ASSISI ITALY I ve arrived in the home town of St Francis to await the arrival here of Pope Benedict and more than 200 faith leaders who tomorrow will deepen the commitment of religion to peace The event will commemorate the historic first such gathering called by Pope John Paul II on 27 October

The government is now committed to tackling both the financial deficit and the "social deficit."

LONDON Last night there were more buildings aflame in the city than at any time since World War II Some 6 000 police were unable to cope as across the capital -- and in other cities in the UK -- gangs of hooded youths took to the streets in copycat riots torching and looting in the third night o

The Irish prime minister Enda Kenny yesterday launched a bizarre rambling attack on the Vatican accusing it of attempting to frustrate an enquiry into failures of church leadership over clerical abuse and claiming that the Cloyne Report showed the dysfunction disconnection elitism and narciss

A two-day conference organized by the Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster ended yesterday with the two leaders pledging to step up support for the beleagured Christians of the Holy Land through pilgrimages and lobbying to lift draconian Israeli restrictions As one who has long yearned for the

LONDON There s nothing quite like real news -- a story that sprints out in all directions leaving history gasping to catch up That s true of the scandal unfolding this past week turning on revelations about the Murdoch-owned news empire the illegal and immoral activities of some of its journali

First it was the the market -- the collapse of 2008 then the state -- the MPs expenses scandal Now comes the third great crisis of trust in British institutions this time in the third estate The discovery of the rot at the heart of journalism -- yesterday Rupert Murdoch was forced to shut dow

When Mordechai Lewy Israeli ambassador to the Holy See praised the role of Pope Pius XII in saving Jews during World War II he managed to upset a lot of people -- hardly surprising given the way an entire academic industry has been built on the idea that Pius XII failed to raise his voice agains

A documentary shown last night on the BBC told a familiar story of clerical sex abuse Four members of the Rosminian order regularly abused boys in their care at two schools -- one in the UK the other in Africa -- in the 1950s Abused - breaking the silence was an extremely well-made sensitive f

This time last year the clerical sex abuse crisis was raging across central Europe It has subsided now but aftershocks are still being felt In Germany and Austria where church members pay a tax unless they formally declare they have left it is possible to track with some accuracy the numbers o