Roger Mahony, a cardinal-archbishop, was relieved of public duties for mishandling child sex abuse cases, writes Paul Begala, so why was he allowed to vote for a new pope?

THE Pope has accepted the early resignation of a Los Angeles bishop who recently acknowledged being the father of two teenagers.

THE Roman Catholic Church has effectively buried the concept of limbo, the place where centuries of tradition and teaching held that babies who die without baptism went.

A Vatican advisory commission said today there was reason to hope that babies who die without baptism can go to heaven, suggesting that the Catholic Church revise its long-standing teaching on so-called limbo.

The Pope has not endorsed Mel Gibson’s controversial Biblical epic The Passion of the Christ, the pontiff’s secretary said.