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Italy

Pope comforts survivors of Italy's earthquakes

During an audience of 800, the Pope listened attentively to survivor accounts and promised a fresh visit, as the region continues to be battered by aftershocks

Belgium

Nuns have fun on YouTube

The savvy Belgian Benedictine sisters have launched their own channel and it is already proving to be a holy hit.

Cult

A beginner's guide to the "Kalachakra" ceremonies

The Dalai Lama has officially launched 13 days of ceremonies and rituals known as the Kalachakra Initiation in Bodh Gaya in India

Turkey

Was the Reina attack due to a clash of lifestyles?

In Turkey, lifestyle differences are being touted as a motivation for Saturday's massacre in a nightclub in Istanbul.

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Iraq

Opinion: a brief history of so-called Islamic State (ISIL)

For two months, the international coalition in Iraq has battled to reclaim the city of Mosul from so-called Islamic State (ISIL).

No Comment

Circus delights Pope Francis at Vatican

Pope Francis’s weekly general audience took a rather quirky turn on Wednesday December 28 when a circus was unleashed on the Vatican.

Germany

Berlin's Jewish community pays tribute to lorry attack victims

The son of an Israeli woman who was killed in last week’s deadly lorry attack in Berlin has lit a giant menorah at the city’s Brandenburg Gate during a ceremony to remember…

Indonesia

Court rejects dropping of blasphemy charges against Jakarta governor

Basuki Purnama is accused of insulting the Koran in a case that's divided opinion in Muslim-majority Indonesia

Vatican

Pope Francis honours persecuted Middle East Christians

On the feast of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr, Pope Francis paid tribute to Christians in the Middle East who have clung to their faith during persecution by Islamist…

Iraq

Iraq: Christmas services held in areas recently retaken from ISIL control

Iraqi Christians gathered for church services in Qaraqosh and Bashiqa, near Mosul in Niveneh province, for church services on 25 December.

World News

Bethlehem celebrates Christmas

Tourists from around the world join locals to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem, the town where Christians say Jesus was born.

Vatican

Pope Francis says Christmas "taken hostage" by materialism at Christmas Mass

Pope Francis has given his fourth Christmas Mass from St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

World News

Christmas Eve crowds flock to Bethlehem

Christian pilgrims from around the world have been gathering this Christmas Eve in Bethlehem – revered as the birthplace of Jesus.

World

No Comment 2016 in review: religious spectacles

These ceremonies are a far cry from Sunday service, with everything from Ice plunging pilgrimages in St Petersburg to flagellation in the Phillipines.

Iraq

Iraq: Christmas service held in Bartella, recently liberated from ISIL

Bartella: Christmas after ISIL Hundreds of Iraqi Christians gathered in Bartella, near Mosul, for a Christmas Eve service – the first since this area was retaken from the Islamic State group (ISIL) in

Vatican

Pope spotted popping out for new shoes

It’s not everyday that you bump into the pope buying shoes, but that is exactly what happened to astonished customers in one pharmacy in Rome on Tuesday, when the pontiff picked up a pair near the Hol

Vatican

Pope Francis turns 80

Pope Francis has celebrated his 80th birthday with a mass and a gluten-free cake made by a pastry chef in Rome.

No Comment

Pope hopes his birthday is not jinxed

Pope Francis jokes early birthday greetings may bring him bad luck Pope Francis, responded to thousands of people cheering “Happy Birthday” on Wednesday (December 14) by joking that doing it early may

Egypt

Cairo attack: 25 dead, dozens wounded in Coptic cathedral bombing

A bombing at Cairo’s largest Coptic cathedral has killed at least 25 people and wounded nearly 50 others.

Egypt

Explosion near Cairo's Coptic Cathedral kills dozens

An explosion near Cairo’s Coptic cathedral has killed at least 25 people and more than 30 injured, the country’s health ministry has said.