VATICAN popularity and VATICAN trends

The Vatican has confirmed the arrest of a non-clerical staff member on suspicion of leaking confidential documents to an Italian journalist.

Pope Benedict XVI's butler was arrested in connection with an investigation into leaks of confidential documents, some alleging cronyism and corruption in Vatican contracts, a senior Vatican official said.

In scenes worthy of a Dan Brown thriller, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested today as he arrived for work. The arrest comes days after a book, condemned as 'criminal' by the Vatican, was published on the leaked papers.

An on-again, off-again scandal burst into the open with the arrest of Pope Benedict XVI’s butler, suspected of leaking private letters addressed to the pope.

Vatican police have arrested Pope Benedict XVI's butler for allegedly leaking confidential documents and letters to the media.

The reported arrest of the pope’s butler comes amid a week of drama at the Vatican, writesPADDY AGNEWin Rome

Plus, sightseers in Ukraine get an eyeful

La gendarmerie vaticane a arrêté un des auteurs présumés des fuites de...

Le majordome du pape Benoît XVI a été arrêté par la gendarmerie vaticane. Paolo Gabriele, qui avait pourtant toute la confiance du souverain pontife…

Plus de 50 civils, dont 13 enfants, ont été tués et 100 blessés vendredi dans des bombardements des forces gouvernementales contre la ville du centre du pays.Articles en rapportUn homme s'accuse d'avoir tué un enfant disparu à New York en 1979François Hollande en visite surprise en AfghanistanÉgypte : les Frères musulmans donnent leur candidat en têteFuites au Vatican : une personne arrêtéeUn a...

VATICAN CITY  - Vatican police arrested Friday a man - reportedly the pope's butler - on allegations of having leaked confidential documents and letters from the pontiff's private study to newspapers. The man was caught in possession of secret documents, the Vatican said, but it would not confirm the suspect's identity, age, or when he had been arrested. "The inquiry carried out by Vatican .....

Vatican police have arrested Pope Benedict XVI's personal butler following an investigation into the leaking of sensitive church documents.

Le majordome des appartements du pape Benoît XVI a été arrêté vendredi en possession de documents confidentiels dans le cadre d'une enquête sur des fuites qui ont plongé dans l'embarras la hiérarchie de l'Etat pontifical, a-t-on appris au Vatican. Officiellement, le Vatican a simplement indiqué...

The Vatican says its police have detained a person in possession of confidential documents. 

Une personne a été arrêtée au Vatican en possession illégale de documents secrets, dans le cadre d'une enquête de la Gendarmerie vaticane sur une série de fuites embarrassantes, a annoncé vendredi le père Federico Lombardi, porte-parole du Saint-Siège. L'annonce de l'arrestation survient au...Articles en rapportUne majorité d'Allemands contre les eurobonds et le maintien de la Grèce (sondage)La...

The president of the Vatican bank has been dismissed by the board of directors, the Vatican announced today, blaming him for a deterioration in standards of governance.

Le président de la Banque du Vatican, l’Institut pour les œuvres religieuses (IOR), Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, a remis sa démission, après avoir été désavoué....lire la suite

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican says the head of its bank, who is being investigated in a money laundering case, has been ousted after receiving a unanimous vote of no-confidence from bank overseers....

Italian priest Father Gabriel Amorth, 85, who has carried out 70,000 exorcisms, spoke out as investigators continued to examine mobster Enrico De Pedis's tomb in their hunt for Emanuela Orlandi (pictured).

Italian priest Father Gabriel Amorth, 85, who has carried out 70,000 exorcisms, spoke out as investigators continued to examine mobster Enrico De Pedis's tomb in their hunt for Emanuela Orlandi (pictured).

Catholics are organizing vigils and petitions in support of American nuns, accused by the Vatican of not focusing on church teachings.

Court challenge expected against cross-party initiative

VATICAN CITY -- VATICAN CITY (AP) – The Vatican has denounced as "criminal" a new book of leaked internal documents that shed light on power struggles inside the Holy See and the inner workings of its embattled bank, and warned that it would take legal action against those responsible.Pope Benedict XVI has already appointed a commission of cardinals to investigate the "Vatileaks" scandal, which...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Leaders of the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ religious order knew that their most famous priest had fathered a child for many months before they acknowledged it this week, a top Vatican official told Reuters on Wednesday.

Dad of missing girl Isabel Celis prohibited from having contact with two sons, as authorities release 911 tapesMystery At Vatican: Has Missing Teen Been Found?

Emanuela Orlandi was 15 when she disappeared in 1983 after leaving her family’s Vatican City apartment to go to a music lesson in Rome. Her father was a lay employee of the Holy See

The investigation into alleged sexual abuse of minors casts a new shadow upon a powerful but troubled worldwide religious order, whose late founder became enmeshed in a similar sex scandal years ago.

Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his gratitude after a concert of sacred music by Vivaldi and Verdi conducted by maestro Riccardo Muti at the Vatican.

