Vatican

VATICAN CITY- Benedict XVI resigned his pontificate and flew out of the Vatican Thursday after pledging to obey his successor to St Peter's Throne.

ROME-- After his abdication as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church Cardinal Ratzinger will continue to be what he has always been, Theologian in Residence.

 VATICAN CITY – Hungarian Cardinal Péter Erdő is an "attractive possibility" to become a "goulash pope" in a conclave that doesn't seem to have a front runner, top Vatican watcher John Allen says.

ROME - Pope Benedict being in the monastery in the Vatican Gardens might influence the conclave.

ROME - Soon Benedict will retire to a monastery,  no longer Holy Father but a godfather, not of Cosa Nostra, more like the mostly

 VATICAN CITY– Catholic Cardinals sent a white smoke signal this evening from the Sistine Chapel after they were able to elect a new pope.

ROME - It is such a sad debacle, the original errors of conception and execution in the first version have been compounded and increased.

VATICAN CITY- Pope Benedict XVI celebrated old age with his contemporaries as he visited a nursing home in Rome.

VATICAN CITY-A Holy See court has sentenced a computer technician to two months imprisonment for obstructing justice in connection with recent information leaks from Pope Benedict XVI's apartment.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI caused general surprise as he announced a second consistory this year to name six new cardinals.

ROME -- The World-Wide Catholic Reform Networks celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the second Vatican Council by calling for dialogue between the Catholic Church and the people.

VATICAN CITY-- Pope Benedict XVI emphasised the importance of evangelism, speaking at mass held this morning in the Vatican, on the second day of the Synod of Bishops.

VATICAN CITY - The trial of Pope Benedict XVI's butler reflects the Vatican's uncertainty how to use contemporary media, Holy See watchers say.  

VATICAN CITY —A  judge has indicted two Vatican employees in a move that the Pope hopes will quash the Vatileaks scandal and negative publicity from the publication of sensitive papal documents.

ROME-The Vatican probe of the theft by the Pope’s butler of confidential papal documents ends this week, judicial sources say.

ROME –The community of Sant’Egidio hosted a conference calling on the United Nations to intervene in the unstable situation in Syria in effort to bring back peace and diplomacy.

 ROME—The Vatican has appointed U.S. journalist Greg Burke to put a more controlled spin on the gyrations of the scandal-wracked institution.

       A work by philosopher John Cottingham on sale in bookshops near the Vatican is titled “Why Believe?” For many Catholics the scandals emanating down the road make it that much more difficult.