We think that a return to the country at this time could unleash a bloodbath, said Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga.

In addition to giving Obama a copy of his latest encyclical, the pope also presented a copy of a recent Vatican document on biomedical ethics.

Catholic bishops from Spain's Basque region kept quiet about the killing of priests by right-wing forces during the Spanish Civil War.

Ethical values are needed to overcome the current global economic crisis, said Pope Benedict XVI in Caritas in Veritate.

The ambiguities in a seven-year-old document from Catholic and Jewish dialogue partners are continuing to cause confusion.

Christian and Muslim leaders called two bomb blasts in Jakarta on July 17 "uncivilized acts" and urged the police to apprehend the culprits.