LUANDA, Angola - Pope Benedict XVI strongly defended women’s rights and praised the many “silent heroines” of Africa who are holding families and society together. A girl watches as Pope Benedict XVI arrives to celebrate Mass at Cimangola esplanade in Luanda, Angola, March 22. Angola was the second and last stop on the pope's weeklong pastoral visit to Africa. Photo: CN...

By John Thavis VATICAN CITY (CNS) - In a letter to the world’s bishops, Pope Benedict XVI expressed regret that his lifting of the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops gave rise to a storm of protests and bitterness. Pope Benedict XVI The Pope said the controversy over Bishop Richard Williamson’s statements denying the extent of the Holocaust was “an ...

Even as the global economic crisis makes it more difficult to find a job and start a family, young Catholics are called to hold firmly to their faith in Jesus and be witnesses of hope to their peers, Pope Benedict XVI said.   Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives for a youth rally in New York in April 2008.Photo: CNS/Bob Roller   By Cindy Wooden VAT...

Holy Father recalls importance of angels in the life of Christ. In this double exposure, the statue of an angel at Independence Plaza in Mexico City is pictured with the nearly total lunar eclipse in 2000. Pope Benedict XVI has highlighted the important role of angels in Jesus’ life and their paramount importance in our own struggle with evil. Photo: CNS/Reuters   ...

By Cindy Wooden ROME (CNS) - If people act on God’s call to conversion, he will forgive them everything and bless them, Pope Benedict XVI said just before receiving ashes and distributing ashes to mark the beginning of Lent. Pope Benedict XVI uses holy water during an evening Ash Wednesday Mass at the Basilica of St Sabina in Rome on February 25. Photo: CNS/Vincenzo Pinto, Reute...

By John Thavis VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI has lifted the excommunication of four bishops ordained against papal orders in 1988 by the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a dissenter from Vatican II reforms, is pictured in a 1967 photo. Photo: CNS The move was considered a major concession to the archbishop’s traditionalist...

On the 40th anniversary of the controversial but hugely effective Catholic evangelical Neocatechumenal Way movement, the Pope thanked and urged them to continue their work of evangelisation, but also to adhere to the Holy See’s directives.   Faithful family: A young girl holds a crucifix to be blessed by Pope Benedict XVI during a special audience with Neocatechumenal...

Is it Regensberg all over again? The world’s media, yet again, appear to have completely misread (wilfully or otherwise...) a line in a speech by Pope Benedict to the Roman curia on December 22. The resultant furore is becoming almost predictable. The Pope’s problem appears to be more that journalists are simply... well, ignorant when it comes to religious belief. Here, a same-sex...

Pope Benedict XVI condemned the wave of terrorist attacks in India as acts of “cruel and senseless violence,” and led prayers for the nearly 200 people who died and the hundreds injured in the bloodshed.     PEOPLE HOLD CANDLES DURING VIGIL IN NEW DELHI People n New Delhi hold candles during a Dec. 2 vigil for the victims of recent attacks in Mumbai, I...

German-born Pope Benedict XVI said he still feels “pain for what happened” in his homeland in 1938 when Nazi mobs went on the rampage against Jews, an event that became known as Kristallnacht. Elimination: Jews are arrested by German authorities during Kristallnacht. Pope Benedict has said memories of the event still cause him pain. By Cindy Wooden   ...