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News/International

{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - It was a first, at least in modern times: In Rome, the centre of the Catholic world and the capital of Catholic Italy, a pope felt unwelcome to give a speech at the public university.

When Pope Benedict XVI cancelled his planned visit to La Sapienza University Jan. 17, it marked a setback in the pontiff’s difficult dialogue with the contemporary scientific and intellectual world.

Jesuits choose new leader with wide international experience

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{mosimage}ROME - Spanish-born Fr. Adolfo Nicolas, the newly elected superior general of the Jesuits, called on the more than 19,000 members of his order to strengthen their service to the poor and those excluded from the benefits of economic globalization.

Combination of factors lead to Kenyan turmoil

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{mosimage}NAIROBI, Kenya - Church leaders, pastors and bishops are working to change the channel on the cycle of ethnic and political violence which has claimed nearly 500 lives since Kenya’s disputed national elections Dec. 27.

Pope appeals for end to Kenyan violence

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{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI appealed for an immediate end to ethnic violence in Kenya and called on political leaders to resolve the conflict there through "dialogue and democratic debate."

Kenyan bishops appeal for dialogue to resolve violence

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{mosimage}NAIROBI, Kenya - Following days of violence and death after the announcement of disputed election results, Kenya's Catholic bishops appealed to political leaders to make every effort to engage in dialogue to resolve the crisis.

Bhutto assassination draws papal condemnation

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{mosimage}THRISSUR, India - Catholic leaders in Pakistan and Pope Benedict XVI condemned the assassination at an election rally of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, leader of the opposition Pakistan People’s Party.

Development work in Myanmar next to impossible, aid agencies say

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{mosimage}Six months after Cyclone Nargis killed approximately 100,000 people in Myanmar, Catholic aid and religious organizations are still struggling with how to help people in a corrupt police state.

“Working in a police state? Well, it certainly means certain restrictions are in place,” wrote Jocelyne Dubois, Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace program officer for Asia in an e-mail from Myanmar.

Jerusalem's Latin patriarch criticizes creation of religious state in Middle East

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{mosimage}JERUSALEM - Jerusalem's Latin patriarch criticized the creation of a religious state of any kind in the Holy Land, saying that a Jewish or Islamic state would not be suitable for Christians.

World is one human family, Pope says

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{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - Anything that threatens the traditional family threatens peace, because the family “is the first and indispensable teacher of peace,” Pope Benedict XVI said.

Faith matters, Mormon candidate finds

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{mosimage}WASHINGTON - When Arizona Rep. Morris Udall sought the Democratic nomination for president in 1976, the fact that he was a Mormon, albeit an inactive one, was barely mentioned.

Encyclical stresses man’s need for God

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{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - In an encyclical on Christian hope, Pope Benedict XVI said that, without faith in God, humanity lies at the mercy of ideologies that can lead to “the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice.”