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The Middle East may be the most hyper-sensitive piece of real estate on earth, where no more than a stray word or gesture can trigger an explosion.
Pope Benedict XVI called on Israelis and Palestinian to put aside their "grievances and divisions" and work toward reconciliation in the Middle East during a speech in the West Bank.
As he arrives in Israel, the focus for Pope Benedict XVI shifts from Catholic/Muslim ties, which were at the heart of his three-day visit to Jordan, to relations with Judaism.
For more than 20 years, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then the Vatican's top doctrinal czar, was the intellectual architect of the papacy of John Paul II.
On the second day of his visit to the Middle East, Pope Benedict XVI stressed the need for harmony and unity between Christians and Muslims.
Pope Benedict XVI arrived Friday in Amman, Jordan, for a weeklong visit to the Middle East that he hopes will help "foster good relations between Christians and Muslims."
Pope Benedict XVI will leave for a weeklong tour of the Middle East Friday morning, the first papal visit to some of Christianity's most holy places since Pope John Paul II made the pilgrimage in 2000.
Pope Benedict XVI met with survivors and offered prayers Tuesday as he visited towns hit hard in this month's Italian earthquake.
Pope Benedict XVI will visit the earthquake-ravaged town of L'Aquila on April 28 -- three weeks after the disaster struck -- the Vatican said Saturday.
Critics took to the social networking site Facebook to voice their fury over Pope Benedict's remark that condoms do not prevent HIV.
The Middle East may be the most hyper-sensitive piece of real estate on earth, where no more than a stray word or gesture can trigger an explosion.
Pope Benedict XVI called on Israelis and Palestinian to put aside their "grievances and divisions" and work toward reconciliation in the Middle East during a speech in the West Bank.
As he arrives in Israel, the focus for Pope Benedict XVI shifts from Catholic/Muslim ties, which were at the heart of his three-day visit to Jordan, to relations with Judaism.
For more than 20 years, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then the Vatican's top doctrinal czar, was the intellectual architect of the papacy of John Paul II.
On the second day of his visit to the Middle East, Pope Benedict XVI stressed the need for harmony and unity between Christians and Muslims.
Pope Benedict XVI arrived Friday in Amman, Jordan, for a weeklong visit to the Middle East that he hopes will help "foster good relations between Christians and Muslims."
Pope Benedict XVI will leave for a weeklong tour of the Middle East Friday morning, the first papal visit to some of Christianity's most holy places since Pope John Paul II made the pilgrimage in 2000.
Pope Benedict XVI met with survivors and offered prayers Tuesday as he visited towns hit hard in this month's Italian earthquake.
Pope Benedict XVI will visit the earthquake-ravaged town of L'Aquila on April 28 -- three weeks after the disaster struck -- the Vatican said Saturday.
Critics took to the social networking site Facebook to voice their fury over Pope Benedict's remark that condoms do not prevent HIV.
Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Angola on Friday as part of his week-long visit to Africa, a journey marked by the pontiff's controversial comments on reproductive issues and some of the continent's political regimes.
Pope Benedict XVI refused Wednesday to soften the Vatican's ban on condom use as he arrived in Africa for his first visit to the continent as pope.
The African-American religious community deserves considerable praise for taking leadership of the civil rights movement during the first half of the 20th century.
Pope Benedict XVI will not visit Israel's Holocaust museum when he makes his first trip to the region as pope in May, though he will visit a memorial that is part of the site, his ambassador to Israel said Tuesday.
Pope Benedict XVI will visit Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories May 8-15, he announced Sunday.
Pope Benedict XVI met Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, at the Vatican on Wednesday, both sides said in statements -- but that seems to be all they agree on.
A Holocaust denier Pope Benedict XVI welcomed back into the Roman Catholic Church last month has been removed from his position as head of a seminary in Argentina.
Pope Benedict XVI called for peace in the Middle East and an end to the exploitation of children in the homily he delivered early Thursday during the annual Christmas Eve Midnight Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.
As Pope Benedict XVI announced the ascendance of four new saints, a look back at how the guiding lights of the Catholic faith are identified
As the Catholic Church marks a key anniversary of a traditionalist ascendancy, its leader is still keen to grapple with doubters
Benedict won over many of the country's cynics, even if his anti-materialism message clashed with Sydney's hedonism
Pope Benedict XVI used some of the strongest language yet in his apology for the sexual abuse of children by Australia's Roman Catholic clergy
Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday offered his strongest public statement yet on sex abuse against minors by Roman Catholic priests, apologizing to victims and calling the abuse "evil."
