Strict new Vatican guidelines forbid a list of increasingly popular means of commemorating loved ones.

The Vatican is struggling to cope with a massive rise in demand for exorcists by Italians who are finding themselves increasingly menaced by demons.

Dame Lowell Goddard, who quit as head of the massive UK public inquiry into child abuse after just 18 months, had been on a salary package worth almost $870,000.

Boys as young as 6 were told to "stop making up stories" when they complained about priest's sick abuse.

One of the Isis knifemen who stormed a church in Normandy before slitting the throat of an elderly priest has been named as known terror threat.

Outrage has erupted in Samoa after a national newspaper published a photograph on its front page of a dead transgender woman.

Church bestows message of hope, peace, joy and love.

SUVs with men-in-suits-and-dark-glasses standing in their open doors, a truck full of police with machine gun carrying men in fatigues inside, and then finally more men in suits running ahead of the Popemobile, writes Richard McLachlan.

The leaders of the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches will put on a united front, asking the Prime Minister to increase the number of refugees New Zealand lets in.

The freedom to pop out for a pizza is the main thing Pope Francis misses two years after being elected the head of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

A New Zealander who advises Pope Francis on combating sexual abuse has criticised the pontiff's support of smacking children.

Pope Francis encouraged mums at a baptism ceremony at the Sistine Chapel to continue feeding their children.

A samba school has honoured Pope Francis during the opening of a hugely popular carnival in Argentina.

The Pope has named 15 new cardinals from Africa, Latin America and Asia to reflect a change in church demographics - and among them is NZ's John Dew.

In 2013 Pope Francis had a lot to celebrate. Not only was he named Time magazine person of the year, but was also awarded the title of Esquire's best-dressed man.

The dangers of working too hard and succumbing to gossip can be found in every office - including the administrative body of the Roman Catholic Church.

A Catholic priest has been arrested in Italy on suspicion of dealing drugs at a party.

A waiter, whose adoptive parents are peasants, claims to be the son of former Spanish king Juan Carlos and has launched a paternity suit.

A former priest who moved to Australia where he married twice without first divorcing his New Zealand wife has been found guilty of bigamy.

The Irish government is launching a full-scale investigation into controversial Catholic homes for unmarried mothers, following revelations that up to 800 infants died in one such institution over a 35-year period.

It was a total Pope-fest. Two living pontiffs - the incumbent and his immediate predecessor - presided at the canonisation of two deceased vicars of Christ.

You don't have to be all that saintly to be a saint, as even Catholic clerics attest. But then, canonisation has long been more about politics than purity.

It has been dubbed "the day of the four Popes", an unprecedented occasion in the 2000-year history of the Catholic Church.

A fraudster who siphoned off more than $1.2 million from a Wellington Catholic society has been ordered to pay back half of what she stole.

He's dropped an F-bomb, sold his Harley and appeared on Rolling Stone magazine. We look at ten of Pope Francis' notable moments in his first 12 months.

A selection of images celebrating the one-year anniversary of Pope Francis' election as Bishop of Rome.