Get closer to God during vacation, Pope says
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LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy  - Vacation should be a time for Christians not only to relax but to get closer to God, Pope Benedict said on Sunday from his mountain retreat in the Italian Dolomites.
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MUNICH, Germany  - Pope Benedict hopes his   homecoming this weekend to the Catholic heartland of Bavaria   will revive faith in Germany as more than half a million   pilgrims prepare to welcome him.
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Pope John Paul told the world in  his Christmas message on Saturday that people were yearning for  peace everywhere around the globe and expressed particular  concern for Iraq, the Middle East and Africa.
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ISTANBUL -- Under a bright morning sun near the Aegean Sea coast, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass yesterday outside the ancient stones that some believe were once the home of the Virgin Mary.
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Working too hard, even for those leading the Catholic Church, is bad for the spirit, Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday as he greeted tourists at his summer residence outside Rome.
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Waving from his white popemobile, Pope John Paul II blessed shoppers and tourists at the foot of the Spanish Steps on Wednesday as he began his busy holiday schedule with a traditional visit to the popular square in the heart of historic Rome.
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Pope Benedict sets off on Tuesday on one of the most delicate trips by a Pontiff, visiting Turkey, where resentment is seething over his comments on Islam and opposition to Ankara's EU bid.
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Pope Benedict XVI made a pilgrimage Saturday to a famous shrine to the Virgin Mary, where he celebrated an open-air Mass in the rain for more than 30,000 believers and called on Europeans to embrace faith.
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LORETO, Italy - A frail Pope John Paul II put three more Roman Catholics on the road to sainthood during a visit to a hilltop shrine Sunday, struggling at times but cheered on by 200,000 pilgrims.    He seemed drained, seated in a wheeled throne in glittering green vestments, at the end of the three-hour ceremony in 86 degree heat...
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Pope Benedict XVI's challenge to secularism has been met with receptivity during his German visit.
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Pope Benedict led the world's Catholics into the 40-day Lenten season on Wednesday, urging them to practice prayer, fasting, penitence and alms giving.
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Pope Benedict XVI raised the loudest cheers of his visit to Poland when he told the late John Paul II&#039;s compatriots that their prayers were bringing his predecessor ever closer to sainthood.
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Pope Benedict XVI appeals for renewed respect for Sundays during his final day of his visit to Austria.
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VATICAN CITY, Dec. 15 -- Pope Benedict XVI's personal priest asked the pontiff on Friday to declare a day of fasting and penance to express the Roman Catholic Church's solidarity with the victims of clerical sex abuse.
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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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By VICTOR L. SIMPSON  VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI's personal priest asked the pontiff on Friday to declare a day of fasting and penance to express the Roman Catholic Church's solidarity with the victims of clerical sex abuse.  In a strongly worded lecture, the Rev.
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VIENNA - Pope Benedict XVI, beset by drab weather and relatively small crowds, ended a pilgrimage to Austria yesterday by reminding Europeans of their Christian heritage as they grapple with immigration and Islam. The German-born pontiff appealed to gatherings of believers in mostly Catholic Austria not to discard their faith. In a farewell speech, he urged Austrians "to bring the ...