
Black smoke from chapel chimney: No pope yet
This time there was no doubt. There was no new pope yet, and the mystery of who — and when — was as thick as the unmistakable heavy black smoke ...

Bookmakers say good money's on an Italian pope
Bookmakers in betting-mad Britain are cashing in on the Roman Catholic conclave to select a new pope. As cardinals began their deliberations at the ...

Conclave to elect next pope opens amid uncertainty
Cardinals enter the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday to elect the next pope amid more upheaval and uncertainty than the Catholic Church has seen in decades: ...

Cardinals say Mass, seek prayers ahead of conclave
Cardinals took a break from maneuvering ahead of this week's papal conclave to fan out across Rome and celebrate Sunday Mass at local parishes.

Before the conclave, horse-trading has begun
The Vatican insists that the cardinals participating in the upcoming conclave will vote their conscience, each influenced only by silent prayers and ...

Top contenders to be the next pope
Cardinals from around the world gather this week in a conclave to elect a new pope following the stunning resignation of Benedict XVI. In the ...

Cardinal Ravasi: Intellectual who quotes Winehouse
He quotes Amy Winehouse and, unlike Benedict XVI, actually taps out his tweets himself. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi is an erudite scholar with a modern ...

PAPAL ODDS
In betting-mad Britain, bookmakers have been busy taking bets on who will replace Benedict XVI since he announced his retirement earlier this month.

Vatican raises possibility of early March conclave
The Vatican raised the possibility Saturday that the conclave to elect the next pope might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date possible ...

Papal conclave still largely a European club
The face of the Roman Catholic Church has changed profoundly in Pope Benedict XVI's lifetime. Congregations in the West are smaller and older, while ...

AP Interview: African papal contender wants change
One of Africa's brightest hopes to be the next pope, Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, says the time is right for a pontiff from the developing world, ...

Pope avoids predecessor's show of suffering
The closest of confidants, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger watched from the front row as Pope John Paul II, once a strapping athlete, steadily deteriorated ...

Pope's bombshell sends troubled church scrambling
With a few words in Latin, Pope Benedict XVI did what no pope has done in more than half a millennium, stunning the world by announcing his ...

Papal resignation opens door to many contenders
Pope Benedict XVI's resignation opens the door to an array of possible successors, from the conservative cardinal of Milan to a contender from Ghana ...