The day after his election, Francis eschewed the Vatican's armored limousine and traveled through the chaotic streets of Rome in an ordinary car to pick up his things at a downtown hotel.

As he walked on to the stage of the Vatican's vast Paul VI audience hall, Pope Francis was still wearing the white cassock, plain crucifix and black shoes that have characterised his fledgling papacy's pared-down aesthetic.

Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was our new Pope. He took the name of Francis. In 2000 years there has never been a Pope Francis.

A genuinely secular state has no place in the finery and stresses of the weird and often wonderful ritual of a wedding, writes Toby Manhire.

White smoke has billowed from a Sistine Chapel chimney to show that a new pope has been elected to replace the frail Benedict XVI as leader of the world's 1.2 billon Catholics.

"I felt I had done my best for them, but I failed. I felt it was a tragedy I had tried to stop and didn't".

The 1888 Gothic revival presbytery beside St Patrick's Catholic Cathedral in Auckland CBD is an earthquake-prone building.

Yesterday was Pope Benedict's last day in office, but the words customarily used to announce that we have a new Pope, "Habemus Papam", are likely to be a long time in coming.

Tucked away in the leafy south-east corner of the Vatican City, lies the small monastery where the Pope will spend the rest of his days in quiet prayer and contemplation.

Whoever takes the helm of the Vatican after the shock resignation of Benedict XVI will inherit a problem on his own doorstep.

Editorial: The papacy is one of precious few institutions in the modern world that does not change very much.

Pope Benedict’s resignation has been greeted with surprise, admiration and disappointment from around the world.

John Key is shocked about the Pope's resignation, describing the move by the 85-year-old as a "brave call".

British movie greats Sir Michael Gambon and Alfred Molina are to play unlikely lovers in a new movie.

New Zealand clergy face being interviewed by Australian police as part of a Royal Commission investigating how institutions including churches allegedly covered up claims of child sex abuse.

A Northland science teacher dismissed after he supported a gay rights protest at the Catholic school is considering legal action.

A Northland teacher who was suspended last month after he supported a pro-gay protest at the Catholic College he taught at has lost his job.