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Pope Francis

The official church memorial mass for Pope Francis was
held at St Francis Church at the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi. Victor Besa / The National

Crowds mourn Pope Francis at memorial mass at Abrahamic Family House

Priests take part in Mass for the late Pope Francis at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City April 23, 2025. REUTERS / Ammar Awad

Holy Land bids farewell to Pope Francis who cared for the region until death

The late Pope Francis speaks to journalists aboard the papal plane called 'Shepherd One' by the media. Photo by Handout (Vatican Media/ AFP

Blessed by the Pope: When The National travelled on ‘Shepherd One’

Monsignor Yoannis Lahzi Gaid flanked by Pope Francis and President Sheikh Mohamed, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, in Abu Dhabi in February 2019. Photo: Ministry of Presidential Affairs

Egyptian aide who served as Pope Francis's 'Arabic voice' pays homage

Louis Sako is the head of Iraq's Chaldean Catholic Church and an outspoken advocate for the country's Christians. AP

Iraq backs head of its Catholic church to succeed Pope Francis

Editor-in-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi meets Pope Francis in Abu Dhabi. Photo: @AlOraibi / X

The lasting legacy of Pope Francis in the Middle East

People gather for prayers in honour of Pope Francis after the announcement of his death, at the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, on Tuesday. Getty images

World leaders confirm attendance at Pope's tradition-breaking funeral

A parishioner prays for Pope Francis outside St Mary's Church in Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Thousands to pray for Pope Francis at special Mass in Dubai

Live updates

VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - APRIL 26: (L-R) Gabon President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, France's First Lady Brigitte Macron, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Finland President Alexander Stubb, US President Donald Trump, US First Lady Melania Trump, Estonian President Alar Karis, King Felipe VI of Spain, Queen Letizia of Spain, Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa and His Highness Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince and President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Khaled Bin Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan attend the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on April 26, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican. Pope Francis died on April 21st at the age of 88. Born in Argentina as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, he was the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to become Pope when elected in 2013. Taking the name Francis after St Francis of Assisi, he promoted a more humble version of the papacy than many of his predecessors. He will be buried outside of the Vatican in a simple wooden coffin at the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore. (Photo by Franco Origlia / Getty Images)

'He fought for justice, for the poor': Tributes as Pope Francis laid to rest

Trump and Macron among world leaders at late pontiff's funeral
Iraq's Cardinal Louis Sako hopes interfaith dialogue will be priority for next pope
Obituary: Modernising leader who sought to bring Catholic church closer to its followers

More than 500 injured in port explosion at Iran's Bandar Abbas

ExclusiveIEA chief: Geopolitical pressures increasing 'by the day' on global energy

US and Iranian experts iron out details of potential deal

India and Pakistan exchange gunfire for second night

Weekend edition

A shop selling luxury handbags in Beijing. AFP

Have the top luxury brands lost their sparkle - or is it just handbags at dawn?

Quiz of the week

Find out how well you’ve kept up with the news of the past seven days

Getty

Weekend EssayThe Arctic and the Gulf have more in common than you think

Photo: UN

Trump, the UN and the art of the deal: Could the world body be Doge's next victim?

Filipino basketball culture in the UAE gif for shorthand

Special reportLove of basketball unites UAE’s Filipino community

Salt domes on Sir Baniyas Island. Research suggests these formations could be an asset to Abu Dhabi for the pursuit of net-zero targets. Andrew Henderson / The National

How Abu Dhabi's salt domes could help the UAE reach its net-zero targets

Shamy El Vaz and Karim Abdenour founded the Kabyle band Les Abranis in the late 1960s. Photo: MLP Music

From indigenous Algerian funk to 1990s sci-fi, physical media picks for May

Mohammed Riyadh on the Tigris in Baghdad

Iraqi rower charts course from Tigris to international competition

Video

A Gaza boy’s fight to see again

Having lost one eye in an Israeli ammunition explosion, seven-year-old Mohamed needs surgery abroad to have any chance of saving his sight in the other

