Around 1515, Raphael (1483-1520) designed a set of tapestries for Leo X, the first Medici pope. Each was sumptuously woven in gold, silver, and silk, and depicted scenes from classical mythology with ...

Between 1518 and 1520, Pope Leo X sat for a portrait by the Renaissance master Raphael. A lifelong patron of the arts, he wished for this dignified painting, which shows him dressed in his papal garb ...

Popes choose their names carefully. When Jorge Bergoglio took the name “Francis” — a name no pope had used before, associated with a popular saint known for his concern for the poor and outcast — he ...