholics to call for "difficult reckoning" with the sainted pope.

A new Vatican report on a former cardinal, who was defrocked amid allegations of sexual misconduct, shows that Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI were aware of the accusations.

After months of public compliance, the Italian government is getting fierce and sometimes violent pushback against coronavirus lockdown measures.

Protests are growing against renewed coronavirus restrictions in Italy, which is seeing a surge in cases. Spain has declared a national state of emergency, and the government is enforcing a curfew.

A 28-year-old priest is charged with sexually abusing an altar boy over a five-year period in a Vatican City youth seminary. Another priest, the former rector, is charged with covering up the abuse.

Proceedings in a criminal trial of a priest charged with sexually abusing a minor and a second priest accused of covering it up are scheduled to resume Tuesday in the Vatican.

Pope Francis named Archbishop Wilton Gregory as the first African American cardinal. Gregory, along with 12 others, will be elevated to the position in a ceremony at the Vatican next month.

In the new documentary Francesco, Pope Francis calls for civil union laws for same-sex couples in what would seem to be a break from traditional Catholic teaching.

"What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered," the pope said in an interview in the film Francesco, which premiered Wednesday at the Rome Film Festival.

Italian police arrested a woman linked to a cardinal fired by Pope Francis, the latest development in an investigation into alleged financial crimes involving the Vatican.

Pope Francis faces a scandal as he tries to sort out the Vatican's finances. This month, he appeared publicly with European financial inspectors to reassure them that he's cleaning house.

In a new encyclical addressing everything from fraternity and income inequality to immigration and social justice, the pope argues the pandemic has shown that free market capitalism has failed.

As the world marks the sad milestone of 1 million lives lost to the coronavirus, NPR's international team reviews the way nations have handled the pandemic.

Tuscany's wine windows, each 12 inches high and 8 inches wide, were indispensable during a 17th century plague. They've became useful again during the coronavirus pandemic — even after lockdown ended.

In the era of social distancing, Italians in Florence have revived the custom of serving wine through pint-size windows in centuries-old buildings.

Italy dramatically reduced its coronavirus cases after its early days as the epicenter of the pandemic. It is, however, seeing a resurgence of the virus as businesses, including discos, reopen.

The Vatican has long maintained that Pope Pius XII did everything he could to save Jewish lives, but newly unearthed papers have renewed accusations of complicit silence against him.

New revelations emerge from the long-secret Vatican archive about what Pope Pius XII knew — and did — about the Nazis mass murder of Jews.

"The reality is that laborers work at the limit of human dignity," Aboubakar Soumahoro tells NPR. He's the subject of a new documentary, The Invisibles, shot at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic has revealed how dependent Italians are on migrant farm workers. The new documentary, Invisible, profiles a migrant champion as he raises the awareness of their plight.