It has been a wretched year for Pope Francis, whose blind spot on clergy sex abuse conspired with events beyond his control to threaten his legacy and throw the Catholic hierarchy into a credibility crisis not seen in modern times.

The latest development — a high-profile verdict in a far-away country — cements the impression that Francis simply didn't "get it" when he first became pope in 2013 and began leading the church.

Britain and the US will hold memorial services on Friday to remember the 270 people killed when a US airliner exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie 30 years ago, in Britain's worst ever attack.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Los Angeles auxiliary bishop Alexander Salazar over his "inappropriate behaviour" with a minor, the Vatican said Wednesday.

Residents from both sides of Cyprus are coming together to restore their ancient heritage and mend ties away from politics even as peace talks remain stalled.

Starting before dawn has even broken, Afghanistan's army of saffron pickers shift their way across sun-baked fields to pluck brightly the coloured crocuses that are providing the country's farmers with a new means of income.

The global #MeToo campaign has taken the battle for women's rights to "where we have never been before," the head of the U.N.'s agency for gender equality told AFP during her first official visit to Pakistan Friday.

Adel al-Kawwaz expertly spins the potter's wheel, shaping the wet clay into a smooth jug. His family is famous for this millennia-old Iraqi craft, but Kawwaz is struggling to keep it alive.

A Dutch church has resorted to the power of prayer to stop the deportation of an Armenian family sheltering there, holding round-the-clock religious services for more than a month to keep police at bay, officials said Friday.

The Bethel Church in The Hague has taken advantage of a loophole in Dutch law which says that police cannot enter the premises while a religious service is underway.

Ivory Coast became the latest country to ask France to return works of art Wednesday, days after Paris said it was willing to hand back artefacts looted from Africa.

Egyptian archaeologists have discovered eight mummies dating back over 2,300 years at a pyramid complex south of Cairo, authorities said Wednesday.