Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the Nobel laureate known for dedicating her life to helping the poor, will be made a saint of the Catholic Church, the Vatican has said.

There’s nothing like seeing a city through the eyes of a local. Sharon Ní Chonchúir experiences the real Krakow with a Polish friend.

Depending on which side of the fence you stand on, Pope Francis’s scathing address to the Vatican curia was what happens when an outsider indifferent to institutional comforts and conventions assumes power and demands change or, if you take another view, the unprecedented speech was fleeting power speaking to real, permanent power in an attempt to rejuvenate a body grown insular and irrelevant.

There is a recognition and growing acceptance within wider society that human sexuality is not one-dimensional, writes TP O’Mahony

The Archbishop of Dublin has described the newly canonised popes John XXIII and John Paul II as men “who in their day to day ordinary lives try heroically to live the Christian life”.

During the 2011 Ryder Cup in Medina Golf Club, Chicago, television cameras captured Rory McIllroy as he looked into a cloudless sky to see ‘GO RORY!’ being spelt out by a plane emitting puffs of smoke from its bowels. He stopped, took out his phone and took a photo.

Birthday cake attacked in courthouse

Polish police are searching for whoever severed an arm from a statue of former president Ronald Reagan that was erected last year.

The Pope’s Jews

THE news that the City of Cork Symphony Orchestra has secured superstar Katherine Jenkins for two concerts next December has created quite a stir among classical music fans.

After only a few days, the new pope is already impressing people with his unregal approach, writes Tom Heneghan

Pope Benedict XVI has recalled "joy and light" during his papacy, but also difficult times, during his final audience at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican today.

Tens of thousands of people toting banners saying “Thank you!” jammed St Peter’s Square today to bid farewell to Pope Benedict XVI at his final general audience – the appointment he kept each week to teach the world about the Catholic faith.

Pope Benedict is to resign his office at the end of this month after declaring he was too old to carry on as head of the Catholic Church.

A Vatican spokesperson has said Pope Benedict will resign on February 28. It is believed the resignation will take effect at 7pm Irish time on that date.

Politicians united by their respect for Burma democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi presented her with Congress' highest civilian honour in a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, ahead of a meeting with President Barack Obama.

THE hope expressed by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, that next weekend’s Eucharistic Congress will begin a process of healing for a deeply divided Irish Catholic Church is likely to prove a vain one.

Two followers of the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei are going on trial in Paris accused of forcing a disciple to work for more than a decade with little or no pay.

MANY of the core beliefs we once used as foundations of society have been shaken if not sundered.

TRAVELLING on a fleet of planes, trains and cars, more than 50,000 Poles are expected to flock to the Vatican for the beatification of “their” saint-to-be, Polish-born Pope John Paul II.

Pope Benedict XVI marked the holiest night of the year for Christians by stressing that humanity is not a random product of evolution.

THE body of a 17th century pope who helped fund Protestant William of Orange’s invasion of Britain and Ireland is to be removed from the Vatican to make way for the remains of Pope John Paul II.

GOVERNMENT officials were concerned about children sleeping rough in Dublin city centre — primarily because of the negative publicity it might generate in the year of Pope John Paul II’s visit.

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.

A letter written by a late Canadian bishop shows church officials in Canada knew of sexual abuse allegations involving a priest before his promotion to a top Vatican post and then discussed with Vatican officials how to keep the scandal from becoming public.

The authorities are paralysed to bring paedophile priests and the senior clerics who covered up decades of horrific abuse to justice, victims have claimed today.

THE Church has said the faithful are in danger of being misled by recent claims of apparitions at the Knock Shrine.

THE Rev Ksawery Knotz has a message for all married Catholic couples: there is nothing wrong with a steamy sex life.

Legendary tenor Placido Domingo has teamed up with Josh Groban, Vanessa Williams and Andrea Bocelli to record a new album of songs based on poems written by the late Pope John Paul II.

THE European Union decided not to include God in its constitution — as recommended for example by the late Pope John Paul II.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is moving the Cabinet to Naples today, vowing to clean the city’s streets of the rubbish that has piled up for months and become a stinking symbol of government inadequacy.

A British citizen who spent 20 years on death row in the US before his murder conviction was overturned has agreed to a plea deal that will allow him to walk free.

Catholic Masses, candle processions and interfaith prayer today marked the 10th anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa, who dedicated her life to serving the poorest of the poor in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata.

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.

Poles planned vigils and concerts today to mark the second anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II.

Relatives of six men murdered when loyalists sprayed a Northern Ireland bar with bullets have told MEPs that British security forces colluded in the atrocity.

The families of six men gunned down in a bar in the North as they watched a World Cup match are to take their case for justice to the European Parliament.

FRIDAY the 13th is an auspicious date anyway, but it may have a special resonance today for the future of Northern Ireland, or so we are led to believe.

SEVENTY years ago Aer Lingus Teoranta was registered as an airline, on May 22, 1936.

THE Irish Examiner has been awarded the gold medal at Europe’s premier newspaper design awards.

WE’VE done it again. The Irish Examiner has picked up another two prestigious awards for its front page design.

THE Irish Examiner has won two prestigious awards for excellent newspaper design from the American Society for News Design.

AN ITALIAN parliamentary commission has concluded “beyond any reasonable doubt” that the Soviet Union was behind the 1981 attempt to kill Pope John Paul II.