The Pope is using his visit to the Czech Republic this week to call on the country's Catholic population to turn back to the Church. Loyalty to Catholicism appears to be declining in traditionally Catholic areas.

Following protests from across the world at Pope Benedict's pronouncement that condom-use could aggravate the problem of HIV/AIDS, the British government has been challenged on its position.

Secularist campaigners will be marching to the Italian Embassy in London today, in a demonstration coinciding with one in Rome against the Vatican's interventions in Italian, European and global politics.

Catholic commentators have joined with Jewish leaders in criticising Pope Benedict XVI for bringing a Holocaust denying bishop back into the Church as part of a bid to heal a rift with a group of separatists.

Roman Catholic social justice advocates have joined in widespread criticism of new laws restricting protests during World Youth Day in Sydney this month, which Pope Benedict XVI will attend in his first visit to Australia.

As the summer holiday season draws near for many, the Vatican has issued a set of guidelines offering advice on how to make vacations more environmentally responsible and friendly.

The leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, visiting Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, has spoken of the "genocide" suffered by his compatriots in the Ottoman empire, and said that those with power should ensure that justice prevails.

The international Catholic movement 'We are Church' has expressed its numerous concerns about the actions of Pope benedict, ahead of the visit by the Pontiff to the US.

In advance of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the US, three prominent gay Catholics have urged the pontiff to enter into a dialogue with lesbian and gay Catholics. They addressed the pontiff through open statements about their lives, loves, and hopes for the church at a press conference at the end of last week.

A small number of fficials from the Vatican and senior Muslims are holding a two-day meeting in Rome this week, with the intention of laying the foundations for a major global Catholic-Islamic exchange later in 2008.