Pope Benedict Xvi

Leaving a message of inter-religious harmony in Jordan, Pope Benedict XVI ventures to more contentious terrain today as his journey in Jesus' footsteps takes him across the modern political and religious minefields of Israel and the West Bank. The Roman Catholic leader has the potential to contribute to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, revitalize the dwindling Christian presence in the Holy Land, and set the church's relations with Jews and Muslims on a new path.

HAVANA — Pope Benedict XVI held private talks Tuesday with President Raul Castro and sought an expanded role for the church in Cuban life as part of a broader mission to preach hope and freedom to the communist nation. Senior Cuban officials, however, sounded a defiant note and made it clear that the nation's important and ongoing reforms were directed at its economy, not at its political system. "In Cuba, there's not going to be political reform," Marino Murillo, a senior economy official and rising star, told reporters.

`Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me -- a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord. The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers. In the joy of the risen Lord, trusting in his permanent help, we go forward. The Lord will help us, and Mary his very holy mother stands by us.' Pope Benedict XVI, addressing the crowd in St. Peter's Square

HAVANA — Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday concluded his first trip to the Spanish-speaking Americas, launched with a condemnation of Marxism and drug war violence and ending with a forceful plea for "genuine freedom" as he preached from the symbolic heart of Cuba's leftist revolution. Standing under larger-than-life portraits of revolutionary heroes such as Che Guevara, the pope admonished Cuban authorities for not doing enough to allow the public exercise of religious faith. Later, he met with former President Fidel Castro, and the two octogenarians joked about the hardships of being old men. Dressed in a gilded miter and robes of purple in keeping with the Lenten season, Benedict rode the popemobile into the Plaza of the Revolution and presided over an open-air Mass witnessed by an estimated 300,000 Cubans and other Latin Americans.

Five months ago, St. Andrew Bobola's was a church in mourning. One of its beloved priests, Bronislaw Gostomski, was among those killed in a plane crash in Russia that wiped out much of the leadership of Poland, including the president. But grief has given way to a small buzz of anticipation here in Gostomski's former parish in west London. A Polish-speaking Roman Catholic congregation of more than 1,000 worshipers, St. Andrew Bobola's is getting ready for a rare visit to Britain this week by Pope Benedict XVI. About a quarter of the church's members have signed up to attend an evening vigil with the pope in London's Hyde Park.

HAVANA — Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday concluded his first trip to the Spanish-speaking Americas, launched with a condemnation of Marxism and drug war violence and ending with a forceful plea for "genuine freedom" as he preached from the symbolic heart of Cuba's leftist revolution. Standing under larger-than-life portraits of revolutionary heroes such as Che Guevara, the pope admonished Cuban authorities for not doing enough to allow the public exercise of religious faith. Later, he met with former President Fidel Castro, and the two octogenarians joked about the hardships of being old men. Dressed in a gilded miter and robes of purple in keeping with the Lenten season, Benedict rode the popemobile into the Plaza of the Revolution and presided over an open-air Mass witnessed by an estimated 300,000 Cubans and other Latin Americans.

HAVANA — Pope Benedict XVI held private talks Tuesday with President Raul Castro and sought an expanded role for the church in Cuban life as part of a broader mission to preach hope and freedom to the communist nation. Senior Cuban officials, however, sounded a defiant note and made it clear that the nation's important and ongoing reforms were directed at its economy, not at its political system. "In Cuba, there's not going to be political reform," Marino Murillo, a senior economy official and rising star, told reporters.

Pope Benedict XVI arrived Thursday in Britain to an enthusiastic reception by fellow Roman Catholics and promptly warned the country not to let rampant secularism swamp or destroy its Christian roots. "The United Kingdom strives to be a modern and multicultural society," the pontiff said shortly after landing in Scotland to begin a four-day tour. "May it always maintain its respect for those traditional values and cultural expressions that more aggressive forms of secularism no longer value or even tolerate.

Pope Benedict XVI traveled to Mexico on Friday, urging this nation's Catholics to resist the temptations of violent drug traffickers and calling for change in Cuba. This is Benedict's first voyage to the Spanish-speaking Americas; after three days in Mexico, he continues to Cuba, the first papal visit to the island nation since John Paul II's historic trip to Havana in 1998. Landing on a sun-drenched afternoon in Mexico's conservative and traditionally Catholic midsection, Benedict was greeted by President Felipe Calderon.

