As speculation about Pope Francis' health rises, the Vatican begins preparations for a potential papal funeral, following ...

The process of electing a new pope follows rules and rituals that have been followed, and sometimes tweaked, since the 13th ...

Francis, who lost part of a lung to a respiratory infection in his youth and has been plagued by ailing health recently, last ...

The Catholic Church is almost 2,000 years old, and over the centuries, the protocol for papal funerals has been codified and ...

Pope Francis has been diagnosed with double pneumonia after being hospitalised last week. The Vatican said the 88-year-old's ...

The method the Catholic Church uses to select their leader has remained virtually unchanged for the last 800 years ...

If the pontiff was to pass, a complicated weeks-long process begins to appoint a successor. Here, we break down what will ...