With Pope Benedict XVI set to celebrate his 86th birthday in April, speculation about a possible successor abounds.

An upcoming Vatican document on gays and the priesthood says men who demonstrate homosexual tendencies cannot become priests unless they can show they have lived chastely for at least three years, an Italian newspaper reported today.

WITH the health of Pope John Paul II rapidly deteriorating, Church officials are bracing themselves for the dramatic changes that will come at the Vatican with the Pontiff’s death.