Pope Francis has criticized the West’s two-decade-long involvement in Afghanistan as an outsider’s attempt to impose democracy — although he did it by citing Russia’s Vladimir Putin while thinking he was quoting Germany’s Angela Merkel.

The disclosure by the Spanish Jesuits comes as Pope Francis, the church’s first Jesuit pope, has tried to sensitize the church around the globe to the problem of clergy abuse.

The Spanish dictator's preserved body will be flown Thursday by helicopter to the Franco family's private chapel in the Mingorrubio cemetery.

A migrant aid group has accused Libya's coast guard of abandoning three people in the Mediterranean Sea, including a woman and a toddler who died, after intercepting 160 Europe-bound migrants near the shores of the North African nation.

The owner of a Spanish website believes it is being sued by the Vatican in retaliation for the website's crusade against corruption in the church.