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The Pope played a leading role in a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests, according to a shocking documentary to be screened by the BBC tonight. In 2001, while he was a cardinal, he issued a secret Vatican edict to Catholic bishops all over the world, instructing them to put the Church's interests ahead of child safety. The document recommended that rather than reporting sexual abuse to the relevant legal authorities, bishops should encourage the victim, witnesses and perpetrator not to talk about it. And, to keep victims quiet, it threatened that if they repeat the...

Vatican City, Jul 14, 2008 / 02:34 pm (CNA).- L’Osservatore Romano published an article last week explaining how Pope Pius VII decided in 1808 that the Vatican colors would be white and yellow.  Historian Claudio Ceresa explained the history behind the Pope’s choice.In an article entitled, “Two centuries of yellow and white as the papal colors,” Ceresa explained that in order to understand why the colors were chosen, one must consider the “occupation of the city by Napoleonic troops in February of 1808.”“The commander of the French forces, General Miollis, posted notices on the walls informing that the Pope’s army...

(8 July 08 - RV) The Vatican Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity issued a Statement Tuesday regarding recent events within the Anglican Communion. The Council is headed by Cardinal Walter Kasper. The statement reads: “We have regretfully learned of the Church of England vote to pave the way for the introduction of legislation which will lead to the ordaining of women to the Episcopacy. The Catholic position on the issue was clearly expressed by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. Such a decision signifies a breaking away from the apostolic tradition maintained by all of the Churches...

Archbishop Raymond Burke St. Louis, Jun 27, 2008 / 10:50 am (CNA).- Today the Holy Father appointed Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.  The archbishop, one of the leading experts of Canon law in the United States will leave the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri to take up his new post in Rome near the end of August. The appointment came on the same day that Pope Benedict named Cardinal Agostino Vallini, current prefect of the Supreme Tribunal, as the vicar general for the Diocese of Rome - the highest diocesan...

PARIS (Reuters) - The leader of a breakaway traditionalist Catholic group has rejected a Vatican offer to rejoin Rome, accusing Pope Benedict of trying to silence dissenting voices. Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) that broke with Rome 20 years ago, said conditions set by the Vatican amounted to muzzling the traditionalists who claim to be the only true Catholics since Church reforms in the 1960s.

VATICAN CITY — Were the makers of Angels and Demons, a movie based on a Dan Brown novel by the same name, seriously hoping to film scenes on the premises of Catholic churches in Rome? If so, they must have been dreaming.The movie, which is a prequel to Brown’s more commercially successful potboiler, The Da Vinci Code, sees Tom Hanks reprise his role as Harvard professor Robert Langdon. This time, however, instead of battling a murderous “Opus Dei monk,” Langdon is on a mission to save the Vatican from being blown up by a canister of antimatter. The storyline also...

New York, Jun 24, 2008 / 11:59 pm (CNA).- An Italian businessman who claimed to have close connections with the Vatican in his appeals to real estate investors was arrested on Tuesday on charges of operating a fraudulent real estate scheme.The 29-year-old Raffaello Follieri was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Reuters reports.According to federal prosecutors and the FBI, Follieri is accused of misleading investors into believing he has close links with the Vatican that would enable him to buy the Catholic Church’s unwanted U.S. real estate at a discount.Follieri and...

Are "The Five Conditions" necessary and reasonable? By Brian Kopp There is much debate going on inside and outside SSPX circles over "The Five Conditions." One may ask whether these conditions are "insulting" to the SSPX leadership, as some SSPX supporters insist that the SSPX already adheres to "The Five Conditions." By and large, this seems to be true of Bishop Fellay, though he recently slipped a bit in this regard: Bishop Fellay: Pope Benedict is a "perfectly liberal Pope"Given his record of otherwise prudent and measured statements regarding Pope Benedict XVI, this gaff of Bishop Fellay could easily be...

BEIRUT: Miraculous, perhaps. Tens of thousands of Lebanese gathered in Martyrs Square in Downtown Beirut on Sunday to witness the beatification of Yaaqoub Haddad, the late Capuchin priest who gained fame for his prolific work in founding an order of nuns, expanding the Capuchin school network and conceiving or establishing a number of religious and social institutions, some of which have gained iconic status in Lebanon. Haddad, who died more than 50 years ago, took a step toward sainthood in the first beatification ever to take place outside the Vatican - and people flocked to the capital to observe the...