Since Vatican II, the Catholic Church has been turned upside down in the name of an ecumenical council whose true interpretation continues to be debated more than half a century after it closed. One point of contention is the Council's teaching on religious liberty

Normally a private visit to the Sistine Chapel is only available to celebrities and foreign dignitaries, but now one tour company is offering the service to regular tourists - for 220 euros.

THE NORTH’S Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, has said the “major failing that exists in the Catholic Church resides in the Vatican”. In the Northern Assembly yesterday he also complained of an attempt to silence politicians from commenting on the issue.

Provides an overview of the Vatican, including key events and facts about the world's smallest independent state

VATICAN SOURCES said yesterday they expected a coadjutor bishop to be appointed to the archdiocese of Armagh before the end of the year to aid embattled Cardinal Seán Brady.

The Catholic Church has rejected reports that Cardinal Seán Brady was willing to resign two years ago over the Fr Brendan Smyth scandal but that the Vatican refused.

LONDON (Reuters) - Hackers attacked the website of Britain's Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA), a spokesman said on Thursday, the latest in a wave of assaults against high profile targets like NASA, the Vatican and multi-national companies.

We are witnessing the cruel humiliation of a generation of clergy that deserves better

Despite the conciliatory efforts made by the Vatican toward the group, the Society has remained committed to its belief that it is correct, and that the established Church is the heretical institution.

A high-profile Catholic priest censured by the Vatican for his writings warned today that the creation of a “veil of secrecy” worked against efforts to prevent clerical child abuse.

Seth Schoen snapped this Vatican City ATM that displays instructions in Latin. Latin ATM (via Kottke)

Turns out those four years of high school Latin might not have been the complete waste of time you thought they were. More »

First time accepted submitter Aguazul2 writes "In a familiar story relocated into the bizarre world of the Vatican, a whistle-blower who brought to light excessive overpayments on contracts to friendly suppliers was sent to the USA as punishment, and further sources of leaks are now being hunted down by a crack team headed by an 82-year old Opus Dei cardinal. It's just like Wikileaks, only with...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict has set up a commission of cardinals to investigate the leaks of sensitive documents to the media alleging corruption and mismanagement in the Vatican.

American nuns struggled to respond Friday to a Vatican crackdown on what it calls “radical feminism” among the women and their purported failure to sufficiently condemn such issues as abortion and same-sex marriage. Read full article >>

It would be a great loss if the voices of America’s nuns were restricted by the Vatican’s inquiry into their leadership conference.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious has “serious doctrinal problems,” the church says as it appointed an American bishop to rein the group in.

More world literature just got its door kicked open digitally. For the first time scholars will be able to compare material kept in the separate collections for centuries.

no comment : Vatican : "Urbi et Orbi"

Torture! Murder! Rape! Those nasty Borgias are back and up to no good at the Vatican in the days when popes ruled, and misruled, Europe.

By Ewen Callaway of Nature magazineThe Vatican has abruptly cancelled a controversial stem-cell conference that was set to be attended by the Pope next month.The Third International Congress on Responsible Stem Cell Research, scheduled for 25-28 April, was to focus on clinical applications of adult and reprogrammed stem cells. [More]

Where did the mother of Jesus Christ go after her son sacrificed himself on the Cross? She went to Kusadasi - near Ephesus that was once the glorious Roman capital of Asia Minor by the Aegean Sea - in what is now Turkey. Revelations of a German nun led researchers to zero-in on a small and simple stone house built on Solmissos Mountain here as the place where Mary lived out her last days.  Th...

Report commissioned by Pope in wake of mishandling of sexual abuse accepts church’s ‘pain and shame’ but stops short of acknowledging Vatican’s role

JPMorgan Chase is closing the Vatican bank’s account with an Italian branch of the US banking giant because of concerns about a lack of transparency at the Holy See’s institution, Italian newspapers have reported.

In January 2002, prominent Catholics from around the world gathered in Rome to celebrate the Spanish priest who founded one of the church’s most conservative and devout groups, Opus Dei. The event drew cardinals, bishops and other powerful Vatican officials. Among those invited to speak was a future presidential candidate: Rick Santorum, whose faith had become so essential to his politics that...

Un tueur à scooter a de nouveau frappé ce lundi à Toulouse, dans une école juive où il a froidement assassiné trois enfants et un professeur, causant une « tragédie nationale » selon les mots de Nicolas Sarkozy, qui laisse le pays sous le choc en pleine campagne électorale. L'auteur de cette tuerie, qui a bouleversé les communautés religieuses et la classe politique et suscité les condamnations...

Pope Benedict XVI is "available" to meet Fidel Castro during his trip to Cuba this month but will not hold talks with dissidents who occupied a Catholic church this week, the Vatican said today.

A collection of prominent center-right leaders, including multiple top Bush administration officials, have founded a new advocacy group to advocate for measures exempting religious organizations from federal rules governing contraception coverage, POLITICO has learned. Among those involved in planning the group are former presidential adviser Mary Matalin, former Republican National Committee C...

