Next Pope Could Be Italian Again -- Belgian Cardinal
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The next head of the Roman Catholic  Church could well be an Italian, Belgian Cardinal Godfried  Danneels was quoted as saying on Friday.
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Two days after a grueling papal pilgrimage which left some wondering if Pope John Paul II could still travel, the Vatican on Tuesday announced details of the ailing pontiff's next trip.
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SAO PAULO -- An influential Brazilian cardinal says the Roman Catholic Church should reconsider its ban on allowing priests to marry.
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MUNICH, Germany  - Pope Benedict returns to his   Bavarian roots on Saturday when he starts a nostalgic six-day   trip to his southern German homeland and some of its most   traditionally Catholic places.
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Cardinal Martini continues to embody the Catholic Church's more liberal spirit -- and he doesn't mind voicing his differences with Pope Benedict
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BERLIN -- The Vatican expressed regret yesterday for remarks by Pope Benedict XVI that enraged Muslims by implicitly linking Islamic tenets to violence, but the pontiff stopped short of issuing a personal apology.
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Chances of a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and the Russian Patriarch Alexy II at a neutral location are improving, a top official in the Russian Orthodox Church was quoted as telling a German magazine this week.
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Vatican relations with the Islamic world must be restarted from square one because Muslims insist on misinterpreting Pope Benedict's recent comments on Islam, Germany's top Catholic cardinal said in an article on Wednesday.
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European Parliament Liberal leader Graham Watson joked the crisis surrounding the EU's new executive could be a plot by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to keep his arch-foe in Brussels.
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China's state-approved Catholic Church reportedly nominates a new bishop, threatening ties with Rome.
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A long-desired trip by Pope John Paul II to Russia could only occur if the Vatican renounces efforts to expand Rome-affiliated churches in traditional Christian Orthodox areas, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said.
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Papal observers are again remarking on the dual role of the pope's flesh and blood person. They see in this double existence the key reason why the suffering pope, at age 84, will persevere in office until death.
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After 26 years in the papacy, Pope John Paul II has outlived many of the men once considered possible successors. Should he die, there would be no clear favorite, making the question of papal succession as unpredictable as any in recent history.
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MUNICH, Germany (Reuters Life!) - During Pope Benedict's   visit to Bavaria last week, he spent six days amongst crowds of   cheering Catholics, many of them fellow Bavarians deeply   attached to the region's traditional pious Catholicism.
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Pope Benedict XVI begins a three-day pilgrimage to Austria on Friday with a solemn tribute to Jewish Holocaust victims, and an appeal to diplomats serving with the U.N. nuclear agency and other international organizations.Ahead of his visit, Benedict's seventh foreign trip in two years as pope, the German-born pontiff spoke of his affection for Austria, a mostly Catholic country 'which has been near to me since my childhood.'But the pope, who visited and vacationed here often as a cardinal, faced a challenge: Many Austrian believers, disgusted by clergy sex scandals and deeply resentful of a government-imposed church tax, have grown cold _ and tens of thousands have left the church altogether. Read more
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The Archbishop of Canterbury hears concerns from the Pope on the future of the Anglican Communion.
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Pope Benedict XVI names 23 new cardinals, 18 of whom will join the conclave which will one day elect his successor.