Michelangelo 'hid secret code in Sistine Chapel' By Malcolm Moore in Rome 20/06/2008Michelangelo hid a secret code in the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel made up of mystical Jewish symbols... according to a new book. The Sistine Chapel was intended to be decoded, the authors believe The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel,...is actually a "bridge" between the Roman Catholic Church and the Jewish faith", according to The Sistine Secrets: Unlocking the Codes in Michelangelo's Defiant Masterpiece. --snip-- Scanning...the arrangement of figures on the...14,000 square foot ceiling, the authors have found shapes that correspond to Hebrew letters. --snip-- For example, the...

On St. Isidore of Seville "Believers Up to Our Times Benefit From His Definitions" VATICAN CITY, JUNE 18, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's Square, focused on the figure of St. Isidore of Seville. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today I wish to speak of St. Isidore of Seville, younger brother of Leander, bishop of Seville, and great friend of Pope Gregory the Great. This relation is important because it leads us to keep in mind a cultural and spiritual approach that is indispensable to...

A movie adaptation of Dan Brown’s book, Angels and Demons, is now in production; it is the prequel to the film, “The Da Vinci Code.” There are reports today that the Vatican has banned those associated with “Angels and Demons” from shooting in Catholic churches in Rome or in the Vatican itself. This is important because there are scenes in the movie that are supposed to take place in the Vatican and in two churches in Rome. “Angels and Demons” stars Tom Hanks in his role as Robert Langdon, the symbologist. This time he is trying to unravel a plot...

Orlando, Jun. 13, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Archbishop of Baltimore has revealed that he planned to banish the Legionaries of Christ (LC) from his archdiocese before Vatican officials persuaded him to impose restrictions on the Legionaries instead. In an unusually candid interview with John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, Archbishop Edwin O'Brien disclosed that he had gone so far as to inform the priests' council of the Baltimore archdiocese that he would tell the Legionaries to leave. The archbishop said that the announcement was warmly received. However, after consulting with Vatican officials, Archbishop O'Brien agreed to discuss his concerns...

President Bush may follow in the footsteps of his brother Jeb and convert to Catholicism, several European papers are reporting. In the wake of the president’s visit to see Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, Italian newspapers, citing Vatican sources, said Bush was open to the idea of converting to Catholicism. The Italian newspaper Il Foglio referred to such talk about Bush’s possible conversion and stated that “anything is possible, especially for someone reborn like Bush.� Noting that Tony Blair converted to Catholicism after leaving office as Britain’s prime minister last year, the paper also stated that “if anything happens,...

President of Papal Council for Christian Reunification, Cardinal Walter Casper says Vatican has no intention to recognize Kosovo's independence, reports InterFax. "Until this moment, the Wholly Synod has not recognized Kosovo as an independent country, and has no intention to do so" said Casper in an interview published by Magazine "Itogi". In the Interview, the Cardinal explains that Vatican understand why "Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church are worried with Kosovo" and admit that Kosovo is "craddle of the Serbian Orthodox Church". According to the Cardinal, the Wholly Synod understand that "each national minority as a right on social, religios...

The Vatican has banned the makers of Angels & Demons, the latest Dan Brown thriller to be filmed, from shooting scenes not only in the Vatican but in any church in Rome on the ground that it is "an offence against God" and "wounds common religious feelings". Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, head of the Vatican's Prefecture for Economic Affairs, said that the author had "turned the Gospels upside down to poison the faith. It would be unacceptable to transform churches into film sets so that his blasphemous novels can be made into mendacious films in the name of business."...

George W Bush and Pope Benedict XVI have held an intimate meeting in Rome as rumours mounted in Italy that the president may follow in Tony Blair's footsteps and convert to Catholicism. The two men spoke for half an hour in the 12th century Tower of St John, a private area in the Vatican gardens which is used by the pope for private reflection. The usual protocol for heads-of-state is a meeting in the pope's library in the Apostolic Palace, but a spokesman for the Vatican said Benedict wanted to reward Mr Bush for the "warmth" of his reception at...

The real 'options on the table' that should worry Europe and the world lay elsewhere - in the likelihood of moves by Iran's Arab neighbours to develop nuclear weapons of their own. He said the 'time is now' for the outside world to put in place 'diplomacy with consequences' to bring Iran's uranium-enrichment activities to an end, not least because he believed that a new group of European leaders had 'gone beyond the Iraq period' and were engaged with the US in multilateral efforts on a range of other issues. In London, however, Iraq inevitably will be back on the...

President & Mrs. Bush met today with Pope Benedict XVI at The Vatican. The pope treated the president to a rare tour of the Vatican Gardens, a spot where popes pray privately and only special guests are allowed to stroll. First Lady Laura Bush toured the Mattei Palace in Rome and met there with students in the American Study Center. The first couple then boarded Air Force One and traveled to Paris, France. During the flight, Mrs. Bush participated in a rare press gaggle with reporters on the plane. “Hey everybody, how are you all? Good to see you.” (Transcript)...