More videos

World leaders pay their respects to Pope Francis at St Peter’s Basilica ahead of funeral

World leaders pay their respects to Pope Francis at St Peter’s Basilica ahead of funeral

Explosion and fire hit Iran’s Bandar Abbas port

Explosion and fire hit Iran’s Bandar Abbas port

Tributes pour in a day before Pope Francis's funeral

Tributes pour in a day before Pope Francis's funeral

IEA chief Fatih Birol warns deficit in copper threatens clean energy transition

IEA chief Fatih Birol warns deficit in copper threatens clean energy transition

Headlines

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / A man shows a doll amid the rubble of the house of the Al-Khour family after it was hit by an Israeli strike in Gaza City's Sabra neighbourhood on April 26, 2025. The strike on the house of Al-Khour family killed 10 people, a civil defence official said, with witnesses reporting an estimated 20 victims trapped beneath the rubble. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

LatestAt least four killed and 30 missing under rubble after Israeli strike on Gaza

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military

Syria's President Al Shara meets Iraqi delegation in Damascus

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi receives a copy of The Power of Negotiation as a gift from author Abbas Araghchi at the Muscat International Book Fair. EPA

Iran Foreign Minister launches book on negotiation before talks with US

Trump administration to restore foreign students' legal status

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shaibani speaks at the UN Security Council on April 25. AP

Syria sanctions undermining national recovery, says Foreign Minister

Not guilty plea to death penalty charge in killing of executive

Spring meetings are chance to bring Syria back into international fold, IMF's Jihad Azour says

Saudi Arabia arrests fraud suspects in fake Hajj campaigns

Spain scraps order for millions of bullets from Israel

In focus

Next week marks 100 days of the second Trump term, and an interesting new milestone could be coming into view: the high-water mark of the 78-year-old leader's power. EPA

CommentTrump's next 100 days could be a lot harder for him

Road testing the GAC GS8 four-wheel drive GX. Photo: Gautam Sharma

GAC GS8 review: Chinese SUV has plenty of bells and whistles

Chris Eubank Jr, left, and Conor Benn face off ahead of the middleweight fight. Getty Images

Eubank talks of 'pain' of losing brother who died in Dubai ahead of Benn fight

Egyptian novelist Mohamed Samir Nada has won the 2025 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for The Prayer of Anxiety. Victor Besa / The National

How Arabic fiction prize winner captures region’s deepest fears

Sharks of every kind have a fearsome reputation in the public imagination. Jenny Stock / Underwater Photographer of the Year

Jaws legacy: When people, not sharks, are at fault for attacks

Dave Chappelle will return to the UAE capital after a record-breaking performance in 2024. Photo: Live Nation Middle East

UAE gigs and shows guide, from Dave Chappelle to Metallica

John Hamm's character Coop steals watches from his ultra-rich social circle in Your Friends & Neighbors. Photo: Apple

Could stolen Richard Mille really be sold in Your Friends & Neighbors?

Pyramids goalkeeper Ahmed El Shenawy remonstrates with teammates during the 0-0 draw with Orlando Pirates in their CAF Champions League semi-final first leg. Reuters

Serial winners Al Ahly and upstarts Pyramids look to make home advantage count

Uber's chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi praised the company's partnerships in the UAE revolving around self-driving cars. Bloomberg

Uber CEO talks up UAE driverless vehicle ambitions

What Brussels and Abu Dhabi hope to gain from closer trade ties

S&P sees contained impact of US tariffs on Middle East economies

Culture

Weekly UAE museum and gallery guide: Sama Alshaibi, Shilpa Gupta and more

Now You See Me 3 completes 13-day shoot in Abu Dhabi

Timothee Chalamet on the set of Marty Supreme, for which he collaborated with Khondji. Photo: GC Images

