Black smoke means a new pope has not been chosen, while white smoke means one has. Any male baptized in the Roman Catholic ...

His papacy was transformative in shaping a Catholic Church that was not focused ... This raised concerns within the Church hierarchy and among western governments during the cold war.

This will signal another first in the 2000-year history of the Catholic ... reshaped the Church’s identity. Power and authority: It explores the development of Church hierarchy, especially ...

His critics were fellow clergy as well as elected officials in the ascendant wing of the American Catholic political ... resistance rose in the American church hierarchy, in Washington and in ...

"Within the Catholic Church ... Canonical rites, which are of equal dignity, enjoy the same rights, and are under the same obligations. Although the particular churches possess their own hierarchy ...

Vatican City: Pope Francis changed the face of the modern papacy more than any predecessor by shunning much of its pomp and privilege, but his attempts to make the Catholic Church more inclusive ...

Under his watch, an overhauled Vatican constitution allowed any baptised lay Catholic, including women ... not welcomed by all members of the Church hierarchy, some of whom had become accustomed ...

His death marks the end of a 12-year project aimed at rescuing a crisis-ridden Catholic church from ... form to internal tensions within the church hierarchy. Some of these were longstanding ...