Reuters Photo: U.S. President George W. Bush (R) walks through the gardens of the Vatican to the..VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict gave George W. Bush an unprecedented welcome in the tranquility of the Vatican Gardens on Friday before the U.S. president resumed his campaign to rally European support for sanctions against Iran. Under tight security, Bush was driven from the bustle of Rome into the idyllic setting. As birds chirped, the two entered a restored medieval tower and held 30 minutes of private talks."Such an honor, such an honor," Bush said to the pope. After the meeting in the...

George W Bush and Pope Benedict XVI have held an intimate meeting in Rome as rumours mounted in Italy that the president may follow in Tony Blair's footsteps and convert to Catholicism. The two men spoke for half an hour in the 12th century Tower of St John, a private area in the Vatican gardens which is used by the pope for private reflection. The usual protocol for heads-of-state is a meeting in the pope's library in the Apostolic Palace, but a spokesman for the Vatican said Benedict wanted to reward Mr Bush for the "warmth" of his reception at...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican has thrown its support behind an Italian musical highlighting the life of Mary. The Vatican also will host the show's world premiere in the Paul VI audience hall June 17. "Mary of Nazareth: A Story That Continues" is being sponsored by the pontifical councils for Culture and for Social Communications; the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone; the Italian Senate; and Rome's city and regional governments. Some 40 actors, 12 dancers, and a 60-piece orchestra will bring the story of "the most important woman in the history of humanity" to the stage, according...

The President spent the day in Meseberg, Germany with Chancellor Merkel. They had meetings and held a joint press availability before the President continued on to Rome. TRANSCRIPT Mrs. Bush was in France for a four day visit.

The West is becoming obsessed with Islam at the expense of the other world religions, the Vatican has warned. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, said that the Church “has to have regard for all religions" and that the West's fascination with Islam was putting inter-faith dialogue at risk. Cardinal Tauran said the council had this week discussed new guidelines on how to achieve this. "Islam is very important, but there are also other great Asiatic religious traditions. Islam is one religion," he reveals on Catholic website Terrasanta.net. He added that Islam should not monopolise...

Bush also broke protocol when he welcomed the Pontiff last April 15. Bush, accompanied by his wife and daughter Jenna, went to Andrews Air Force Base to receive the Pope -- an honor the president has never given to a visiting head of state. The next day, Benedict XVI's 81st birthday, the president hosted a celebration in the White House. The Holy Father's welcome is meant to repay the president for his cordiality, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said. Bush will be accompanied by his wife and by Mary Ann Glendon, the U.S. envoy to...

Vatican says no peace until Israel quits territories   VATICAN CITY, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The Vatican said on Thursday peace between Israelis and Palestinians would never be possible until the Jewish state withdrew from the occupied territories and a Palestinian state was born. The Vatican made its position clear at the end of a day-long meeting presided by Pope John Paul and attended by Catholic religious leaders from the Middle East. A final statement from the Vatican spokesman said peace between the two peoples "can be realised only if rights and equality about fundamental questions are respected." It listed these fundamental points as "security for ...

Communion aside, there is a Catholic-Obama problem. Many Catholics, beyond Fr. Pfleger, will vote for Obama. It's not a problem of Communion-denying magnitude, but one they should at least know going into Election Day. McCain may be imperfect, but for me, even if I didn't have a laundry list of why I'm opposed to abortion, the pope explained why a Catholic cannot vote for a candidate like Obama long before most of us ever thought Obama would be a candidate for the presidency. In a 2006 address, B16 (Benedict XVI)said: "As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal...

Mr Ahmadinejad is one of 40 heads of state arriving in Rome on Tuesday for a vital United Nations summit on the world’s food crisis. Mr Ahmadinejad was keen to meet Benedict XVI, after writing to him two years ago on the subject of spirituality and the need for dialogue between Islam and Christianity. Relations between Iran and the Holy See are warming, and Mr Ahmadinejad said the Vatican was a “positive force for justice and peace” in April after meeting with the new nuncio to Iran, Archbishop Jean-Paul Gobel. Benedict is also thought to have the support of several...

