Vatican City | Council on Foreign Relations

Foreign Aid

Women This Week: United States Slashes All Funding for UN Agency Focused on Women and Girls Health

Welcome to “Women Around the World: This Week,” a series that highlights noteworthy news related to women and U.S. foreign policy. This week’s post covers March 1 to March 7.

Post by Noël James and Diya Mehta March 7, 2025 Women Around the World
Religion

Women This Week: First Woman Appointed to Top Position in the Holy See

Welcome to “Women Around the World: This Week,” a series that highlights noteworthy news related to women and U.S. foreign policy. This week’s post covers January 4 to January 10.

Post by Noël James January 10, 2025 Women Around the World
Religion

Religion and Foreign Policy Webinar: The Pope and International Relations

Peter Casarella, professor of theology at Duke Divinity School, and Cecilia González-Andrieu, professor of theological studies at Loyola Marymount University, discuss the geopolitical and cultural influence of the pope, the challenges and opportunities the Catholic Church faces in addressing international issues, and the global religious leadership of Pope Francis.

Webinar by Peter Casarella, Cecilia González-Andrieu and Irina A. Faskianos December 17, 2024 Religion and Foreign Policy Series

Women and Economic Growth

Women This Week: Children in South Asia Represent Plurality of Global Child Brides, UNICEF Reports

Welcome to “Women Around the World: This Week,” a series that highlights noteworthy news related to women and U.S. foreign policy. This week’s post covers April 22 to April 28.

Post by Noël James April 28, 2023 Women Around the World
Vatican City

The Pope’s Soft-Power Push

Pope Francis will use his upcoming high-level visits to the U.S. and UN to press the concerns of the poor and marginalized, says expert Kenneth Himes.

Interview with Kenneth Himes and Robert McMahon September 17, 2015
Global

Who Is Pope Francis?

Experts discuss the leadership style, psychology, personality, and policies of Pope Francis ahead of his upcoming visit to the United States.

Event with Kurt Martens, Thomas J. Reese, John Thavis and Katherine Marshall September 11, 2015 Power Profile

Vatican City

How to Read Pope Francis on the Environment

The pope’s encyclical on the environment carries a profoundly religious message about care for the earth, wedded to a new call for activism, say religious scholars Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim.

Interview with Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim June 18, 2015
Religion

Papal Succession in the Catholic Church

The election of pope to lead the world’s one billion Catholics stirs debate over the spiritual authority of the pontiff and the church’s role in the world.

Backgrounder by Robert McMahon March 7, 2013
Vatican City

Papacy in Transition

The surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI has given rise to speculations that the next pontiff to lead the Catholic Church will hail from the developing world, says expert James P. McCartin.

Interview with James P. McCartin and Bernard Gwertzman February 12, 2013
Religion

U.S.-Vatican Relations

U.S.-Vatican relations remain uneven following Joseph Ratzinger’s accession as Pope Benedict XVI, particularly as the Obama administration pursues a more liberal social agenda.

Backgrounder by Lee Hudson Teslik and Toni Johnson July 14, 2009
Vatican City

Vatican-Israel Relations

Relations between the Vatican and Israel are a complex combination of diplomacy mixed with interfaith discussion.

Backgrounder by Toni Johnson May 12, 2009
Religion

Shah: Pope to Stress ‘Importance of Peace’ in Iraq, Middle East

Timothy Samuel Shah, a scholar on religious issues, says that when Pope Benedict XVI makes his first visit to the United States as pope, it will give Americans their first chance to hear firsthand his views on Iraq, the environment, and immigration.

Interview with Timothy Samuel Shah and Bernard Gwertzman April 10, 2008
United States

Mallaby: Ratings Agencies ’Ought to be Discredited’ by Credit Meltdown

Sebastian Mallaby, director of CFR’s Center for Geoeconomic Studies, says the skewed governing securities ratings agencies is partly to blame for stock market turmoil.

Interview with Sebastian Mallaby and Lee Hudson Teslik August 16, 2007
Vatican City

Pope Benedict’s First Twelve Months

Pope Benedict XVI’s first year has been quiet and at times confusing to his critics. But experts caution against reading too much of a theological shift into the pope’s tranquil beginnings.

Backgrounder by Lee Hudson Teslik May 4, 2006