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NICOLE WINFIELD

Chief correspondent, Italy and Vatican

Winfield has been on the Vatican beat since 2001, covering the papacies of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and the Francis pontificate and traveling the world with them. She joined the AP in 1992 and worked in the New York City, Miami and United Nations bureaus before moving to Rome in 2001. In addition to the Vatican, Winfield has covered conflicts in Afghanistan and the Middle East, the London Olympics and — before being posted to Rome — the Cuban and Haitian refugee crises of the mid-1990s. Winfield is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University.
Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke celebrates an old Latin Mass for pilgrims in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
American cardinal celebrates old Latin Mass in St. Peter’s in a sign of change
A top American cardinal has celebrated a traditional Latin Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica with the explicit permission of Pope Leo XIV.
 
In this picture made available by Vatican Media, Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla pose with Pope Leo XIV as they meet at the Vatican during a state visit, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
King Charles III prays with pope in historic visit, a welcome respite from royal troubles at home
King Charles III and Queen Camilla have visited the Vatican to pray with Pope Leo XIV. This historic meeting aims to strengthen ties between the Church of England and the Catholic Church.
 
Pope Francis dons a headdress during a visit with Indigenous peoples at Maskwaci, the former Ermineskin Residential School, Monday, July 25, 2022, in Maskwacis, Alberta. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
Vatican will return dozens of artifacts to Indigenous groups in Canada as gesture of reconciliation
The Vatican is expected to soon announce that it will return a few dozen artifacts sought by Indigenous communities in Canada.
 
Evelyn Korkmaz, left, Gemma Hickey, center, and Matthias Katsch, with Ending Clergy Abuse, a global organization of abuse victims and activists, hold a press conference after a meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, in Rome, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope meets with global group of clergy abuse survivors to talk zero tolerance
Pope Leo XIV has met with an organization of clergy abuse survivors and advocates for the first time.
 
Pope Leo XIV tours on his popemobile after presiding over a Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican during which he canonized seven new saints of the Catholic Church, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope gives Venezuela reason to celebrate by canonizing its beloved ‘doctor of the poor’ as 1st saint
Pope Leo XIV has canonized Venezuela’s “doctor of the poor” before tens of thousands of people. He has given the South American nation its first saint.
 
Britain's Queen Camilla, left, and King Charles III, right, pose for a photo before a State Banquet at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, Sept. 17, 2025. (Phil Noble/Pool Photo via AP, file)
King Charles III’s visit to Vatican marks a historic step in path of unity between two churches
The Catholic Church and Church of England are taking a historic step toward unity. Next week, King Charles III and Pope Leo XIV will pray together in the Sistine Chapel.
 
Parts of a car are seen on the ground as Carabinieri military police stand outside the home of investigative journalist Sigfrido Ranucci after an explosive device detonated under the car, in Pomezia, Italy, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)
Italy’s anti-Mafia police investigate after a journalist’s car explodes
Italy’s state-run RAI says an explosive device detonated under the car of one of its leading investigative journalists.
 
Pope Leo XIV presides over a Rosary vigil for peace in St. Peter's Square on the 63rd anniversary of the start of the Second Vatican Council, at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Vatican report calls for reparations for sex abuse victims and tougher sanctions for abusers
The Vatican’s child protection board says the Catholic Church has a moral duty to help victims of clergy sexual abuse heal.
 
Pope Leo XIV, left, is welcomed by Italian President Sergio Mattarella as he arrives at the Quirinale Presidential Palace in Rome, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. At right Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope urges Italy to remain open to migrants during rite of passage visit to presidential palace
Pope Leo XIV has thanked Italy for its efforts to combat human trafficking but urged the country to remain open to welcoming and integrating migrants.
 
A mosaic by ex-Jesuit artist Marko Rupnik is seen on the main facade of the Church of Our Lady of the Canadian Martyrs, June 28, 2024, in Rome. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
Vatican names judges for trial of former Jesuit artist Rupnik accused of abuse by over 20 women
The Vatican has taken the unusual step of announcing that it had named judges to decide the fate of a famous ex-Jesuit artist accused of sexually, spiritually and psychologically abusing women.
 
Pope Leo XIV arrives for a Mass for the participants in the jubilee of ordained people in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope meets with Chicago union leaders, urges migrant welcome as crackdown underway in hometown
Pope Leo XIV has urged labor union leaders from Chicago to advocate for immigrants and welcome minorities into their ranks.
 
Cardinal Michael Czerny attends a press conference at the Vatican to present Pope Leo XIV's exhortation "Dilexi te"about love for the poor, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Pope Leo condemns economies that marginalize the poor while the wealthy live in a bubble of luxury
Pope Leo XIV has criticized how wealthy people live in a “bubble of comfort and luxury” while the poor suffer.
 
Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope urges news agencies to stand as bulwark against lies, manipulation and post-truths
Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation.
 
Bishop of El Paso Mark Joseph Seitz talks with the Associated Press about the situation at the US border with Mexico during an interview at the Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Stellacci)
El Paso bishop brings Pope Leo XIV desperate letters from migrants in crosshairs of US crackdown
The Texas bishop on the front lines of the U.S. immigration crackdown has met with Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican.
 
Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims from Croatia in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV to visit Turkey and Lebanon on first foreign trip, says he’ll bring message of peace
Pope Leo XIV will visit Turkey and Lebanon next month on his first foreign trip as pope. The Vatican said Tuesday that Leo will be in Turkey from Nov. 27-30 and Lebanon from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2.
 
