The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, held talks with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome on Saturday just two weeks after the Vatican extended a hand to conservative Anglicans dismayed by steps to ordain women and openly gay clergy.
More than 60 heads of state will gather in Rome this week for a summit on global hunger, but leaders of the world's wealthiest nations have largely snubbed the event. Pope Benedict XVI will be among the inaugural speakers at Monday's meeting.
Pope Benedict opened a synod of Roman Catholic bishops on Africa by denouncing the West’s materialism and lack of moral values, which he said were contaminating the world’s poorest continent like “toxic waste”.
Pope Benedict XVI left Prague on Monday afternoon after a three-day visit in Czech Republic. He hailed the fall of communism in eastern Europe on Saturday, shortly before the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution.
Pope Benedict XVI had minor surgery on Friday after he slipped in the bath and broke his wrist. The 82-year-old Roman Catholic leader is in good health and has since returned to his holiday home.
The Vatican said on Wednesday that the ordination of priests belonging to the Lefebvrist schism, scheduled for the end of June, would be "illegitimate".
In this edition: Lebanese voters talking openly of perks and bribes in the upcoming general election; Kuwaiti women on the campaign trail; and Pope Benedict XVI's heavily scrutinised trip to the Holy Land.
Pope Benedict XVI called for a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and spoke out vigorously against the Holocaust as he ended his tour of the Middle East with a farewell ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.
