Pope Francis got a rapturous welcome from tens of thousands of pilgrims as he arrived in Brazil on his first foreign trip as pontiff, but violent protests later swept the streets.

Pope Francis on Thursday bolstered criminal legislation against child abuse in the Vatican and increased criminal liability for employees of the tiny city state in a legislative overhaul.

The Major Archbishop Catholicos of the Syro Malankara church, Mar Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, joined the College of Cardinals on Saturday along with six others at a ceremony led by Pope Benedict XVI

The Vatican on Saturday confirmed the arrest of Pope Benedict XVI's butler on suspicion of leaking confidential documents and letters from the pontiff's private study to the media.

There was disbelie

A pair of doves seemed to prefer the company of Pope Benedict XVI to the great outdoors on Sunday when he had trouble convincing them to take flight in a traditional peace gesture.

The first dove hes

The ceremony to beatify the late Pope, John Paul II, began in front of hundreds of thousands of Catholics in Vatican City's St. Peter's Square.

Beatification, or declaring a person to be 'blessed', i

Pope Benedict XVI on Friday said he had 'no answers' for a traumatised seven-year-old Japanese girl asking about the earthquake and tsunami in an unprecedented interview on Italian television.

"I als

Vatican City: Pope Benedict XVI created a new financial authority in the Vatican on Thursday in order to join the 'fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism'.

Benedict's letter, w

London: Breaking with years of Roman Catholic teaching, the Pope has said the use of condoms can be justified 'in certain cases'.

In a book, Benedict XVI has signalled that the contraceptive could be

Pope Benedict XVI formally created 24 new cardinals on Saturday amid cheers in St Peter's Basilica, bringing a mostly Italian group into the elite club that will eventually elect his successor.