Singing, strumming guitars and trying to shield themselves from a searing sun, tens of thousands of Mexican Catholics came together Saturday nearly 24 hours before an open-air Mass with Pope Benedict XVI. They walked miles and took up positions in Bicentennial Park, a short distance from a hilltop monument that honors the 1920s Cristero War by Catholic counter-revolutionaries. But as religious fervor was on display in Silao, in central Mexico's Guanajuato state, a sexual-abuse scandal involving a notorious Mexican priest threatened to cast a pall over the pope's first visit to the Spanish-speaking Americas.

SANTIAGO, Cuba — In a historic trip to Cuba on Monday, Pope Benedict XVI reached out to island residents and exiles alike, urging Cubans to "build a renewed and open society, a better society. " Benedict became only the second pontiff to travel to Cuba, a nation where the Roman Catholic Church has gradually gained ground as the communist government has been forced to reform many of its policies. Before his arrival, Benedict criticized Cuba's Marxism as an obsolete model in need of change.

Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday told Mexican Catholics that renewed faith and a pure heart will help them stand up to "distressing times of human suffering" in a nation stalked by drug violence, crime and uncertainty. At a vast, sunbaked open-air Mass, with several hundred thousand people arrayed before him, the pope said Mexico faced "times of sorrow as well as hope" and he reiterated a call for the special protection of children. Of particular significance here, Benedict repeatedly invoked the Virgin of Guadalupe, patron saint of Mexico and Latin America.

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Cuba this week is clearly intended to be a pastoral mission, not a political one. Coinciding with the 400th anniversary of the island's patron saint, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, it is timed to help revive interest in Catholicism in one of Latin America's less devout countries and to draw followers to the church. But we hope Benedict's visit will serve another objective as well: to persuade President Raul Castro to abandon his crackdown on dissidents and show greater respect for human rights.

Singing, strumming guitars and trying to shield themselves from a searing sun, tens of thousands of Mexican Catholics came together Saturday nearly 24 hours before an open-air Mass with Pope Benedict XVI. They walked miles and took up positions in Bicentennial Park, a short distance from a hilltop monument that honors the 1920s Cristero War by Catholic counter-revolutionaries. But as religious fervor was on display in Silao, in central Mexico's Guanajuato state, a sexual-abuse scandal involving a notorious Mexican priest threatened to cast a pall over the pope's first visit to the Spanish-speaking Americas.

Pope Benedict XVI traveled to Mexico on Friday, urging this nation's Catholics to resist the temptations of violent drug traffickers and calling for change in Cuba. This is Benedict's first voyage to the Spanish-speaking Americas; after three days in Mexico, he continues to Cuba, the first papal visit to the island nation since John Paul II's historic trip to Havana in 1998. Landing on a sun-drenched afternoon in Mexico's conservative and traditionally Catholic midsection, Benedict was greeted by President Felipe Calderon.

The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico this year took the unusual step of issuing guidelines on how Mexicans should vote in the upcoming presidential election: Candidates should value marriage as a bond between a man and a woman and should place prime importance on "the right to life, starting at conception. " Both ideas were clearly aimed at leftist parties and others who have backed same-sex marriage and abortion, legalized in recent years in Mexico City. Pope Benedict XVI arrives Friday to a Mexico that, officially, is a strictly secular nation.

Before hundreds of thousands of the Roman Catholic faithful, the late Pope John Paul II was beatified Sunday in a ceremony that declared him "blessed" and put the Polish pontiff one step closer to sainthood. A packed St. Peter's Square erupted in applause when the current pope, Benedict XVI, recited the words that elevated his predecessor, whose massive portrait was then unveiled over the doorway of the basilica. A choir broke into a chorus of "Amens" as some in the crowd wept.

Hey there, media savvy generation -- as we enter the Lenten season, Pope Benedict XVI would like your attention, and he and the Pontifical Council for Social Communications think they know just how to get it: with one Papal tweet a day throughout the 40 days of Lent. After all, as Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications points out, "many of the key Gospel ideas are readily rendered in just 140 characters. " Anybody can sign up to follow the pope, whose papal message will be tweeted in English, Spanish, Italian, French, German and soon in Portuguese via @Pope2YouVatican , but this effort was conceived to bring the unfaithful back to the fold.

To the vast assembled faithful, it was a statement of the obvious: Pope John Paul II is now one of the "blessed. " But that didn't stop the crowds from weeping and clapping in an outpouring of emotion Sunday when the late pontiff's successor, Benedict XVI, made the description official during a ceremony in St. Peter's Square. As a giant portrait of John Paul was unveiled above him, Benedict declared the Polish-born pope beatified, worthy of veneration and one step away from full sainthood.