Pope Benedict XVI, leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, has told Australians he is deeply sorry for the sexual abuse of children by some Catholic priests and has said that those responsible must be brought to justice.

Pope Benedict XVI has backed a universal 'right to water' in a message sent from the Vatican to an international conference on the issue of Water and Sustainable Development, taking place in Zaragoza, Spain.

Legal restrictions imposed for Pope Benedict's visit to Sydney this week, which could see protesters arrested for "annoying" Catholic pilgrims, are unconstitutional, the Australian Federal Court has ruled.

Pope Benedict XVI and the Orthodox ecumenical patriarch Bartholemew are seeking to put differences aside in order to encourage a growing global vision of Christian unity in a divided world, using St Paul as an exemplar.

Civil libertarians are infuriated at special regulations coming into force for the upcoming Catholic World Youth Day event in Sydney, Australia, where Pope Benedict XVI will be the guest of honour.

Pope Benedict XVI has chosen "Combating poverty. Building peace" as the key theme for his Message for the 42nd World Day of Peace, due to be celebrated on 1 January 2009, the Vatican announced in a communique issued today.

After a visit to Russia, the Vatican's top official for Christian unity has said a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Alexei II of the Russian Orthodox Church is "possible". Such an encounter would be a first.

Autism campaigners around the world are urging Pope Benedict XVI to act on autism in the wake of the banning of a 13 year old boy with severe autism from the Roman Catholic Church of St.Joseph, in Bertha, Minnesota in the United States.

New technology has always played a part in religious polemics and in the sense of identity generated through the heated exchange of opinion, says Adam Darlage. Consider Luther and the Catholics, and also what we see happening in cyberspace today.

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has described his private meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican earlier this week as "friendly and informal". They talked for an hour, especially about Christian-Muslim relations.