I am normally a fan of Victoria White’s excellent and perceptive column. But her article on Nellie Organ (Irish Examiner, 27 August) displays a profound lack of insight into the central mysteries of Christianity, whether of Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant variety.

The Pope has urged Bosnia’s Muslims, Orthodox Christians and Catholics to put the “barbarity” of war behind them and work together for a peaceful future as he made a one-day visit to Sarajevo.

The Sudanese woman imprisoned for refusing to reject Christianity has said she was resolved to keep her faith even if it meant death.

Pope Francis has wrapped up his first trip to Asia by challenging Koreans, both North and the South, to reject the “mindset of suspicion and confrontation” that clouds their relations.

Pope Francis prayed for peace in Ukraine and Syria and for an end to the terrorist attacks in Nigeria as he celebrated Easter Sunday in Rome.

The issue of divorce is stoking a spirited debate between Catholic cardinals and revealing the challenges and expectations for Pope Francis after his promises to put the Church more in touch with modern life.

WE have been here before.

Pontiff attacks unfettered capitalism as ‘a new tyranny’

The Last Man in Russia and the Struggle to Save a Dying Nation

Pope Francis has been praised for his warm relations with other faiths, ahead of today’s papal installation ceremony.

Pope Francis’ diplomatic skills are being tested in his first audience with a visiting head of state - Argentine president Cristina Kirchner, with whom he clashed over her socially liberal policies.

THERE’S nothing orthodox about John Johansson.

Two top clerics in the Russian Orthodox Church said today that it has forgiven the members of feminist punk band Pussy Riot who were convicted of hooliganism and sent to prison for briefly taking over a cathedral in a raucous prayer for deliverance from Vladimir Putin.

Prosecutors have asked for three-year sentences on each of the feminist punk band that performed a protest stunt against Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral.

The feminist Russian punk band on trial for protesting against Vladimir Putin have accused their judge of being politically biased and ignoring their side of the story.

A bomb exploded on a bus carrying Israeli youths in a Bulgarian resort today, killing at least six people and wounding 32, officials said.

Scientists have found new evidence they say supports the theory that a knuckle bone and other human remains found under a church floor in Bulgaria may be of John the Baptist.

THE annual cleaning of one of Christianity’s holiest churches deteriorated into a brawl between rival clergy as dozens of monks feuding over sacred space at the Church of the Nativity battled each other with brooms until police intervened.

The annual cleaning of one of Christianity’s holiest churches deteriorated into a brawl between rival clergy today, as dozens of monks feuding over sacred space at the Church of the Nativity battled each other with brooms until police intervened.

Jennifer Johnston was anything but confident when writing her new novel she tells Caroline O’Doherty , despite having firm views on its subject matter

GREEK Prime Minister George Papandreou appointed a new finance minister in a crisis reshuffle to try to push through harsh economic reforms and avoid a default that could cause global economic turmoil.

Hundreds of Christians and Muslims are hurling stones at each other in central Cairo hours after mobs set fire to a church in violence that killed 12 people and injured more than 200.

A SUICIDE car bomber hit the central market of a major city in Russia’s North Caucasus yesterday, killing at least 17 and wounding more than 130 people in one of the worst attacks in the volatile region in years, officials said.

Israeli antiquities authorities operating under heavy police guard began relocating ancient graves today to make way for construction of a hospital emergency room, setting off protests from ultra-Orthodox Jews who say Jewish remains are being disturbed

A strike by civil servants today grounded all flights and shut down public services across Greece, as labour unions mounted their first major challenge to austerity measures in the debt-plagued country.

Patriarch Pavle, who led Serbia’s Christian Orthodox Church through its post-Communist revival and called for peace and conciliation during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s but failed to openly condemn Serb nationalism, died today. He was 95.

Pope Benedict XVI assured his followers in the Holy Land that peace is possible, as he ended his Middle East visit today by putting aside the contentious issues he has confronted and coming as a pilgrim to the site of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Israeli police burst into one of Christianity’s holiest churches today and arrested two clergyman after an argument between monks erupted into a brawl next to the site of Jesus’ tomb.

POPE Benedict XVI yesterday appealed to a “shared Christian heritage” to implore all forces to end their fighting in Georgia and its South Ossetia province, which he said was creating “many innocent victims”.

TO a sea of Albanian and American flags, Prime Minister Hasim Thaci called the republic of Kosovo into being last Sunday week, setting off a diplomatic firestorm, raising Russian- backed Serbian ire and sparking fears that minority ethnic groups from Spain to China would have a new basis for resistance.

Angry Serbs set off explosions in northern Kosovo today protesting at the newborn republic’s independence.

Thousands of Kosovo Serbs took to the streets in protest today over their ethnic Albanian leadership’s declaration of the province’s independence from Serbia.

Two world religious leaders, the Greek Orthodox Church’s Archbishop Christodoulos, and Mormon president Gordon Hinckley, have died, it was announced today.

RENTAL property is becoming synonymous with religious diversity.

OLIVER BRODERICK (Letters, October 22) says he is going to ask Fr Con McGillicuddy for his bullet-proof vest to protect himself after his long dismissal of all Richard Dawkins’s “disciples” and the apparent lack of “evidence” to support Dawkins’s arguments.

Several thousand faithful packed a square in central Vienna today as Pope Benedict XVI wrapped up a three-day visit to Austria with a Mass and a stop at a medieval abbey outside the capital.

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his 80th birthday a day early today, with a Mass in his honour held on the flower-bedecked steps of St Peter's Square.

A ROMANIAN priest who led a exorcism ritual for a young nun that ended with the woman’s death was sentenced yesterday to 14 years in prison.

Pope Benedict XVI prayed beside an Islamic cleric in one of Turkey’s most famous mosques today in a dramatic gesture of outreach to Muslims, after causing outrage with remarks linking violence and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.

Pope Benedict XVI called divisions among Christians a “scandal to the world” and recalled the faith's deep roots in Europe at a joint ceremony in Istanbul today with the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians at his ancient enclave.

Pope Benedict XVI and the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians prayed together in an Istanbul church today, a service intended to underline their commitment to try to heal the 1,000-year-old rift between the two churches.

Pope Benedict XVI today arrived in Turkey on his first visit to a Muslim country, where he will seek to ease anger over his perceived criticism of Islam and mend a split with the world’s Orthodox Christians.

IS Pope Benedict a secret weapon of al-Qaida?

Police today set up roadblocks and launched helicopter searches for thieves who scaled a cliff and stole a 700-year-old religious icon from a monastery in southern Greece.