Pope Benedict is fighting the worst crisis of his papacy, but his problems are only the latest in a long history of controversies and intrigue in the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church.

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Just after dawn on Wednesday, May 23, Paolo Gabriele said goodbye to his wife, passed by the bedrooms of his three children and left to start another day in the service of the man Roman Catholics beli

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

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Pope Benedict XVI on Monday sang along to the anthem of his native Bavaria in Germany to celebrate his 85th birthday, which makes him the oldest pope since Leo XIII who died in 1903 aged 93.

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The pope can't cook but knows how to wash dishes following dinner and practices addresses with a tape recorder, according to his older brother.

Before he became Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Rat

Irish bishops are quickly reporting new cases of sex abuse, the Vatican said on Tuesday in a report following an apostolic visit to Ireland after a paedophilia scandal in the Catholic Church there.

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Members of the amorphous hacking group Anonymous say they have taken down the Vatican website to protest everything from Catholic doctrine to the sexual abuse of children.

The site, www.vatican.va,

Vatican archives documenting centuries of European history including Galileo Galilei's trial documents and Martin Luther's excommunication went on public display for the first time Wednesday.

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Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday put his stamp of authority on the body that will elect his successor as he appointed 22 new cardinals at a time of roiling tensions in the Vatican administration.

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A wave of clerical sex abuse scandals have cost the Catholic Church over two billion dollars (1.5 billion euros) but the real price is the blow to its reputation, two US experts said on Wednesday.

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