Religion In Italy

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 18 - The recent global economic downturn has offered an opportunity to revise development models and the way finance is structured, Pope Benedict XVI said on Thursday.

In an audience granted to Rome's Union of Business and Industry, the pope observed that "the current crisis has put the economic and productive systems of many countries to the test. However, this should be viewed as an opportunity to revise development models and create a new organization of the world of finance".

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 18 - Pope Benedict XVI's letter to the Irish faithful about recent child sex abuse scandals that have shaken the Church in Ireland will be published Saturday, the Vatican said Thursday.

The pope told his general audience in St Peter's Wednesday he would sign the letter on Friday.

Greeting Irish well-wishers on St Patrick's Day, the pope said in English: "As you know, in the last few months the Church in Ireland has been strongly rocked by the crisis of abuse of minors".

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 17 - A man stopped by papal guards after hurling abuse in St Peter's Square Wednesday was not directing his invective against the pope but against US pro-choice politicians, Vatican sources said.

The unidentified man was a member of a US pro-life group who attended Wednesday's general audience, they said.

No action was taken against him.

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 17 - An American man caused a stir in St Peter's Square Wednesday after standing up and protesting loudly during Pope Benedict XVI's weekly general audience.

It was initially feared he might be attacking the pontiff on child sex abuse scandals but it later emerged his invective was aimed, not against the pope, but against US pro-choice politicians.

The unidentified man was a member of a US pro-life group who attended Wednesday's general audience, Vatican sources said.

No action was taken against him.

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 17 - A man insulted Pope Benedict XVI during his open-air audience in St Peter's square Wednesday, onlookers reported.

The man was said to have "hurled insulting and profane language in English" at the pope from the front row of the audience, near the pope's platform, before papal guards hustled him away.

Security around the 82-year-old pope has been tightened since a mentally unstable Swiss woman, Susanna Maiolo, clambered over a railing in St Peter's Basilica ahead of Christmas Eve Mass, pulling the pope to the ground and injuring French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray.

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 17 - Pope Benedict XVI is to sign a letter to the Irish faithful Friday about recent child sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Church in Ireland, the pope announced at his general audience Wednesday.

Greeting Irish well-wishers on St Patrick's Day, the pope said in English: "As you know, in the last few months the Church in Ireland has been strongly rocked by the crisis of abuse of minors".

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 17 - Pope Benedict XVI is to sign a letter to the Irish faithful Friday about recent child sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Church in Ireland, the pope announced at his general audience Wednesday.

Greeting Irish well-wishers on St Patrick's Day, the pope said in English: "As you know, in the last few months the Church in Ireland has been strongly rocked by the crisis of abuse of minors".

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 16 - The issue of child abuse in the Catholic Church was back in the spotlight on Tuesday, as senior clerics sought to deal with the fallout of recent weeks.

In separate remarks, two high-ranking Vatican figures discussed the impact of the scandals and pledged to prevent a recurrence of abuse, while the Irish Catholic Church issued a statement defending a top cardinal's actions in handling past allegations.

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 16 - Pope Benedict XVI will see Queen Elizabeth II and beatify England's most famous convert to Catholicism, Cardinal John Henry Newman, during his visit to England and Scotland this September, British authorities and bishops announced Tuesday in London.

The pope will meet the queen at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, the official royal residence in Scotland, while he will beatify Newman, an Anglican churchman who converted to Rome in the mid-19th century, at a public Mass at Coventry in the West Midlands.

(ANSA) - Rome, March 16 - A self-styled New Age 'guru' was arrested here on Tuesday on charges of sexually abusing girls between the ages of 10 and 12 as well as their mothers, police said.

Danilo Speranza, 62, has also been charged with swindling money from the 1,000 members of the so-called King Maya sect of which he was the undisputed leader.

According to investigators, Speranza sought to have his sect accredited with Muslim associations first in Naples and later in Rome.

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 12 - Pope Benedict XVI will not take his traditional mountain holiday this summer, the Vatican said Friday.

The pope, 82, will stay at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo near Rome, the Vatican press office said.

"The Holy Father will go directly from Rome to Castel Gandolfo to spend the whole summer there," the press office said.

It said he had "greatly appreciated" offers from Alpine towns but "this year prefers to immediately start his summer period of rest and study".

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 12 - Pope Benedict XVI has approved measures to tackle the child sex abuse scandal sweeping the Roman Catholic Church in Germany, the leader of the country's bishops said after an audience with the pope Friday.

Msgr Robert Zollitsch told a press conference he had illustrated the moves to the German-born pope.

"He is favourable to our measures but we do not know whether they will be extended to other countries," Zollitsch said.

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 12 - Pope Benedict XVI will not take his traditional mountain holiday this summer, the Vatican said Friday.

The pope, 82, will stay at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo near Rome, the Vatican press office said.

Benedict has spent a couple of weeks in July the last three years at a small Alpine town where he broke his wrist in a fall last year.

The Vatican's announcement confirmed a report in a local paper last month saying Benedict had turned down an invitation to return to Les Combes de Indrod.

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 11 - Priestly celibacy is a gift, a high-ranking Vatican prelate said Thursday after an Austrian archbishop appeared to suggest the Catholic Church should look at the issue in light of recent sex abuse scandals.

"Priestly celibacy is a gift from the Holy Spirit which...must be lived with fullness and joy," said Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, which regulates clerical life.

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 11 - The French Bishops Congress has "categorically denied" Polish newspaper reports casting doubt on a miracle cure attributed to Pope John Paul II being weighed in the case to make him a saint.

"Voices in the media have suggested recently that Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, who was healed of Parkinson's Disease, has fallen ill again," said Father Luc Marie Lalanne, a spokesman for the archbishopric of Aix-en-Provence.