Pope Benedict XVI has a reputation as a charming and shy man who is also deeply conservative in his outlook and teaching.

Relics of the German Third Reich were at the centre of a bidding battle in Limerick yesterday.

Norwegian gunman Anders Breivik insisted today he would massacre 77 people all over again, calling his rampage the most “spectacular” attack by a nationalist militant since the Second World War.

POPE BENEDICT spoke yesterday of how his childhood was blighted by the Nazis as he ended a turbulent visit to Britain.

The Pope today thanked the British people for the “warmth of your welcome” as his historic four-day state visit to the UK came to an end.

POPE Benedict XVI praised Britain as a “force for good” yesterday as thousands of people turned out to greet him on the first day of his historic visit.

POPE Benedict XVI praised Britain’s fight against the Nazis as he gave his first speech of his state visit.

Pope Benedict XVI praised the UK as a “force for good” today as he arrived for a historic visit.

A 90-YEAR-OLD former SS sergeant who was No 4 on the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s list of most-wanted Nazi war crimes suspects has died before he could be brought to trial, German authorities said.

BOOKS on friendship and bonding are important for the very young who have begun mixing with their peers at pre-school.

GERMAN prosecutors yesterday charged a 90-year-old former member of Hitler’s SS with 58 counts of murder over a massacre of Jewish forced labourers in the final weeks of World War II.

A 90-year-old former member of the SS has been charged with 58 counts of murder for the 1945 killings of Jewish forced labourers in Austria.

POPE Benedict XVI has said Nazi concentration camps were “extreme symbols of evil” and hell on earth.

POPE Benedict XVI prayed yesterday for an end to all wars, making a pilgrimage to the site of a decisive World War II battle and decrying the destruction and lives lost there.

Pope Benedict XVI capped his Middle East visit today by putting aside the contentious issues he has confronted over the past week and making a pilgrimage to the site of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Pope Benedict XVI pledged today to remember the millions of Jews killed in the Holocaust.

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Israel today on an emotion-charged visit to the Holy Land hoping to improve relations with Jews and Muslims.

Andrew Sachs said today that last autumn’s obscene messages scandal was “in the past”, and he bore no resentment over the affair.

IS Pope Benedict a secret weapon of al-Qaida?

Pope Benedict XVI, making sentimental stops in his predecessor’s homeland, brought joy to Poles by announcing that he hopes John Paul II will be made a saint “in the near future".

Pope Benedict XVI said he became convinced he should become a priest to help confront what he called the “anti-human culture” of the Nazis in his native Germany.

Pope Benedict XVI praised the the Second World War-era Pope, Pius XII, as a great pontiff but stopped short of endorsing his case for beatification, according to a transcript released today by the Vatican.

POPE Benedict XVI won praise from Jews and respect from Muslims for his blunt warnings about the rise of anti-Semitism and terrorism in the world - issues that are likely to define his papacy and ones which he confronted head-on during his first foreign trip as pope.

David McHugh, Cologne

GREAT cities have a genius for throwing up characters and institutions, people and places that somehow manage to represent the quirks and foibles of the city.

German-born Pope Benedict XVI held his first meeting with an international Jewish group today, assuring them he will continue his predecessors’ efforts to improve relations between Catholics and Jews.

After extending a hand to other Christians, Jews and “nonbelievers,” Pope Benedict XVI made a meeting with religious leaders his first public appointment today.

POPE Benedict XVI formally began his stewardship of the Roman Catholic Church yesterday, reaching out to Jews, other Christians and “non-believers alike”.

IN a sign he intends to follow in the steps of his predecessor and reach out to other religions, Pope Benedict XVI has invited the chief rabbi of Rome to his inauguration, said a spokesman for Rome’s Jewish community.

GERMANY’S popular press took a swipe at British counterparts yesterday for their coverage of Pope Benedict XVI’s election, declaring in a banner front-page headline that “the English are insulting our Pope!”

POPE Benedict XVI confirmed Cardinal Angelo Sodano in the Vatican's No 2 post yesterday and kept all other top officials, avoiding any immediate shake-up in the late John Paul II's administration.

Germany’s popular press took a swipe at British counterparts today for their coverage of Pope Benedict XVI’s election, declaring in a banner front-page headline that “the English are insulting our pope!”

Rita Ciolli, New York

THE election of German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI has effectively stamped the papal seal of conservatism on the governance of the Catholic Church for the foreseeable future.

ONE of the many interesting churches which you will find in Rome is that of Domine Quo Vadis (Latin for ‘Lord, where are you going?’).

Prince Claus, the German-born husband of The Netherlands’ Queen Beatrix who charmed his adopted country with his irreverent wit, was being buried today with royal honours.

OUR Roman taxi driver was talkative and his view of the Church was negative.