Pope Leo XIV waves from his popemobile at the end of a Mass for the Jubilee of Migrants and Missionaries in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV starts to correct some of Francis’ more problematic financial decisions
Pope Leo XIV has begun correcting some of Pope Francis’ more questionable financial reforms and decisions.
 
Pope Leo XIV is greeted by Pontifical Swiss Guard's 35th Commander Christoph Graf, left, upon his arrival to the swearing in ceremony of 27 Pontifical Swiss Guards cadets in the St. Damasus courtyard at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope lends star power to Swiss Guards swearing-in ceremony as his army struggles to find recruits
Pope Leo XIV has presided over the swearing-in ceremony of 27 new Swiss Guards. The event took place Saturday at the Apostolic Palace.
 
Lieutenant Colonel Loic Marc Rossier, left, and Captain Lorenz Keusch pose for reporters as they present the Swiss Guard Mezza-Gala uniform in the Swiss Guard Barracks at the Vatican, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
The world’s oldest army has new uniforms
The Swiss Guards have introduced a new uniform for nonceremonial occasions. The new black wool outfit, revealed Thursday, is a faithful rendition of a centuries-old design that went out of use in 1976.
 
Pope Leo XIV, center, attends the International conference "Raising Hope for Climate Justice", in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV takes aim at climate skeptics as he embraces predecessor’s environmental legacy
Pope Leo XIV is taking aim at skeptics who he says “ridicule those who speak of global warming.” Leo presided over the 10th anniversary celebration of Francis’ landmark ecological encyclical, Laudato Si (Praised Be) at a global gathering Wednesday south of Rome.
 
Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, Oct.1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope intervenes in US abortion debate by raising what it really means to be ‘pro-life’
Pope Leo XIV has intervened for the first time in an abortion dispute roiling the U.S. Catholic Church.
 
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger attends a press conference at the Vatican, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, to present the "Raising Hope for Climate Justice Conference," promoted by the Laudato Si' (Praise Be to You) Movement, which was inspired by the late Pope Francis' encyclical letter of the same name. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Schwarzenegger downplays Trump and backs Vatican initiative to ‘terminate’ global warming
Arnold Schwarzenegger is throwing his weight behind the Vatican’s environmental initiative. He’s downplaying the Trump administration’s climate skepticism.
 
FILE — Cardinal Angelo Becciu talks to journalists during news conference in Rome, Sept. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
Vatican prosecutors suffer embarrassing loss as tribunal says their appeal is inadmissible
Vatican prosecutors have suffered a stunning blow in their appeals of the acquittals in the Holy See’s “trial of the century.”
 
Most Rev. Fr. James F. Checchio meets students at St. Catherine of Siena in Metairie during his introduction as the next Archbishop of New Orleans on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in New Orleans. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
Pope names successor to embattled New Orleans archbishop after sex abuse settlement
Pope Leo XIV has named a successor to the embattled archbishop of New Orleans two weeks after the archdiocese agreed to a $230 million settlement for survivors of clergy sexual abuse.
 
Cardinal Angelo Becciu attends the consistory inside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Aug. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
Defense in Vatican ‘trial of the century’ asks prosecutor to recuse himself for questionable conduct
Defense lawyers in the Holy See’s “trial of the century” have asked the Vatican prosecutor to recuse himself from the appeals trial.
 
Public relations expert Francesca Chaouqui walks past two Vatican Gendarmi as she leaves the Vatican during a pause of her trial, March 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
Texts reveal behind-the-scenes maneuvering of the Vatican’s ‘trial of the century’
When the appeals trial opens Monday in the Vatican’s “trial of the century,” thousands of pages of WhatsApp text messages will be taking center stage.
 
FILE — Cardinal Angelo Becciu talks to journalists during news conference in Rome, Sept. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
After explosive revelations, Vatican trial heads to appeals phase
The Vatican’s “trial of the century” is heading into the appeals phase. The complicated investigation was launched to get to the bottom of the Holy See’s bungled 350 million euro investment in a London luxury property.
 
Diane Foley, the mother of James Foley, who was kidnapped and beheaded by Islamic militants in 2014 while reporting on the conflict in Syria, speaks as Pope Leo XIV presides over a vigil prayer for the consolation of those who suffer, at The Vatican, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope praises forgiveness as mother of slain US journalist James Foley speaks of healing at Vatican
The mother of James Foley, the American journalist kidnapped and beheaded by Islamic militants in Syria in 2014, has told her story of loss and healing at a Vatican vigil attended by Pope Leo XIV.
 
Pope Leo XIV presides over a commemoration of the martyrs and witnesses of the faith of the 21st century with representatives of other churches and Christian communions in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope honors 21st century martyrs: Christians killed by Islamic militants, mafias, Amazon ranchers
Pope Leo XIV has honored hundreds of Christians who have been killed for their faith in the 21st century.
 
Pope Leo XIV appears at his studio's window to bless the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for the Angelus prayer, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV marvels at his ‘huge learning curve’ in an interview released on his 70th birthday
Pope Leo XIV has marveled at the “huge learning curve” he has taken on as pontiff and likened some aspects of the job to jumping “in on the deep end of the pool very quickly.”
 
Traditionalists rejoice that top US cardinal allowed to celebrate old Latin Mass at St. Peter’s
Traditionalist Catholics are celebrating news that the Vatican under Pope Leo XIV has given them permission to celebrate the old Latin Mass in St.
 
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