This is the most crowded tourist destination on the planet — how to see it without all the people

Julian Elliott Photography/Getty Images St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Key Points A new study ranked the world’s most overcrowded tourist destinations. Vatican City topped the list, with a staggering ratio of 7,709 tourists per resident....

Pope Leo makes surprise appearance as 120,000 youth gather in Rome for Vatican jubilee

VATICAN CITY, July 30 — Pope Leo XIV made a surprise appearance in a crowd of 120,000 young Catholics who gathered yesterday in Rome for the Vatican’s Jubilee of Youth—an event that takes place every 25 years. The week-long event is taking place...

Did Vatican II cause the decline in Mass attendance? Apparently so.

Tackling Africa’s Wildlife Crimes From The Religious Front

The Book of Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that...

Vatican offers plan to implement synodality

By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY — Local Churches and bishops worldwide will be instrumental in helping implement the proposals and foster the spirit of the 2024 final document of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, the Vatican synod office said. (The...

New secular study finds Vatican II triggered a decline in Catholic Mass attendance worldwide

News Economic research found that religious service attendance in Catholic nations significantly decreased compared with all other countries beginning in 1965, the final year of Vatican II. (LifeSiteNews) — A newly published secular study found...

Bishops, theologians, and authority in the Catholic Church

Ralph Martin giving his thoughts on the Conclave. Screenshot: Renewal Ministries/Youtube. The recent removal of prominent theologian Ralph Martin from his teaching role at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit has brought renewed attention to a...

Vatican turns to ‘hot priests’ to spread faith in the digital age

If it weren’t for the dog collar, the robes and occasional background of a church, one would be forgiven for thinking, judging by his Instagram profile, that Father Ambrogio Mazzai was a fitness influencer rather than a man of faith. Pictures of...

TIFF 2025 Launches Season’s Top Nonfiction, with New Docs from Raoul Peck, Laura Poitras, Jimmy Chin & Chai Vasarhelyi, Colin Hanks, and More

This year’s slate of 23 documentaries from 18 countries at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival is a melange of newsy subjects, rising directors, and potential Oscar contenders covering explorers, journalists, sex workers, activists,...

Pope Leo condemns vile Isis terror attack on church which left 49 Christian worshippers dead

Pope Leo has come out to condemn a brutal Isis attack on a church which left 49 Christian worshippers dead. The pontiff, alongside the UN, the US's State Department and a leading Christian group, have all reacted with fury to the mass killings -...

The Vatican’s Catholic influencer Jubilee is worth celebrating—and scrutinizing

With smartphones and ring lights in hand, a new group of pilgrims arrived at the Vatican this week. The Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers, part of the church’s celebration of the Jubilee Year of Hope, marks the growing...

Pope Leo XIV holds Jubilee of Youth at the Vatican

VATICAN CITY (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Pope Leo XIV is welcoming more than a half-a-million young people to the Vatican this week for the Jubilee of Youth. Americans are among pilgrims from nearly 150 countries who've traveled to Rome for the event. Pope...

Domestic Church: strengthening faith in the home

In theory, sitting down to family dinner and opening in prayer seems easily attainable. Similarly, integrating traditional Catholic prayers into everyday life or praying the rosary frequently doesn’t sound all that challenging. Life and busy...

Catholic Church moves to Strengthen the Ministry of Exorcism in Malawi

In a landmark initiative to strengthen the church’s pastoral care and deepen its spiritual outreach, the Malawi Conference of Catholic Bishops (MCCB) has launched a five-day national training for exorcists. Organized in collaboration with the...

Tens of thousands of Catholics head to Vatican's Jubilee of Youth

Pope Leo XIV made a surprise appearance in a crowd of 120,000 young Catholics who gathered on Tuesday in Rome for the Vatican's Jubilee of Youth -- an event that takes place every 25 years. The week-long event is taking place just over two months...

‘Heretical’ nuns appear in court to fight eviction by Catholic Church

A community of “heretical” nuns has appeared in court to fight an attempt by the Catholic Church to evict them from a convent. The former Poor Clare sisters insisted on their right to occupy the disputed convent of Belorado, in Spain, despite...

More churches are suing ICE over arrests in places of worship: ‘Congregations have gone underground’

Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our...

The never-ending ISRAEL-PALESTINE war that murders innocents, children and starving refugees is a moral dilemma of staggering magnitude

The never-ending ISRAEL-PALESTINE war that murders innocents, children and starving refugees is a moral dilemma of staggering magnitude What to do? Palestinian terrorists hide in schools, hospitals and refugee camps and shoot missiles at Israel,...

A Rahnerian Surprise

‘Of what great importance is angers with pastors, bishops, possibly even the papacy, when one knows that in this Church … as nowhere else, in life and death, one can hold on to Jesus, the trusted witness of the eternal God?’ Karl Rahner, SJ...

Vatican Envoy Visits Persecuted Christians in Modi’s India

Photo Source: Flickr Creative Commons. Image Courtesy Neandra Modi....