Unique Book Dedicated to Trial against Templars on Display in Sofia 30 May 2008, Friday A copy of the unique book dedicated to the trial against templars, issued by Secret Vatican City archive, was presented Friday in Sofia's National Archeological Museum. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency) The unique book dedicated to the trial against templars issued by Secret Vatican City archive was presented Friday in Sofia's National Archeological Museum. The publication, called "Processus Conta Templarios", is an expensive limited edition of the proceedings of the 1307-1312 papal trial of the mysterious medieval crusading order of warrior-monks who were...

The Turin Shroud is to go on public display for the first time in a decade, sources at the Vatican have indicated, coinciding with a new set of tests on its age. The linen has only been put on display five times in the last century The Vatican keeps the 14ft by 4ft piece of linen, believed by some to be the death shroud of Jesus, in an aluminium case built by an Italian aerospace company to shut out all light, air and humidity. The case is filled with Argon gas in order to prevent bacteria from eating the...

KAZAN, May 27 (Itar-Tass) - Vatican Cardinal Walter Casper begins an unofficial visit to Kazan on Tuesday. Alexander Pavlov, press secretary of the Kazan bishopric, has told Itar-Tass, "The high-ranking official of the Vatican has headed the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity for many years. The guests is to have a conversation on the subject during a meeting with Archbishop Anastasiy of Kazan and Tatarstan". The Vatican envoy is to tour the restored Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross of the Monastery of the Mother of God. The monastery was founded in 1578 in honour...

(AGI) - Vatican City, May 29 - A woman being consecrated as priest besides being invalid, automatically leads to the excommunication of the consecrating bishop and the consecrated woman. A decree issued by the Congregation for Religious Doctrine published today by the 'Osservatore Romano' establishes this. "The Congregation for Religious Doctrine, to protect the nature and validity of the sacrament of the holy order, in virtue of the special faculty to be consecrated by the supreme authority decrees that both the one trying to consecrate a woman in the holy order, and the woman who has tried to receive the...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has requested an audience with Pope Benedict XVI during his upcoming visit to Rome on June 3 to 5. Ahmadinejad has been granted visa to travel to Italy by Silvio Berlusconi’s government—a close U.S. ally— but only to attend the summit of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization summit, to be held in Rome from June 3 to 5. According to the Italian news Agency ANSA, the Iranian embassy in Rome has confirmed Ahmadinejad's request, but there has not been an official response from the Vatican. Italy's Secretary of State, Franco Frattini, said that the Iranian...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While apes evolved naturally into pre-human creatures, it was the will and desire of God that turned them into humans, an article in the Vatican newspaper said. "The formation of human beings necessitated a particular contribution by God, though it remains that their emergence was brought about by natural causes" of evolution, it said.

VATICAN CITY, May 27, 2008(AP) The Vatican unveiled the largest and most luxurious of the pagan tombs in the necropolis under St. Peter's Basilica on Tuesday after nearly a year of restoration work. A family of former slaves built the Valeri Mausoleum during the second half of the second century, when Emperor Marcus Aurelius ruled. It is one of 22 pagan tombs in the grottoes under the basilica. The newly restored tomb was shown to media Tuesday. Visitors can have a guided tour of the grottoes by appointment. Emperor Constantine, a convert to Christianity, had the pagan burial grounds covered up...

ALGER, Algeria, MAY 26, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI appointed Father Ghaleb Moussa Abdalla Bader of the clergy of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Algeria.Archbishop-designate Bader, 56, succeeds Archbishop Henri Teissier, 78.The new archbishop brings with him ample experience in interreligious dialogue with Islam. Ghaleb Moussa Abdalla Bader was born in 1951 in Jordan. He was ordained in 1975.In 1979, he completed a first doctorate in civil law at the University of Damascus and in the 1980s he completed two more doctorates in Rome, one in philosophy and one in canon law, at the Pontifical Lateran...

After more than five years of work, the Holy See has approved the Statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way, thus confirming the praxis in more than 105 nations for over thirty years. The decree of approval, dated the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, was solemnly consigned on June 28 to the initiators of the way, Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez together with Father Mario Pezzi, by Cardinal Stafford, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, the Dicastery entrusted by the Holy Father with the task of guiding the preparation of the statute. The Neocatechumenal Way has not been approved...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- From a simple storeroom for the pope's pills to a bustling drugstore open to the public, the Vatican pharmacy has come a long way in 134 years. The Vatican says the pharmacy is the busiest in the world; some 2,000 customers stream through its doors daily. The booming business and crowded store led officials to recently expand and open a whole new wing dedicated to top-brand beauty-care products and sparkly glass bottles of perfume. If it weren't for the large antique, hand-painted ceramic "arborelli," or medicinal urns, topping the cabinets and the portraits of Pope Benedict...

