The bells tolled, the organ played, and the congregation of 50,000 Romans and pilgrims applauded warmly as pallbearers brought the casket of Pope Benedict XVI onto the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica.

A timeline of significant events in the life of Pope Benedict XVI.

After four years of the far-right government of Jair Messias Bolsonaro, Brazilians peacefully welcomed—for the third time—the inauguration of the popular center-left leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on New Year’s Day.

Senior editor Robert David Sullivan charts America magazine’s year in review, month by month.

Twenty-two men from Espíritu Santo Island who were arrested between under President Nayib Bukele’s state of emergency decree in El Salvador.

The latest boutique hotel to open its doors in Bethlehem’s Old City, just minutes away from Manger Square, is the Morcos Nassar Palace, which doubles as a humanitarian project unique in Palestine and possibly in the Arab world.