The Vatican is celebrating the big-bang theory. That’s not as out of this world as it sounds.

Pope Francis wrapped up a brief but deeply symbolic visit to Egypt on Saturday with an open-air Mass for the country’s tiny Catholic community, defying security concerns to show his support for the Christians of this Muslim majority Arab nation who have increasingly become targeted by Islamic militants.

Pope Francis came to Egypt on Friday for a historic visit to the Arab and Muslim-majority nation aimed at presenting a united Christian-Muslim front to repudiate violence committed in God’s name.

In a video posted online this week by the Vatican, Pope Francis sounds excited about his two-day trip to Egypt starting Friday, despite recent terrorist attacks.

Pope Francis is warning the powerful to act humbly or risk ruin, in a TED talk in which he urges the world to show more solidarity with the poor and weak.

Pope Francis prostrated himself in prayer during a solemn Good Friday service in St. Peter’s Basilica to recall the crucifixion of Jesus. His quiet reflection came hours before he was due at the Colosseum for the Way of the Cross procession that is being held this year under exceptionally tight security.

Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, offered the gift at the end of a half-hour meeting Tuesday at the Vatican, the fourth day of their Brexit-inspired charm offensive to reassure Britain’s allies.

Pope Francis on Monday begged forgiveness for the “sins and failings of the church and its members” during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, and told Rwanda’s president that he hoped his apology would help the country heal.

Pope Francis says the church must study whether it’s possible to ordain married men to minister in remote communities facing priest shortages.

Pope Francis bowed his forehead to receive a dab of ashes, then smudged ashes in turn on the heads of other faithful during an Ash Wednesday service in an ancient Roman basilica. Ash Wednesday begins the Catholic Church’s annual Lenten period of reflection in preparation for Easter.

Pope Francis has quietly reduced sanctions against a handful of pedophile priests, applying his vision of a merciful church even to its worst offenders in ways that survivors of abuse and the pope’s own advisers question.

Pope Francis demanded Sunday that “every possible measure” be taken to protect young refugees, as search and rescue efforts continued off Libya’s coast following the latest deadly Mediterranean migrant shipwreck.

The historic arches of St. Peter’s Basilica have a new neighbor: McDonald’s golden arches.

Decrying the suffering in Syria, Pope Francis on Sunday wished Christmas peace and hope for all those scarred by war and terrorism, which he said is sowing “fear and death in the heart of many countries and cities.”

Pope Francis is allowing all priests to absolve the faithful of the “grave sin” of abortion, extending indefinitely the special permission he had granted for the duration of the just-ended Holy Year of Mercy.

Pope Francis declared Mother Teresa a saint on Sunday, praising the tiny nun for having taken in society’s most unwanted and for having shamed world leaders for the “crimes of poverty they themselves created.”