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.

An Irish bishop has said the relationship between the Vatican and the Government has been strained and that may have contributed to Pope Benedict XVI’s decision not to attend the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin this June.

The Vatican has defended its transfer of a top official to Washington after he exposed alleged corruption in the awarding of Holy See contracts.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has accused the Holy See of unwarranted interference in a government-ordered inquiry into clerical child abuse over three separate years.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said he did not regret his unprecedented attack on the Vatican after it rejected his claims that it tried to frustrate an inquiry into clerical child abuse.

The Vatican has flatly rejected damning claims by Taoiseach Enda Kenny that it tried to frustrate an inquiry into clerical child abuse, insisting the allegations are unfounded.

All-Ireland primate Cardinal Sean Brady has welcomed the Vatican's response to the Cloyne Report and claimed it conveyed "profound abhorrence" for the abuse.

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.

A CHINESE bishop ordained without papal approval has been excommunicated from the Catholic Church, the Vatican said on Saturday, bringing relations between the Vatican and Beijing to a new low.

THE sight of Pope Benedict XVI tweeting on an iPad reveals a transformation underway in the tradition-bound Vatican to reach a younger global audience and improve a scandal-tainted image.

Vatican officials were offended by requests for information from the Murphy inquiry into paedophile priests, according to US embassy cables released by Wikileaks.

JUST when the Catholic Church didn’t need another scandal, Italian authorities have seized €23 million from a Vatican bank account and begun investigating top officials of the Vatican bank in connection with a money laundering probe.

The son of an Iranian woman who faces death by stoning for adultery said authorities have imposed a new sentence of 99 lashes.

The Vatican hinted that it may use behind-the-scenes diplomacy in a bid to save the life of an Iranian widow sentenced to be stoned for adultery.

THE Vatican raised the possibility yesterday of using behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to save the life of an Iranian widow sentenced to be stoned for adultery.

STANDING in the cradle of Christianity, Pope Benedict XVI told Palestinians yesterday he understood their suffering and offered his strongest and most symbolic public backing yet for an independent Palestinian state.

An Austrian priest who created a controversy by suggesting that God punished New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina because of the city’s sins said he will ask the Pope to rescind his promotion.

THE VATICAN secretary of state was just kidding when he said the Holy See might one day have a football team to rival the top formations in Italy’s powerful Serie A, a report said yesterday.

Pope John Paul II’s condition remains very serious, the Vatican said in a statement tonight.

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

Pope John Paul is improving, eating regular food for the first time and anxious to recite his usual prayers for the public Sunday, the Vatican said today.

POPE JOHN PAUL’S condition is improving and he is expected to make his weekly address from his hospital bed on Sunday, the Vatican said yesterday.

Pope John Paul’s condition is improving and he is expected to make his weekly address from his Rome hospital bed on Sunday, the Vatican said today.

Pope John Paul has “just a little fever”, his spokesman said today in elaborating on a terse medical bulletin issued by the Vatican.