Timothee Chalamet has 'big surprise' in store for Marty Supreme

Beyond the Headlines

Beyond the Headlines

Delve deeper into the biggest stories from the Middle East and around the world

Culture Bites

Culture Bites

Your guide to the arts and culture scene in the UAE

Business Extra

Business Extra

The stories, companies, trends, tech, Innovation and leaders shaping your world

Trending Middle East

Trending Middle East

The top news stories, field reports and insights from the Middle East and beyond

Pictures of the Day

The ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra, a Unesco World Heritage Site east of Homs, central Syria, on April 25. The ancient city suffered heavy damage over more than a decade of Syria's civil war and at the hands of ISIS extremists who pillaged the area for artefacts to sell on the black market. EPA

In Vatican City, the coffin of Pope Francis is placed on the ground in St Peter's Square at his funeral on Saturday, April 26. AP

At Senso-ji temple in Tokyo, in the Nakizumo or a baby-crying sumo contest, two wrestlers hold a baby each and a referee makes faces and loud noises to make them cry to determine the winner based on the loudest baby. The ritual is believed to aid the healthy growth of the children and ward off evil spirits. Reuters

People swim and relax on Lido beach in Mogadishu, Somalia. Getty Images

Workers from the Panama Metro company walk at the tunnel construction site that will cross under the Panama Canal, considered one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the country, as part of Line 3 of the metropolitan transport system in Arraijan, about 10 km west of Panama City AFP

A residential building in Faridabad district of India's Haryana state, is engulfed in smog on April 26. AFP

A dog sits patiently as a vote is cast at an early voting centre in the suburb of Eastlakes in the division of Kingsford Smith before the Australian federal election on April 26, 2025 in Sydney. Getty Images

San Francisco Giants' Jung Hoo Lee swings at a pitch by Texas Rangers pitcher Robert Garcia, which struck Lee out, during the ninth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco on Friday, April 25. AP Photo

Black-winged stilts feed in the marshes of Hawizeh, which straddle the border with Iran, in southeastern Maysan province on April 25. AFP

North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and daughter Kim Ju-ae attend the launch of a newly-built destroyer at Nampho Dockyard on April 25, the anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army. EPA

The ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra, a Unesco World Heritage Site east of Homs, central Syria, on April 25. The ancient city suffered heavy damage over more than a decade of Syria's civil war and at the hands of ISIS extremists who pillaged the area for artefacts to sell on the black market. EPA

In Vatican City, the coffin of Pope Francis is placed on the ground in St Peter's Square at his funeral on Saturday, April 26. AP

At Senso-ji temple in Tokyo, in the Nakizumo or a baby-crying sumo contest, two wrestlers hold a baby each and a referee makes faces and loud noises to make them cry to determine the winner based on the loudest baby. The ritual is believed to aid the healthy growth of the children and ward off evil spirits. Reuters

People swim and relax on Lido beach in Mogadishu, Somalia. Getty Images

Workers from the Panama Metro company walk at the tunnel construction site that will cross under the Panama Canal, considered one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the country, as part of Line 3 of the metropolitan transport system in Arraijan, about 10 km west of Panama City AFP

A residential building in Faridabad district of India's Haryana state, is engulfed in smog on April 26. AFP

A dog sits patiently as a vote is cast at an early voting centre in the suburb of Eastlakes in the division of Kingsford Smith before the Australian federal election on April 26, 2025 in Sydney. Getty Images

San Francisco Giants' Jung Hoo Lee swings at a pitch by Texas Rangers pitcher Robert Garcia, which struck Lee out, during the ninth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco on Friday, April 25. AP Photo

Black-winged stilts feed in the marshes of Hawizeh, which straddle the border with Iran, in southeastern Maysan province on April 25. AFP

North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and daughter Kim Ju-ae attend the launch of a newly-built destroyer at Nampho Dockyard on April 25, the anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army. EPA

The ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra, a Unesco World Heritage Site east of Homs, central Syria, on April 25. The ancient city suffered heavy damage over more than a decade of Syria's civil war and at the hands of ISIS extremists who pillaged the area for artefacts to sell on the black market. EPA

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India and Pakistan exchange fire across the Line of Control in Kashmir

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