Steady rain failed to dampen the spirits of thousands of the faithful as they trooped into Cofton Park in Birmingham today ahead of the start of the beatification Mass for Cardinal Newman.

Pope Benedict’s historic arrival in Britain today was overshadowed by comments comparing the nation with a “third world country”.

A US Roman Catholic deacon spoke yesterday of how the agonising pain he had suffered from a spinal disorder disappeared after praying to the revered English Cardinal John Henry Newman.

Pope Benedict XVI is to come to the UK next year in the first official visit by a pontiff, it was reported today.

The pope put Cardinal John Newman, the influential 19th-century Anglican convert, on the path to possible sainthood today by approving a miracle attributed to his intercession.

DISGRACED press baron Conrad Black was jailed for six-and-a-half years by Judge Amy St Eve in the US District Court in Chicago yesterday, following his conviction on three charges of fraud and one of obstructing justice. Black, who still insists he is innocent of all charges, was cleared of racketeering and tax evasion.

THE reaction to the Taoiseach’s unpredictable nomination of the indomitable Eoghan Harris to the Seanad was so, well, predictable.

WHOEVER gets in, I hope they give me broadband!

The Boston Archdiocese is investigating claims by a disabled deacon that he recovered from severe spinal cord injuries after praying to a long-dead British cardinal who is a candidate for sainthood.