PADRE PIO SET TO BEAT LOURDES (ANSA) - Rome, May 7 - Padre Pio's shrine has become a bigger attraction than Lourdes now that the saint's body has been put on show, according to an Italian business magazine. The recent unveiling of the Franciscan friar's body will spark a nine-fold surge in the number of visitors to t... > Full news story

COURT REJECTS APPEAL BY 'BEASTS OF SATAN' (ANSA) - Rome, May 6 - Italy's highest appeals court has kicked out an appeal by five Satanists who murdered three people and attempted to kill two others near Varese in northern Italy between 1998 and 2004. Ruling that the so-called 'Beasts of Satan' must serve out their sentences, th... > Full news story

NEW SWISS GUARD RECRUITS SWORN IN (ANSA) - Vatican City, May 6 - The latest 33 recruits to join the Swiss Guards, the oldest army in the world, swore their oath of allegiance at a ceremony here on Tuesday. Founded in 1506 by Pope Julius II, the Swiss Guards traditionally take their oath on May 6 to recall the heroic de... > Full news story

NAPLES ARCHDIOCESE JOINS ROAD SAFETY CAMPAIGN (ANSA) - Naples, May 5 - The Archdiocese of Naples has joined the Italian Automobile Club (ACI) in a new road safety campaign aimed at reducing traffic deaths. ''The diocese feels it is its duty to join ACI in this mission of civic faith and defense of life,'' Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, ... > Full news story

COURT RULES MADONNA CAN STAY (ANSA) - Catania, May 5 - An Italian court on Monday blocked a police inspector's bid to have a statue of the Virgin Mary removed from a Sicilian town hall. Upholding an earlier ruling, the court in Catania said the presence of the madonna did not flout Italy's Constitutional separation... > Full news story

VATICAN BRUSHES OFF TIME'S POPE SNUB (ANSA) - Vatican City - May 1 - The Vatican on Friday played down the absence of Pope Benedict XVI from a list of the 100 most influential people in the world drawn up by the American magazine Time. Despite his recent profile-boosting trip to the United States, the Pope failed to make... > Full news story

VATICAN ASKS BUDDHISTS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE HELP (ANSA) - Vatican City, April 29 - The Vatican on Tuesday launched an appeal to the world's Buddhists to collaborate with Catholics in the fight against global warming and the destruction of the earth's natural resources. Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran, head of the Vatican Council for Inte... > Full news story

VATICAN: NEW SWISS GUARDS TO SWEAR OATH (ANSA) - Vatican City, April 29 - The latest 31 recruits to join the Swiss Guards, the Vatican's private army, will swear their oath of allegiance at a ceremony here next Tuesday. Founded in 1506 by Pope Julius II, the Swiss Guards traditionally take their oath on May 6 to recall the hero... > Full news story