Pope Benedict's visit may have pulled the plug on a movement that helped define the faith here for almost a half-century
Not exactly. John Paul II may have been simpatico with the Capuchin miracle worker, but Benedict prefers his saints on the cerebral side
Pope Benedict XVI concluded his six-day visit to the United States with a final address Sunday, thanking Americans for their hospitality and calling on people worldwide to pursue "justice and peaceful coexistence."
Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday recalled growing up during the Nazi era in his native Germany and stressed the "fundamental importance of freedom" as he addressed a rally of young people in New York.
Viewpoint: No, we are not the Da Vinci Code heretics the Vatican might suspect. We look instead to the Boccaccio Code
The sight was jarring Friday: Pope Benedict XVI at the Park East Synagogue just before the start of the Jewish Sabbath.
Three victims of the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church described an emotional, frank and ultimately hope-filled meeting with Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday.
Worshippers began arriving at the Washington Nationals stadium before sunrise, eagerly awaiting an open-air Mass that will be presided over by Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI moved Wednesday from a jubilant White House visit where he defended religion in the public square to a contemplative prayer service at a national Roman Catholic shrine
A smiling Pope Benedict XVI arrived in the United States on Tuesday afternoon to start the six-day, two-city journey that will take him from the White House to the halls of the United Nations.
The official motto of Pope Benedict XVI's April 15-20 visit to the United States, the first of his papacy, is "Christ our Hope." Based on the frequency with which papal spokespersons have struck a different note, however, its unofficial motto might well be, "This is not a political event."
Here is the itinerary of Pope Benedict XVI while in the United States this week. All times are Eastern Daylight Time. Sources: CNN, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Pope Benedict XVI may not have the charisma of John Paul II but don't discount his staff -- especially Fr. Georg Gänswein, the gatekeeper-in-chief
Fifteen hundred years after the Roman Catholic Church introduced the original list of seven deadly sins, a Vatican official last week suggested an updated roster for a new age.
The new U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See is an old Vatican hand. Now she gets to usher the Pope into his first official visit to the U.S.
Pope Benedict XVI has canceled a planned visit to a prestigious Italian university after a protest by academics and students attacked his views on Galileo, the Vatican confirmed Tuesday.
After days of rising protests from students and professors, Pope Benedict XVI has pulled out of a visit to La Sapienza University
Football should be used to teach young people moral lessons, Pope Benedict XVI said during an audience with representatives from the Italian football league and lower division clubs.
All the incense and intrigue of another papal conclave is upon us again. Well, sort of
As a showdown with the US looms, Tehran is looking to the Pontiff to intervene -- and is finding a lot of sympathy
Calling himself a "pilgrim among pilgrims" Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday visited the Marian sanctuary of Mariazell southwest of Vienna, fulfilling a promise he made in 2004 -- while still a cardinal -- to return to the shrine on its 850th birthday.
If the Pope exerts such authority, why is the Holy See impervious to predatory priest lawsuits?
Non-Catholics who are up in arms of the proclamation by Pope Benedict XVI that the only true church in the world is that of Catholicism shouldn't even bother getting upset. Just chalk it up to an old man trying to get a little attention.
Snipers and police security teams took up positions around Ankara airport as Pope Benedict XVI arrived for his first visit to a Muslim country.
A demonstration by about 50 people protesting Pope Benedict XVI's approaching visit to Turkey was broken up by police in Istanbul on Wednesday, CNN Turk reported.
(Time.com) -- It was not a laid-back Turkish holiday. The citizens of the proud, predominantly Muslim nation had no love of Popes. To the East, the Iranian government was galvanizing anti-Western feeling.
Pope Benedict XVI is expected to cast aside centuries of Catholic belief this week by abolishing formally the concept of limbo. Today The Briefing Room takes a look at a move that theologians suggest could save the souls of millions.
Pope Benedict XVI expressed "total and profound respect for all Muslims" at a meeting Monday with ambassadors from Muslim nations and other Islamic leaders.
Pope Benedict XVI has invited ambassadors from Muslim nations to meet him on Monday in a bid to calm anger over his use of a medieval text saying their religion was spread by violence.
Pope Benedict XVI has said he is "deeply sorry" for the reaction to his comments on Islam and said a quote he used from a medieval text about holy wars did not reflect his personal thoughts.
Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday he regretted that his speech on Islam offended Muslims and expressed his respect for their faith. Here is the Vatican's statement, according to a translation posted on its Web site:
Outrage is mounting around the world over Pope Benedict's comments on Islam and jihad despite assurances from the Vatican that he only intended to point out the incompatibility between faith and war.
A 15th body was found early Thursday in the rubble of a skating rink in southern Germany whose roof collapsed under the weight of snow.
Before an enthusiastic crowd numbering in the hundreds of thousands, Pope Benedict XVI has celebrated an open-air mass to end World Youth Day.
A liberal Catholic friend of mine tried humor to mask his disappointment at the choice of Pope Benedict XVI, the rigid Bavarian-born Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, to succeed the late John Paul II: "We were looking for a 'good shepherd,' and instead we got a German shepherd."
Pope Benedict XVI gave this homily as he was installed at an open-air Mass outside St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City:
Pope Benedict XVI was formally installed at a Mass Sunday outside St. Peter's Basilica in front of an audience of hundreds of thousands and millions of others watching on television.
Pope Benedict XVI, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, will officially take the helm of the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday before a crowd filled with dignitaries, members of his flock and a worldwide television audience of millions.
As Pope Benedict XVI starts his papacy, details and analyses are emerging about how the actions of his predecessor and the new pontiff helped position him as the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
As he prepares for his inauguration Mass on Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his gratitude to his "venerated cardinal brothers" for electing him to head the Roman Catholic Church and asked for their support during his reign.
There is one Roman Catholic Church, headquartered in the Vatican. Then there are thousands of churches -- located in rural and metropolitan, traditional and progressive, affluent and impoverished communities worldwide.
In Istanbul and Ankara, on newsstands and on the Internet, headlines scream displeasure over Joseph Ratzinger's ascendance to the papacy.
Is nothing sacred?
A lapsed American Catholic who registered the Web domain BenedictXVI.com before the new pope was named says he has no idea what to do with the site but believes it would be wrong to sell it to a pornography or gambling site.
CNN.com asked users to share their thoughts about the issues the next pope will face. Many also offered their thoughts on the selection of Pope Benedict XVI. Here is a sampling from thousands of responses, some of which have been edited.
When he was a cardinal in 1991, Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, suffered a brain hemorrhage "which laid him down for a while, but he recovered from it," said CNN Vatican analyst John Allen on Wednesday.
Newspapers around Europe have hailed the swift election of Joseph Ratzinger as pope -- a step they said dismayed Roman Catholic progressives, but pleased defenders of church orthodoxy.
Nearly three-quarters of American Catholics say they are more likely to follow their own conscience on "difficult moral questions," rather than the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, according to a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll.
Pope Benedict XVI outlined goals for his papacy Wednesday, including the unification of all Christians, continuing the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and reaching out to people of other faiths.
Reaction to Tuesday's election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to pope ranged from joy to disappointment. But a German cardinal who has worked with -- and disagreed with -- the new Pope Benedict XVI urges patience.
Pope Benedict XVI prepared to celebrate his first Mass as pontiff Wednesday at the Vatican, while world leaders welcomed his selection.
Before Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger assumed the title of Pope Benedict XVI, he earned the nickname "Cardinal No" for policing the boundaries of Roman Catholic teachings.
Tuesday's announcement of a new pope could usher in a new era in the Roman Catholic Church -- and a business opportunity for online vendors already racing to sell fridge magnets, prayer cards and clocks bearing the likeness of Pope Benedict XVI.
World leaders lauded conservative German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's election Tuesday as head of the Roman Catholic Church. Many of them referred to the 78-year-old pontiff by his chosen papal name Pope Benedict XVI.
Roman Catholics reacted quickly to Tuesday's announcement that conservative Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany had been chosen the 265th pontiff of the church -- Benedict XVI.
The newly elected Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, was one of the most powerful men in the Vatican under Pope John Paul II, a strict enforcer of church doctrine who earned the nickname "Cardinal No."
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was selected Tuesday as the new pope.
Wearing traditional papal robes and a large smile, Joseph Ratzinger of Germany appeared Tuesday on a Vatican balcony as the 265th pontiff, Benedict XVI, as tens of thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square to cheer him.
Following is the text of Pope John Paul II's address to U.S. President George W. Bush at the Vatican Friday, courtesy of the Vatican's Web site:
FOR CENTURIES the Vatican has projected an aura of immense, even ostentatious, wealth befitting one of the great global institutions. From the echoing vastness of St. Peter's Basilica to art treasu...
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