Pope Francis

After Pope Francis' comments during Wednesday Mass that God redeems nonbelievers, a number of people were left asking whether the Catholic leader believes atheists and agnostics go to heaven. The Vatican on Thursday issued an "explanatory note on the meaning to 'salvation.'"

Pope Francis caused a stir this week when he declared during his homily at Wednesday Mass in Rome that everyone was redeemed through Jesus, including atheists.

Pope Francis has set up an advisory board of eight cardinals from around the world in an effort to bring change to the church's administration.

He has been Pope Francis for less than a month, but the former archbishop of Buenos Aires is a hit with American Catholics -- at least for now.

Since the moment of his election on March 13, Pope Francis has been warmly embraced by his own flock and even the media and the wider public in a way his bookish predecessor, Benedict XVI, was not.

Pope Francis extended a hand to those who don't belong to any religion, urging them on Wednesday to work with believers to build peace and protect the environment.

Pope Francis, the first Jesuit to become pope, not only represents a paradox for the papacy, but also the larger history of the Society of Jesus, as the Jesuits are formally known.

Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as Pope Francis on Wednesday, after only two days of voting in the conclave tasked with choosing a successor to Pope Benedict XVI.

A hierarchy looking to make a clear statement about where the troubled church is headed chose on Wednesday the first member of the influential Jesuit order to be the next pope. Yet they also chose Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a humble man who lives simply and took the name Francis (also a first) that evokes the founder of another great religious order.