Benedict Xvi Pope

Pope Benedict XVI has made an unusual public acknowledgment of Vatican mistakes and turmoil in his church over an outreach to ultraconservatives that led to his lifting the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop. In an attempt to end one of the most serious crises of his papacy, he said in a letter that the Vatican must make greater use of the Internet to prevent other controversies.

Condoms are not the answer to Africa's fight against HIV, Pope Benedict XVI said Tuesday as he began a weeklong trip to the continent. It was the pope's first explicit statement on an issue that has divided even clergy working with AIDS patients. Benedict arrived in Yaounde, Cameroon's capital, and was greeted by a crowd of flag-waving faithful and snapping cameras. The visit is his first pilgrimage as pontiff to Africa.

Pope Benedict XVI carried a tall candle symbolizing hope into a darkened St. Peter's Basilica packed with faithful Saturday night in the traditional start of the Vatican's vigil Mass on the eve of Easter. A chant of "Lumen Christi" -- Latin for "Light of Christ" -- echoed in the basilica.

Pope Benedict XVI waved reassuringly to well-wishers outside a hospital Friday where he underwent surgery to set his right wrist, fractured in a fall at his Alpine vacation chalet. The 82-year-old pope's accident was the first significant medical issue of his 4-year-old papacy, but doctors said he would suffer no long-term effects and would be able to return to playing piano and writing once the wrist heals. His cast will be removed in a month.

When Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Israel today for his first visit to the Holy Land, he will bear a message of religious cooperation aimed in part at strengthening often shaky Catholic-Jewish relations. Benedict's Middle East pilgrimage began in Jordan and will also take him to the West Bank, where he'll visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and Jerusalem's Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site. He will meet with Israel's two chief rabbis, its president and prime minister.