VATICAN CITY – Of the thousands of hospitals the Catholic Church owns or operates, one has a very special patron. Known as “the pope’s hospital,” the Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital belongs to the Vatican.Read More
JERUSALEM – Amid billowing Israeli and Vatican flags, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed his friendship with both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, acknowledging the Palestinians’ right to an independent state as well as Israel’s right to exist in “peace and security.”Read More
JERUSALEM – Standing before Christ’s empty tomb, Pope Benedict XVI urged Christians in the Holy Land to bury their differences so they could preach hope and peace with one voice.Read More
NAZARETH, Israel – Meeting with Catholic and other religious leaders in Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI returned to a running theme of his Holy Land pilgrimage: that God intervenes in human history, offering people a real reason for hope.Read More
NAZARETH, Israel – Celebrating Mass in Nazareth, the hometown of the Holy Family, Pope Benedict XVI urged the region’s people to keep their family bonds strong and to extend that love and acceptance to others, whether Christian or Muslim.Read More
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – The wall. Pope Benedict XVI had to pass through a gate in Israel’s 26-foot-high security wall to get to Bethlehem to celebrate Mass May 13 near the birthplace of Jesus.Read More
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s recent remarks expanding the definition of reproductive rights to include abortion have sparked criticism and warnings from a U.S. church official and a Catholic congressman.Read More
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Pope Benedict XVI arrived in the Palestinian territories May 13 and immediately declared the Vatican’s support for an independent Palestine.Read More
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Pope Benedict XVI knelt in prayer at the spot where tradition holds Jesus was born, then went to a Catholic children’s hospital, where he held an infant boy named Elias in his arms.Read More