(ANSA) - Rome, October 17 - Freedom from hunger was a "right
to life" that should not be the subject of speculation, Pope
Benedict XVI said on Monday.
In a letter read at celebrations to mark World Food Day at
the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in
Rome, Benedict called for greater humanity and concrete
commitments to help developing countries.
(ANSA) - Vatican City, October 12 - Pope Benedict XVI has
expressed his sadness about violent attacks against Coptic
Christians in Egypt and called on authorities to respect human
rights.
"I am profoundly saddened by the episodes of violence that
took place in Cairo last Sunday", Benedict said at the end of
his general audience in St Peter's Square on Wednesday.
(ANSA) - Luxembourg, October 10 - Italian Foreign Minister
Franco Frattini on Monday expressed concern about the escalation
of violence in Egypt and reports that Coptic Christians were
fleeing the country.
"We heard about an exodus of Christians," Frattini said.
"They are talking about 100,000 Christians who have reportedly
left Egypt but we do not know if these numbers are accurate".
(ANSA) - Rome, September 27 - Italian politicians on
Tuesday mulled a call from the country's top bishop for greater
morality in public life.
Amid a welter of graft and sex scandals, many of them
involving Premier Silvio Berlusconi, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco on
Monday said: "the air must be purified, corruption is like an
octopus".
On Tuesday Deputy House Speaker Maurizio Lupi of
Berlusconi's People of Freedom Party said the call "concerns all
who have political responsibility, not just Berlusconi".
(ANSA) - Rome, September 22 - Pope Benedict XVI called for
an "ethical renewal" for the good of Italy as Italian Premier
Silvio Berlusconi confronts mounting scandals including sex with
a minor, prostitutes and showgirls.
"I hope for an ever-more intense ethical renewal for the
good of beloved Italy," said the pontiff in a telegram to
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano ahead of a visit to his
native Germany.
(ANSA) - Naples, September 19 - The Miracle of San
Gennaro was repeated on Monday when the blood of Naples' patron
saint liquefied at 9.30am.
The event was announced to the thousands packing the city's
cathedral and square outside, who cheered and let off
firecrackers.
A visibly moved Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the Archbishop
of Naples, held up a phial containing the blood of the
3rd-century saint while a traditional white handkerchief was
waved.
(ANSA) - Brussels, September 13 - A coalition representing
the victims of clerical sex abuse on Tuesday asked the
International Criminal Court in the Hague to investigate Pope
Benedict XVI and three top cardinals.
The coalition said high-level Vatican officials should be
prosecuted for what it describes as "widespread and systematic
torture, rape and sexual violence committed by priests and
others associated with the Catholic church".
(ANSA) - Castel Gandolfo, September 2 - Workers' rights are
essential in a democracy and should not be driven by the
markets, the Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio
Bertone, said on Friday.
Bertone was addressing a conference of the Association of
Italian Christian Workers (ACLI) at Castel Gandolfo, where Pope
Benedict XVI has his summer residence outside Rome.
(ANSA) - Rome, August 29 - A statue of the late Pope John
Paul II at Rome's main train station looks set to be modified
after causing a wave of disapproval.
Its author, Italian sculptor and Pontifical Culture
Commission member Oliviero Rainaldi, said he is willing to make
small alterations to the statue's head and neck, amid reports
that a city commission wants a makeover.
(ANSA) - Genoa, August 29 - Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the
head of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), has called for
greater moral leadership in politics.
"The moral issue in politics, as in every area of public and
private life, is serious and urgent not only regarding
individuals but also structures and organisations," Bagnasco
said.
Italy's most powerful bishop was speaking at a mass in Genoa
to mark the festival of the Madonna della Guardia.
(ANSA) - Vatican City, August 18 - As Pope Benedict XVI
arrived in Madrid Thursday, Vatican Radio released a statement
rebuffing claims from angry Spanish protesters that the
pontiff's visit for World Youth Day was an unfair burden on
taxpayers.
"The event will not cost anything" for Spain, it said. "The
burden will fall on the church, the pilgrims, and private
donors," it added, citing Spanish Government Spokesman Jose
Blanco.
(ANSA) - Rome, August 16 - The Italian government was
working closely with Sudanese authorities and the United Nations
Tuesday following the kidnapping of an Italian aid worker in
Sudan.
Francesco Azzara', a 34-year-old volunteer of the Italian
medical aid NGO Emergency, was with two colleagues Sunday when a
group of armed men abducted him from his car at the airport in
Darfur, a region which has been in a state of humanitarian
emergency since 2003.
(ANSA) - Castel Gandolfo, August 3 - Pope Benedict XVI on
Wednesday recommended the Bible as summer reading "to nourish
the soul".
"Many Christians never read the Bible and have a very
limited and superficial knowledge of it," the pope told an
audience at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo.
The Old Testament Books of Tobias, Esther and Ruth "are
small books that can be read in an hour".
(ANSA) - Vatican City, July 20 - Pope Benedict XVI will meet
representatives of the Jewish and Muslim communities in Berlin
when he makes his third official visit to Germany in September.
Details of the-two day visit to take place from September 22
to September 25 were announced on Wednesday.
The pontiff will fly from Rome to Berlin and will be
formally welcomed by German President Christian Wulff at his
official residence Bellevue Castle.
(ANSA) - Potenza, July 26 - Italian police arrested two men
accused of blackmailing priests by keeping their homosexual
affairs secret in exchange for thousands of euros Tuesday.
According to police, two men extorted money from at least a
dozen priests in the regions of Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Molise,
Puglia and Sicily.
Authorities began their investigation three months ago when
one of the priests reported the suspects who allegedly made
their threats by telephone from the southern town of Maratea.
