Pope Francis

In a news conference on Tuesday aboard a papal flight from Sweden back to Rome, Pope Francis declared that the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching that women cannot be ordained as priests is likely to remain in place forever.

Pope Francis on Oct. 2 arrived in mainly Muslim Azerbaijan on the last leg of his peace tour of the volatile ex-Soviet Caucasus region, just months after visiting arch-foe Armenia.

The pontiff held a mass for the country's tiny Catholic community in the capital Baku ahead of a scheduled meeting with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev.

Serbian Ambassador to UNESCO and the country's former ambassador to the Vatican Darko Tanaskovic says he does not believe Pope Francis will visit Kosovo.

Tanaskovic also noted that even if that were to happen, "it would not have to mean that the Vatican had recognized, or was going to recognize, Kosovo."

Pope Francis personally stopped the canonization of Croatian Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac after a letter sent to him by Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Irinej.

This has been stated by former Croatian Ambassador to the Vatican Filip Vucak.

Queen Rania of Jordan will visit Lesvos on Monday and meet with refugees, according to a statement by the country's royal press office on Saturday.

The queen, who will travel to the eastern Aegean island at the invitation of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), will visit the Kara Tepe camp which operates under the auspices of local authorities.

For Nour Essa, one of the Syrian refugees who flew out of Lesbos on Pope Francis' plane last week, it was a choice tinged with shock, joy and sadness - and it had to be made immediately. 

These days, it is very difficult to defend the use of terms such as "historical," "historic" or "symbolic" without running the risk of being blamed for premature optimism or exaggeration. 

Speaking to CNN, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras underlined the the significance the visits by Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the island of Lesvos in Greece, Saturday.

Pope Francis and Fener Rum Patriarch Dimitri Bartholomeos paid a visit to the Greek island of Lesbos, which became the frontline of Europe's migrant crisis that claimed hundreds of lives in the past year, where migrants begged for the religious leaders for help.

Three families of Syrian refugees boarded Pope Francis's plane heading back to the Vatican on April 16 after his lightning visit to a Greek island on the frontline of Europe's migrant crisis, a Reuters witness said.