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The 85-year-old Pontiff underwent colon surgery in July 2021.VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis cancelled all engagements today due to a “necessary medical check up,” the Vatican announced. In a statement released to media outlets Friday, April 22, the director of the Holy See Press Office Matteo Bruni said: “The pope has slowed down his activity today due to a necessary medical check-up. Therefore, he does not have any appointments on his agenda today.” Bruni added that medical appointments were taking place in the Vatican’s own facilities, not in any external hospital. Pope Francis has been visibly beset with health...

BAGHDAD -- An al Qaeda front group said yesterday it had captured American soldiers in a deadly attack the day before, as thousands of U.S. troops searched insurgent areas south of Baghdad for their three missing comrades. The statement was issued on one of the deadliest days in the country in recent weeks, with at least 126 persons killed or found dead -- including two American soldiers who died in separate bombings. A suicide truck bomb tore through the offices of a Kurdish political party in northern Iraq, killing 50 persons, and a car bombing in a crowded Baghdad market...

12 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq Attacks Email this Story May 6, 2:47 PM (ET) By RAVI NESSMAN (AP) Residents gather at the scene of a car bomb blast in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, May 6, 2007. A car... Full Image BAGHDAD (AP) - A roadside explosion outside the Iraqi capital on Sunday killed six American soldiers and a journalist, the military said, among 12 U.S. deaths reported on a day when two car bombs killed at least 44 Iraqis at a Baghdad market and a police headquarters. A car bomb in the capital, where U.S.-led forces are in the midst...

BAGHDAD, May 6 -- Eight American soldiers were killed in roadside bomb attacks Sunday, one of the highest single-day death tolls this year. They were among 12 U.S. service members whose deaths were announced on a day when car bombs killed scores of Iraqis across the country, threatening to deepen sectarian tensions. A senior U.S. commander said Sunday that the military was bracing for a rise in the casualty rate in the coming months, as an ongoing security offensive attempts to tame the devastating violence and stabilize Baghdad. "All of us believe that in the next 90 days, you'll probably...

Excerpt - BAGHDAD, April 29 (Reuters) - About two dozen loud explosions shook southern Baghdad on Sunday, Reuters reporters heard. The blasts, several seconds apart, sounded like artillery. The U.S. military could not immediately confirm the cause of the blasts. U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver said the military sometimes fired artillery in support of operations. ~ snip ~

BAGHDAD (AP) - Suspected Sunni insurgents penetrated the Baghdad security net Wednesday, hitting Shiite targets with four bomb attacks that killed 183 people—the bloodiest day since the U.S. troop surge began nine weeks ago. Late Wednesday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the arrest of the Iraqi army colonel who was in charge of security in the area around the Sadriyah market where at least 127 people died and 148 were wounded in the deadliest bombing of the day. It was the second massive blast at the market since Feb. 3. Nationwide, the number of people killed or found dead on...

BAGHDAD - Suspected Sunni insurgents penetrated the Baghdad security net Wednesday, hitting Shiite targets with four bomb attacks that killed 183 people — the bloodiest day since the U.S. troop increase began nine weeks ago. The most devastating blast struck the Sadriyah market as workers were leaving for the day, charring a lineup of minibuses that came to pick them up. At least 127 people were killed and 148 wounded, including men who were rebuilding the market after a Feb. 3 bombing left 137 dead. Wednesday's car bombing appeared meticulously planned. It took place at a pedestrian entrance where tall...

Four large bombs exploded in mostly Shiite areas of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 157 people and wounding scores as violence climbed toward levels seen before the U.S.-Iraqi campaign to pacify the capital began two months ago. In the deadliest of the attacks, a parked car bomb detonated in a crowd of workers at the Sadriyah market in central Baghdad, killing at least 112 people and wounding 115, said Raad Muhsin, an official at Al-Kindi Hospital where the victims were taken. A police official confirmed the toll, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release...

Christians in a Baghdad neighborhood are being required to pay a "protection tax" because Muslims have begun enforcing an Islamic law demanding either the tribute – or conversion to Islam, according to Christians in Iraq. The report from the Assyrian International News Agency follows on complaints from Iraqi Christians that they have been caught in a no-man's land between the Coalition forces and Muslim militants in Iraq, watching as their churches have been bombed, and men and women assaulted and killed. The newest report said Muslims in the Dora neighborhood are forcing Assyrians, who also are known as Chaldeans and...

More than 80 dead in Iraq blast There has been a recent upsurge in violence At least 82 people have been killed in a car bomb blast in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, security officials say. The attack, on a food market in the Sadriya area of the city, left scores of people injured. The blast was one of a series of bomb attacks which struck mainly Shia areas of the city, leaving at least 120 dead. The blasts came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said Iraqi security forces would assume control of the country by the end of...