Pope Francis to visit two fragile African nations

Russian forces occupy some 20 percent of Georgia's territory, a consequence of two wars. Officially, Georgia wants to join NATO and the EU; these ambitions are even written into its constitution. But behind the scenes, the country's de facto ruler – oligarch Bidzina Ivanizhvili – is suspected of sabotaging the reforms demanded by Brussels.

The 86-year-old pontiff capped his trip to Hungary with a final Mass in Budapest on a sunny spring morning, with thousands having gathered for the blessing. He told people to fight the "closed doors" of nationalism.

The pope reiterated his calls for welcoming migrants after a meeting with nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban. He will also lead an open-air mass outside parliament on Sunday.

Pope Francis, hospital ,check-up,Italian media

The spiritual leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics has suffered several health issues in the last year, but the pontiff is recovering well from his operation, the Vatican has said.

Tanzania is more than two years into the presidency of Samia Hassan, who has departed from her predecessor's policies restricting freedom of the press. But do her efforts go far enough? DW's Charles Kombe spoke to Maxence Melo, an award-winning journalist on the front line of free speech.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church is "better than before," a doctor said, after he underwent a hernia operation.

Morocco, Zambia, South Africa and Nigeria are competing at this year's Women's Football World Cup which starts on July 20. Nigeria's team is led by Onome Ebi, who will be taking part in her sixth World Cup tournament — an African record.

Comments Pope Francis made during a private discussion on a recent trip to Portugal criticizing the US Catholic Church, home to several of his more staunch opponents, have been made public in Italy.

With just over 1,400 Catholics, Mongolia is one of the smallest and newest Catholic communities in the world. Pope Francis makes the trip while also casting an eye toward China.

After a mass in Mongolia attended by some groups of Chinese Catholics, the pope told them to be "good Christians and good citizens."

At the end of his historic trip to the Buddhist nation, Pope Francis said the Catholic church is driven by faith to help the needy, and not as a way of attracting new converts.