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.