The Vatican sought to explain its presence for the first time on a U.S. list of countries that are a potential hub for money laundering.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Friday denounced the "powerful political and cultural currents" seeking to legalize gay marriage in the United States, where Maryland has just become the eighth state to allow it.

A second miracle attributed to late pope John Paul II has been reported and he could be made a saint soon, said Italy's Panorama weekly on Thursday, citing documents sent to the Vatican.

CLEVELAND (AP) -- The Vatican has taken the extraordinary step of overruling the closing of 13 parishes by the Cleveland Diocese, a lawyer who fought the cutbacks said Wednesday....

Hacking group Anonymous took down the Vatican website on Wednesday, saying it was targeting the "corrupt" Catholic Church, a day after a high-profile bust of the group's alleged leaders.

The hacker group Anonymous orchestrated an attack last year on a Vatican Web site, and the computer security company Imperva detailed the assault in a report to be released this week.

Pope Benedict XVI is bringing a segment of his daily papal message to Twitter, beginning Ash Wednesday, Feb. 22, according to a Vatican Radio b…

Can the Vatican still keep a secret?

[[365148]] CITE DU VATICAN (AFP) : Le pape Benoît XVI a déclaré que tout reposait dans l'Eglise sur la foi lors d'une messe solennelle à la basilique Saint-Pierre en présence des 22 cardinaux qu'il a créés samedi. "Tout dans l'Eglise repose sur la foi (...) Même le droit, même l'autorité dans...

The Vatican fiercely rejected claims by one of its archbishops of widespread corruption and waste in the management of the Holy See.

There's been a lot written recently about academic publishing, in the kerfuffle over the "Research Works Act"-- John's roundup should keep you in reading material for a good while. This has led some people to decide to boycott Elsevier, including Aram Harrow of the Quantum Vatican. I'm generally in favor of this, but Aram says one thing that bugs me a bit: Just like the walled gardens of Compu...

After 18 long months (that's three eternities in Kardashian years) of wearing a wedding band, Mena Suvari has decided that her wedding band would look a lot better off of her finger and in the palm of a pawn shop clerk, because she has filed for divorce from her second husband Simone Sestito. A two-time divorcee by the age of 32! Mena is living the life I was supposed to live if g...

Si ce n'est pas une revanche de l'histoire cela y ressemble. Le cinquantième anniversaire du Concile Vatican II qui va être célébré dans l'Eglise catholique en 2012 pourrait paradoxalement marquer le crépuscule de..."l'esprit du Concile" qui fut pourtant sa grande promesse. Cet...

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI received a rare, scaly visitor Wednesday during his weekly general audience: an endangered Cuban crocodile....

The Most Rev. Gabino Zavala, an important figure in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and a venerated champion for social and economic justice, resigned his post as auxiliary bishop Wednesday after revealing to the Vatican that he is...

The official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano said in a rare statement this week that, 'For science, the shroud continues to be an 'impossible object' – impossible to falsify.'

US, UK and Vatican decry Christmas Day attacks claimed by the Boko Haram group that have left up to 40 people dead.

L'attentat contre une église catholique près d'Abuja au Nigeria qui a fait...

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The director of the Vatican Museums says there are no plans to limit the number of visitors who flock to the Sistine Chapel to admire Michelangelo's frescoes, despite harmful dust build-up....

HOST says approval for Play Your Cards Right was like going to 'gameshow Vatican'

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI has illuminated a huge Christmas tree lighting display in Umbria by tapping on a tablet computer from the comfort of the Vatican....

The Vatican's official newspaper has claimed there are "few doubts" that William Shakespeare was a Catholic.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican said on Thursday it would take legal action to stop the distribution of a photo montage in an advertisement by the Italian fashion firm Benetton showing Pope Benedict kissing an imam on the mouth.

"Unhate" campaign includes Photoshopped images of Netanyahu and Abbas kissing; Vatican protest leads Benetton to withdraw ad of Pope kissing an Imam.

[[323078]] CITE DU VATICAN (AFP) : Le pape Benoît XVI, âgé de 84 ans, a devant lui un voyage éprouvant de trois jours au Bénin, alors qu'il a donné des signes de fatigue au long de l'année sans jamais alléger son lourd programme de travail. Pape depuis six ans et demi, le souverain pontife à la...

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI has reaffirmed his opposition to embryonic stem cell research, saying it's morally wrong to destroy an embryo no matter how beneficial the resulting treatment is....

“The comic book was published in the 1930s, and for that reason expresses the values of the era — but can it really perturb young Britons of today, raised as they are on the Internet, video games and fish and chips?”

After hosting a panel earlier this year to discuss supposed flaws in evolutionary theory , Italy's science agency the National Research Council (CNR) reportedly put up thousands of dollars to help with the publication of a follow-up book, Evolutionism: The Decline of an Hypothesis . The move has vexed many scientists in the country where the Vatican recently came out in support of Darwin'...