`Secularism' in Europe vexes Vatican
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Chicago Tribune - Surveying the world beyond the cloistered walls of its Roman enclave, the Vatican sees much to worry about: Terrorism, war, AIDS and poverty are ravaging the lives of many of its constituents around the globe.
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Turkeyâs election is being cast as a battle between Islamists and secularists. But the real struggle is not over whether the country should be more religious but over whether it should be more European--and more free.
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BBC Europe editor Mark Mardell finds Turks wary of the Pope's historic visit and grapples with the religious row sparked by the pontiff's speech in Bavaria.
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Viewpoint: Kidnapped journalists converting at gunpoint. The Pope quoting a 14th century Byzantine emperor. The sudden focus on forced conversions to Islam reflects a fundamental misreading of that religion's history
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Some call it &quot;an Islamic cloud over Europe&quot; and dread the day when the European Union opens the Continent&#39;s gates to Turkey.
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Muslim leaders around the world accused Pope Benedict XVI of dividing religions and demanded an apology.
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Comment is free: Simon Jenkins: I'm an atheist but still I resent this joker in Rome slighting my community. A residual theological chauvinism is aroused.
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ROME (Der Spiegel) - Echoes of an old culture war have been rippling through Europe, as a bishop in Germany calls for Catholics to keep their kids away from a sex-education musical and the Vatican condemns a new gay-rights campaign in Italy. A children's musical about sex and babies, organized by the German government, has been touring the country since 2003 without noticeable friction. But now it's arrived in the city of Fulda, near Frankfurt, and the local bishop has called for a boycott. The Fairytale of Nose, Belly and Butt should be avoided by right-thinking Catholic families, according to Heinz Josef Algermissen, because in the Church's view, "explanations about sexuality belong in the home," and "can't be left to a theater troupe." The show's Web site begs to differ, saying the theory behind the project is that humans are "sexual beings from birth onward," and that children experience "smooching and touching genitals as no less fun or significant than tickling their big toe." Uproar in Italy, too This notion of human sexuality is no doubt as offensive to the Church as the idea that humans might be wired from birth to be straight or gay - which is the assumption behind an Italian ad campaign protested recently by the Vatican. The regional government of Tuscany has planned to use a photo of a newborn child wearing a hospital bracelet with the word "homosexual" as part of a publicity push to combat homophobia. "Sexual orientation," reads the tag line, which will appear on billboards throughout Tuscany, "is not a choice."  Italy's political right, along with some Catholic groups, want the campaign to be withdrawn. The Church's declared position is that homosexuality is a psychological disorder, not exactly a sin - although indulging in gay sex is a sin.
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Extra security guards around churches in Egypt and Lebanon. Armed officers surrounding at least one. With the tensions over Pope Benedict XVI's remarks on Islam still high, many in the Mideast's large Christian communities are worried about a backlash.
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Now that it is often treated like a maligned minority, the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe has decided to start acting like one too.
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The Vatican is making it tougher to become a saint.
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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 XVI urged his largely secular home country not to let science and reason make it ÂdeafÂ to God.
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VATICAN CITY Pope John Paul says the attacks on family values are growing more radical each day. The pope&#39;s targets in a Saturday speech to Italian family groups included initiatives he says &quot;confuse individual
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The Vatican said on Tuesday Christian denominations outside Roman Catholicism were not full churches of Jesus Christ.
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The Pope's controversial speech on Islam, electoral success for  the far right in Germany and Sweden's election upset all make headlines in Europe's newspapers on 18 September.
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The murder of a controversial Dutch filmmaker has reenergized an uncomfortable debate over Europe&#39;s relationship with its growing Muslim minority.