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A 525-year-old copy of a letter by Christopher Columbus that was stolen from the Vatican was returned on Thursday after joint sleuthing by U.S. Homeland Security agents and Holy See antiquity experts. "We are returning it to its rightful owner," said U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Callista Gingrich at a handover ceremony in a frescoed room of the V...

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Vatican City has been governed by men since it was established as an independent state in 1929. A year ago, however, a woman joined the upper ranks: Barbara Jatta, the first female director of the Vatican Museums. In the 12 months since her appointment, Ms. Jatta has put her stamp on the role, resisting some of her predecessor’s initiatives and for...

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A 500-year-old mystery at the Vatican has just been solved. Two paintings by Renaissance master Raphael were discovered during the cleaning and restoration of a room inside the Vatican Museums. Experts believe they are his last works before an early death, around the age of 37, in 1520: "It's an amazing feeling," said the Vatican's chief restorer f...

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Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini is an Italian-born saint who dedicated her life to helping thousands of Italian immigrants living in the United States during the late 19th century. She died in Chicago exactly one hundred years ago. On Saturday morning in the Vatican, Pope Francis met members of the religious congregation she founded, the Missionary S...

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Every city has them, the so-called “hidden gems.” The places rarely visited by tourists, and the ones often forgotten about by locals. Living in a historical city like Rome, you struggle to run out of hidden gem possibilities, yet it’s not easy collecting them all. You can stare just that little bit harder at a painting, or ask a local where to eat...

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A small, temporary exhibit tucked away on the first floor of the newly opened, 430,000 square foot Museum of the Bible in Washington gives visitors a glimpse of the art and history preserved by the Vatican Library and Vatican Museums. Highly detailed replicas of the fourth century Codex Vaticanus, the 14th century Urbino Bible and 16th century Bibl...

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Pope John Paul I, who served for just 33 days as Pontiff in 1978 before his abrupt death, has moved a step closer to sainthood, the Vatican said on Thursday. Known as the “smiling Pope” because of his good nature, Albino Luciani’s reign as head of the Catholic Church was the shortest in modern times and his shock demise fueled press speculation tha...

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St. Frances Cabrini, the missionary to Italian immigrants in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s, "teaches us the path to handling the epochal phenomenon of migration by joining charity and justice," Pope Francis said. The nun, who died Dec. 22, 1917, in Chicago, "understood that modernity would be marked by these enormous migration...

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In a letter Tuesday to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Francis reflected on the role of their foundress, St. Frances Cabrini, explaining how her example is a fitting guide for the challenges of migration we face today. “The centennial of the death of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini is one of the main events marking the journey of t...

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Two allegorical female figures portraying the virtues of Friendship and Justice in the Room of Constantine at the Vatican Museums are by Italian Renaissance master Raphael, the weekly Vatican Magazine reported on Friday. The weekly televised program broadcast the first images of Comitas, friendship in Latin, which has just been restored, and the fi...

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