Joshua J. McElwee

This timeline tracks the career of disgraced ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, ahead of the expected Nov. 10 release of the Vatican's report about how he rose through the ranks of the U.S. hierarchy.

The Vatican's report on the rise of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick will likely contain the names of people who were directly involved in his success and others who were ancillary but influential. NCR has assembled short biographical sketches of some of the more major figures.

Pope Francis is removing the ability of the Vatican's Secretariat of State to administer its own financial portfolio, after a series of financial scandals that included the unusual resignation of a cardinal in September.

The Vatican's report on how disgraced ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick was able to rise through the American Catholic hierarchy despite reports of inappropriate relationships with young men is expected to be released within the next weeks, National Catholic Reporter has learned.

Analysis: Typically, new cardinals join current cardinals in Rome for the consistory. Canon lawyers say that Pope Francis could conduct the ceremony without cardinals from other countries because of COVID-19.

Pope Francis named 13 new Catholic cardinals Oct. 25, including two Vatican officials; archbishops in Rwanda, the Philippines and Chile; and Washington, D.C. Archbishop Wilton Gregory.

Analysis of a clip in a new documentary in which Pope Francis expresses support for civil union laws for same-sex couples appears to indicate some of the pontiff's words came from an earlier interview.

The Vatican and China have renewed their provisional 2018 deal over the appointment of Catholic bishops in the communist country for a further two years, the two sides announced Oct. 22.

The newly opened Pius XII archives could lead to some rethinking about the role of the future Paul VI in World War II and after, says one historian: "We may be headed for a more nuanced picture of Montini."

Pope Francis expresses support for the creation of civil union laws for same-sex couples as part of a new documentary; his comments on the matter appear an affirmation of previously articulated views.

Review: A new documentary has at its center those people at the margins whom Pope Francis used to meet with, and, sometimes, change their lives in uncountable ways.

The controversial two-year deal between the Vatican and China over the appointment of Catholic bishops in the communist country will be renewed, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's chief diplomat, said Oct. 21.

Taking part in his first public engagement with other religious leaders since the beginning of the pandemic, the pope appeared at an interreligious prayer service Oct. 20 in Rome wearing a white mask.

Pope Francis has moved quickly to fill the senior Vatican leadership post left open by the forced resignation of Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, naming the secretary of his advisory Council of Cardinals as the new prefect for the church's sainthood office.

The leaders of an international movement seeking to have the Catholic Church formally set aside its long-held teachings on just war theory are praising Pope Francis' new encyclical.

In a lengthy and wide-ranging encyclical letter released Oct. 4, the pontiff says the continuing global health crisis makes it "all the more urgent that we rethink our styles of life."

The Vatican's chief financial official admitted Oct. 1 that the city-state may have been "swindled" by previous investment advisors, as part of the Vatican's first public release of a detailed budget document in more than five years.

Several prominent theologians are raising concerns about how the Vatican doctrinal office's approach to the case of Fr. Tony Flannery seems out of line with Pope Francis' calls for a church open to dialogue.

Speaking to an audience Sept. 30, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made several thinly veiled critiques of Pope Francis' strategy of engagement with the Chinese government.

Book review: Melissa Davey, Guardian Australia's Melbourne bureau chief, spent hours in court 4.3 of the southeastern state of during Pell's trial. Her resulting volume, The Case of George Pell: Reckoning with Child Sexual Abuse by Clergy, is an invaluable resource.