One of the Catholic Church’s most senior theologians, and former mentor to Pope Benedict XVI, has launched a stinging attack on the Vatican. Father Hans Küng, 80, a Swiss priest and professor at Tübingen university said it was a “tragedy� for the Catholic Church that Rome had failed to follow the path of liberalisation set out by the Vatican II council in 1965. In his autobiography, My Fight for Freedom, Fr Küng said he was responsible for Benedict XVI’s appointment as a professor at Tübingen 1966 when he was dean of the Catholic theology faculty. Unusually, Father Küng put...

VATICAN CITY, MAY 22, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Aid to the Church in Need is helping to foster ties between the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches, said two Vatican officials. In separate meetings last week with leaders of the Germany-based organization, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Benedict XVI's secretary of state, and Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, expressed their appreciation for the work. Cardinal Bertone stressed the Holy See's commitment to nourishing unity between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. In the context of this commitment, he said the aid organization is a "focus of closer...

Krakow, May. 21, 2008 (CWNews.com) - A Polish newspaper has predicted that the beatification of Pope John Paul II will take place next year. Zycie Warszawy speculates that the late Pontiff could be beatified on April 2, the anniversary of his death, or on October 16, 2009, the anniversary of his election to the papacy. Earlier this month another Polish newspaer, Dziennik, had said that the beatification could take place on October 16 of this year, the 30th anniversary of John Paul's election. That prediction appeared unrealistic, since the cause for beatification of the late Pontiff still has several hurdles...

Washington, May. 21, 2008 (CWNews.com) - US President George W. Bush will visit the Vatican in June during a trip to Europe, the White House has confirmed. President Bush will visit Germany, France, England, and Northern Ireland on his European tour, as well as Italy. The American leader visited Pope Benedict at the Vatican last June as well, in the first formal meeting since the Pontiff's election in 2005. More recently Bush welcomed Pope Benedict when he arrived in the US in April of this year. In other news, Canada’s foreign minister Maxime Bernier is in Rome to meet with...

Vatican City, May 19, 2008 / 09:21 am (CNA).- Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, has sent a letter to the bishops of the world with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI reaffirming the norms established by the Congregation for Catholic Education in the 2005 document, “Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocation with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders,” as universal and without exceptions.  In the brief “Rescriptum ex audientia” –a written response to various queries—Cardinal Bertone said the norms establishing the selection...

Vatican City, May 16, 2008 / 02:12 pm (CNA).- One day after California overturned a ban on same-sex marriage, the Holy Father has firmly stated that only marriage between a man and a woman is moral.Yesterday, California’s Supreme Court came to a 4-3 decision overturning the state’s law preventing homosexuals from being recognized as married.While the Pope did not directly mention the ruling in California in his address to the Forum of Family Associations and the European Federation of Catholic Family Associations, Benedict XVI stressed the importance of the traditional family for the good of society. "The union of...

Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space...........

VATICAN CITY - Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday. The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones. "How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would...

ROME, MAY 13, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Most journalists covering the Church have a hard time grasping its scope, and its real nature "slips through their fingers," said an organizer of a seminar that aims to give the press tools for reporting on Catholicism.John Wauck explained to ZENIT the difficulties journalists have when they are assigned to report on the Church and he spoke about the seminar he is helping to organize. Wauck is the president of the organizing committee for "The Church Up Close: Covering Catholicism in the Age of Benedict XVI," offered by Rome's Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.The...

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God. The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones. In an interview published Tuesday by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes says that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. The interview was headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother." Funes said that ruling out the existence of aliens would...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Latin is online at the Vatican. Without fanfare, the Vatican's www.vatican.va site has made hundreds of papal and other documents available in a new Latin-language section. The Latin area went live May 9. Visitors clicking on "Sancta Sedes" (Latin for "Holy See") are taken to a menu of documents arranged by pontificate or Roman Curia office. Also posted is the complete neo-Vulgate Latin version of the Bible and Latin editions of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Code of Canon Law and the documents of the Second Vatican Council. The papal pages -- "Summi Pontifices"...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Armenia's Orthodox leader on Wednesday used the pulpit of the Vatican to condemn the 1915 killing of 1.5 million ethnic Armenians by Ottoman Turks, saying the whole world should recognise it as a genocide. "We Armenians are a people who have survived genocide, and we know well the value of love, brotherhood, friendship and a secure life," Karekin II said in a public address during Pope Benedict's general audience in St. Peter's Square. "Today, many countries of the world recognise and condemn the genocide committed against the Armenian people by Ottoman Turkey ..." the head of...