For centuries, men assuming the top job in the Roman Catholic Church kept their birth names. That changed with Pope John II.

Mystery and drama always surround a conclave, but the deeper issue is the mission of the Catholic Church in the modern world.

The last was Pope John Paul I, born Albino Luciani. Elected on August 26, 1978, he remained on the papal throne for only 33 ...

At 9:30 one morning last week, Pope John XXIII, walking briskly ... to Bologna’s Giacomo Ler-caro and Milan’s Giovanni Montini. Both men have fought to clean out Communism from Italian ...

The first was John I, the 53rd pontiff, in 523; the most recent was John XXIII, the 261st pope, elected in October 1958. In second place is Gregory, with 16 uses, the first in 590 and the most ...

Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, and John Paul I, all of whom played pivotal roles in modernizing the church. By adopting both names, Pope John Paul II acknowledged their influence while suggesting ...

This is a two-part Italian television mini-series directed by Giorgio Capitani and broadcasted in April 2002 on Rai Uno. It is the life story of Pope John XXIII, nicknamed "the good Pope".

The remarkably preserved state of the body of Pope John XXIII, who died in 1963, is no miracle, the Vatican said on Sunday. An official report by the Church released this weekend said that when ...