By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
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The Vatican on Tuesday rushed to deny the contents of a television broadcast that appeared to show Pope Francis performing an exorcism on a wheelchair-bound boy.
Pope Francis has traveled to Castel Gandolfo to have lunch with his predecessor Benedict XVI in a historic and potentially problematic melding of the papacies that has never before confronted the Catholic Church.
Breaking with tradition, Pope Francis delivered off-the-cuff remarks about God's power to forgive instead of reading from a written speech for the first Sunday window appearance of his papacy.
Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected pope Wednesday, becoming the first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium. He chose the name Francis, associating himself with the humble 13th-century Italian preacher who lived a life of poverty.
Catholic cardinals are under media lockdown, with communications to the outside world cut by an electronic shield, and the first indication they have made a decision on the replacement for Pope Benedict XVI will come old-world style: A smoke signal in the skies above the Vatican.
On the eve of their conclave to select a new pope, cardinals held their final debate Monday over whether the Catholic Church needs a manager to clean up the Vatican or a pastor to inspire the faithful at a time of crisis.
Cardinals in Rome for the conclave to elect the next pope received a briefing on the Holy See's finances Thursday amid questions about the Vatican bureaucracy and continued suspicions about its bank.
The Sistine Chapel closed to visitors on Tuesday as construction work got under way to prepare it for the conclave that will choose the next pope, but five cardinals had yet to arrive for the preparatory meetings designed to acquaint themselves with one another and discuss the state of the Catholic Church.
Retiring Pope Benedict XVI gets to keep a couple titles — "Your Holiness Benedict XVI" and "emeritus pope" — and his white cassock. But he's turning in his signature red shoes and going brown.
The Vatican is looking into allegations of "inappropriate behavior" by Cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien, Britain's most senior Catholic cleric, officials said Sunday. The claims came at a sensitive time, as Cardinal O'Brien and other cardinals prepare for a conclave to choose the next pope.
The Vatican lashed out Saturday at the media for what it said has been a run of defamatory and false reports before the conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI's successor, saying they were an attempt to influence the election.
Pope Benedict XVI hit his head during his March 2012 trip to Mexico, the Vatican said Thursday, but officials denied the accident had any "relevant" role in his resignation.
Pope Benedict XVI told thousands of faithful Wednesday that he was resigning for "the good of the church" — an extraordinary scene of a pope explaining himself to his flock that unfolded in his first appearance since dropping the bombshell announcement.
Starting his public farewell to his flock, a weary Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his final public Mass as pontiff, presiding over Ash Wednesday services hours after a bittersweet audience that produced the extraordinary scene of the pope explaining his decision to step down directly to the faithful.
Rita Levi-Montalcini, a biologist who conducted underground research in defiance of Fascist persecution and went on to win a Nobel Prize for helping unlock the mysteries of the cell, died at her home in Rome on Sunday. She was 103 and had worked well into her final years.
Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said in a statement reported by Raw Story.
Pope Francis ‘did not intend to perform any exorcism,’ Vatican says →
"As he often does with sick and suffering people who are presented to him, he simply intended to pray for the suffering person," Father Lombardi said in the Raw Story report.
Pope Francis ‘did not intend to perform any exorcism,’ Vatican says →
