HOMER SIMPSON has debated with God on the merits of religion versus sport, been banished to hell and frolicked nude in the Garden of Eden.

The producer of the Simpsons admitted today he was baffled after the Vatican declared that Homer and his son Bart were true Catholics.

The Vatican said the seizure by police of €23m from a Vatican bank account and the investigation of two top bank officials was due to a simple misunderstanding that should be clarified quickly.

Roman Catholic Church officials said the recently created first synthetic cell could be a positive development if correctly used, but warned scientists that "only God can create life".

THE Vatican has finally made peace with The Beatles, saying their drug use, “dissolute” lives and even the claim that the band was bigger than Jesus are all in the past – while their music lives on.

The Vatican has heatedly defended Pope Benedict XVI, claiming accusations that he helped cover up the actions of paedophile priests are part of an anti-Catholic “hate” campaign targeting the Pope for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

A senior cardinal defended Pope Benedict XVI from “petty gossip” today as the pontiff maintained his silence on mounting sex abuse cover-up accusations during his Easter message.

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Easter Vigil as the Vatican newspaper attacked what it called a “vile defamation operation” against him over the clerical abuse scandal.

A priest who investigated allegations of sex abuse on around 200 deaf children over 24 years defended the Vatican's handling of the case today, saying it was unfair to drag the current Pope into the scandal.

STEVEN GEIER says that four times in the mid-1960s, the Rev Lawrence Murphy coaxed the then-14-year-old student into a closet at St John’s School for the Deaf just outside Milwaukee and molested him, using God to justify his actions.

TOP Vatican officials, including the future Pope Benedict XVI, did not react to letters about an American priest who molested as many as 200 deaf school children.

THE Vatican has strongly denied that its celibacy requirement is the root of the sex abuse scandal in the church in Europe and has defended Pope Benedict XVI’s handling of the crisis.

THERE was a poignant footnote to President Obama’s historic July 10 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.

The first scientific test on what is believed to be the remains of the Apostle Paul appears to confirm that they are genuine, the pope said.

THE Vatican’s newspaper has finally forgiven John Lennon for declaring that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, calling the remark a “boast” by a young man grappling with sudden fame.

Vatican media are praising the Beatles’ musical legacy and sounding philosophical about John Lennon’s boast that the band was more popular than Jesus.

Alina Trabattoni

The parents of a brain-damaged woman tonight filed an 11th-hour appeal against a US judge’s decision to let her die.

A frail Pope John Paul II reappeared today at a window of the hospital treating him for his latest health crisis, giving the world its second glimpse of him since he was rushed back to the clinic with breathing trouble 11 days ago.

PETER MULLAN’S The Magdalene Sisters won the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion yesterday.

Australia-born Christian Vieri is the injury-jinxed footballing nomad who names cricketing legend Allan Border as his sporting hero and caused alarm in the Vatican when Inter Milan signed him three years ago.