Rome’s homeless are about to get some TLC.

President Barack Obama has said his meeting with Pope Francis focused on their agreements, not their divisions.

The Vatican has hit back at a UN human rights committee that issued a scathing report on sex abuse by priests accusing it of straying beyond its mandate and discrediting the UN as a whole by adopting the “prejudiced” positions of anti-Catholic advocacy groups.

Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 young offenders including a Muslim girl at a Rome jail in an unusual take on a traditional Easter ritual by Latin America’s first pontiff.

Pope Benedict XVI has posted his first tweet.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has insisted that diplomatic relations with the Vatican remain “very strong” despite a furore over the closure of Ireland’s embassy to the Holy See.

POPE Benedict yesterday urged Catholics in Germany to close ranks behind him rather than demand reforms or leave the Church.

THE Vatican has taken the unprecedented step of releasing internal files about an Irish priest who was removed from the priesthood in the 1960s after allegedly molesting children both here and in the US.

The Vatican, reeling from criticism over its handling of sexual abuse cases in Ireland, has taken the unusual step of publishing its internal files about a priest accused of molesting youngsters in Ireland and the US.

THE Department of Foreign Affairs has not received any notice that the Papal Nuncio will be leaving Ireland, despite confirmation from Czech officials that he is due to move to Prague shortly.

EXPRESSING surprise and regret at some of the “excessive reactions” to the Cloyne Report the Vatican recalled its ambassador to Ireland to discuss the preparation of its response.

There are reports that Vatican Radio has said that the Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Giuseppe Leanza, has been recalled to the Vatican.

IN THE first sign of a reaction by the Vatican to the Cloyne report, its press officer has claimed the Holy See never instructed Irish bishops to withhold information on abuse cases.

THE Vatican said it was satisfied three men who had sought to hold the Vatican liable in an American court for sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests have decided to abandon the case.

A COURT-ORDERED study has found that electromagnetic waves beamed by Vatican Radio leave residents living near the station’s antennas at a higher risk of cancer.

THE Vatican said it has posted its third straight financial loss, registering a €4.1 million deficit for 2009.

The Vatican said today it has posted its third straight financial loss, registering a €4.1m deficit for 2009.

Pope Benedict XVI told cardinals today that he does not feel alone while at the helm of a “wounded and sinner” church, the Vatican newspaper reported.

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.

Pope Benedict XVI has opened the church’s solemn Holy Week amid increasing questions about his own handling of cases of sexual abuse of children by priests.

The Vatican today denounced what it called aggressive attempts to drag Pope Benedict XVI into the spreading scandals of paedophile priests in his German homeland, and contended he had long confronted abuse cases with courage.

THE Vatican led a wave of revulsion yesterday at the slaughter of hundreds of Christians in Nigeria, as survivors told of how the killers hacked victims to death after snaring them in animal traps.

THE Pope will today conclude his historic two-day emergency meeting with Irish bishops in Rome, at which the fallout from the Murphy report into allegations of the rape and abuse of 320 children by 46 priests in the Dublin Archdiocese, is top of the agenda.

The Vatican newspaper and radio station has criticised James Cameron’s 3-D blockbuster 'Avatar' for flirting with the idea that worship of nature can replace religion – a notion the Pope warned against.

AN ALBUM featuring the voice of Pope Benedict XVI is to be released worldwide later this year, a record label has announced.

An ultraconservative society recently rehabilitated by Pope Benedict XVI silenced one of its bishops today and distanced itself from his claim that no Jews were gassed during the Second World War.

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.

The Vatican said today it was committed to leading the fight against paedophilia.

A Vatican cardinal today said Catholics shouldn’t contribute to Amnesty International because of the group’s new policy that calls for access to abortion services for women under certain circumstances.

A Vatican spokesman today denounced Saddam Hussein's execution as "tragic'' and said it would not help efforts to bring justice, or to reconcile Iraqi society.

Pope Benedict XVI prayed for the “victory of peace” in the Middle East, as his special envoy led the faithful in prayers in Lebanon, where a UN-brokered ceasefire appeared to be holding today.

POPE Benedict received US First Lady Laura Bush yesterday and told her he was worried about terrorism around the world and violence sparked by the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The release of the Turkish gunman who shot Pope John Paul II passed with little notice at the Vatican today, with the Vatican newspaper ignoring the news and Pope Benedict XVI making no public mention of it during a busy day of audiences and speeches.

The Vatican defended its latest attempt to keep men with “deep-seated” homosexual tendencies from becoming priests, but said there would be no crackdown on gays already ordained.

Pope Benedict XVI faced a strong challenge for the papacy from an Argentine cardinal, a secret diary kept by a member of the conclave that elected him to the Holy See revealed today.

Brother Roger, the founder of an ecumenical Christian community who was murdered last week during a prayer service, is being buried today in a funeral ceremony expected to draw thousands.

Alina Trabattoni

The successor to John Paul II has been elected, Vatican Radio announced today.

Cardinals will make another two attempts to elect a pope today after failing in their first vote of a historic papal conclave, in a secret and sacred quest to choose a new leader for the Roman Catholic Church.

BLACK smoke wafted from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney in Vatican City yesterday evening, signalling that the cardinals holding the first papal conclave of the new millennium had held their first vote — but failed to elect a new leader for the world’s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.

Black smoke wafted from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney in Vatican City this evening, signalling that the cardinals holding the first papal conclave of the new millennium had held their first vote – but failed to elect a new leader for the world’s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.

POPE John Paul II’s successor won’t just face falling church attendance and an ageing priesthood.

Pope John Paul was in a “very grave” condition today and appeared close to death after suffering heart failure, the Vatican said.