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Italy pushes ahead with Messina Strait bridge project, Salvini's League breaks ties with Russia, warm weather on the way, and more news from around Italy on Wednesday. , ...ادامه مطلب

Sardinia set to elect regional president, families of Cutro shipwreck victims plan to sue govement, and more news from around Italy on Tuesday. , ...ادامه مطلب

Warm weather arrives for the end of January, parliament approves migrant deal with Albania, Udine bans more racist football fans, and more news from around Italy on Thursday. , ...ادامه مطلب

Revelations about mafia boss Messina Denaro, a major fraud scheme uncovered, tax breaks for adopting dogs from shelters, and more news from around Italy on Friday. , ...ادامه مطلب

Italy's iconic tricolour flag celebrates its 227th anniversary, the foreign minister calls for an EU army, a deadly avalanche, and more news from around Italy on Monday. , ...ادامه مطلب

"Our work has made us realise once again that the gravity of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors is, and historically has been, a widespread phenomenon in all cultures and societies," he , ...ادامه مطلب

Pope Francis celebrates a mass on Christmas eve on December 24, 2018 at St Peter's basilica in the Vatican. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP. Pope Francis on Monday assailed the "insatiable greed" of today's c, ...ادامه مطلب

Pope Francis delivering the "Urbi et Orbi" message from the balcony of St Peter's basilica on December 25, 2018. Photo: VATICAN MEDIA / AFP. Pope Francis used his Christmas message Tuesday to appeal f, ...ادامه مطلب

The Church will never seek to hush up or not take seriously any case," the pope said in his annual address to the Church's goveing Curia at the Vatican. "Let it be clear that before these abominatio, ...ادامه مطلب

Former pope Benedict XVI celebrating his 90th birthday in 2017. Photo: Osservatore Romano/AFP Pope emeritus Benedict XVI hinted on Wednesday that he is nearing death and ready for his final "pilgrimage" at the age of 90. "In the slow decline of my physical strength, inteally, I am on a pilgrimage to the House [of the Lord]", Joseph Ratzinger wrote in a letter published in the Corriere della Sera daily, which had told him many readers were conceed about his health. The former pope, who will tu 91 in April, said he was moved that "so many readers want to know how this last period of his life is going". "It is a great grace for me to be surrounded, in this last point of a sometimes tiring path, with affection and kindness that I would not have imagined," Benedict added. Since his resignation five years ago, the German-bo pope has been living in a small monastery in the Vatican, with four nuns and his personal secretary Georg Gaenswein. Two years ago, Gaenswein reported that Benedict was "going out like a candle, slowly and serenely". Benedict celebrates mass every day, prays a lot, receives visitors in small numbers and responds to many letters. He a, ...ادامه مطلب

Pope Francis pictured during his weekly general audience. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP Pope Francis waed on Wednesday against the temptation of fake news, drawing a parallel between ethically compromised joualism and the biblical tale of Adam, Eve, the snake and the forbidden fruit. In his annual World Communication Day message held on the feast day of Francis de Sales, the patron saint of joualists, the Pope referred to Eve being fooled by the snake as "the first fake news"."We need to unmask what could be called the 'snake-tactics' used by those who disguise themselves in order to strike," he said. Fake news" was popularised as a phrase by Donald Trump during his victorious 2016 US presidential election campaign and first year in the White House. Trump uses it as a barb towards what he believes is a mainstream media biased against him, but it has come to be used as a way of describing the proliferation of outlets and websites publishing invented news stories as a tool of political propaganda.Pope Francis used the story of Adam and Eve, from the Old Testament's Book of Genesis, to highlight that "there is no such thing as harmless disinformation; on the contrary,, ...ادامه مطلب

Pope Francis has been given a two-wheeled Popemobile. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP The answer is Pope Francis on a bike, a prospect made tantalizingly possible by the pontiff's latest gift.  Francis was presented with a customized racing bike on Wednesday by three-time world cycling champion Peter Sagan, who dropped off the bicycle during a visit to the Vatican. The speedy-looking two-wheeler came in the papal colours, gold and white, and was emblazoned with "Francesco".  Peter Sagan (centre) with the Pope's bike. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP The Slovakian cyclist, who attended the Pope's weekly audience in St Peter's Square, also offered the signed jersey he wore as world champion.  This is the pontiff's second pedal-powered Popemobile: in 2015, during a visit to Philadelphia in the US, he was presented with a more sturdy model by local bike makers Breezer. They also donated 100 bicycles to community programmes in the city. They're the least flashy, but most eco-friendly, of the various vehicles that the Pope has received as gifts, which include a Harley Davidson motorcycle and a Lamborghini sports car.  He had both vehicles auctioned off to raise money for charity.  , ...ادامه مطلب

A handout photo from Osservatore Romano shows Pope Francis waving at the crowd outside the Cathedral of Trujillo on Saturday. AFP PHOTO / OSSERVATORE ROMANOPope Francis on Saturday urged Latin America's faithful to fight rampant violent crime against women including murder, while holding mass in Trujillo, Peru's largest northe city. "I wish to invite you to combat a plague across our Latin American region: the numerous cases of violent crimes against women, from beatings to rape to murder," the visiting pontiff told thousands in Trujillo's main colonial-era square. Half of the 25 countries with the greatest number of murders of women are in Latin America, according to UN Women. In Argentina, the pope's homeland, there were at least 254 murders of women in 2016 that authorities think were gender related, which helped spark the online campaign #NotOneMore murder. "There are so many cases of violence that stay silenced behind so many walls," Francis said, arousing cheers from the crowd. "I'm calling on you to fight against this source of suffering including legislation and a culture that rejects every type of violence." The northweste city Trujillo is still struggling to rebuil, ...ادامه مطلب

Pope Francis on Monday used his New Year homily to urge peace and understanding for migrants and refugees. "Let us not extinguish hope in their hearts or smother their expectations of peace," the leader of the world's estimated 1.2 billion Catholics said, marking the Church's World Day of Peace before millions of worshippers braving a rainswept Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican. Taking up the theme of the ongoing migrant crisis, the pontiff said they were "ready to risk their lives in their search for a peaceful future "which is a right for everyone" and which everyone should strive to ensure for all. , ...ادامه مطلب

Pope Francis waves from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica during the traditional "Urbi et Orbi" Christmas message. Photo: AFP. Pope Francis called for "peace for Jerusalem" and "mutual trust" on the Korean peninsula as he highlighted the suffering of children in conflicts across the world in his Christmas address on Monday. In the traditional "Urbi et Orbi" address in Saint Peter's Square, the pontiff spoke of "growing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians", hoping that the "will to resume dialogue may prevail between the parties and that a negotiated solution can finally be reached, one that would allow the peaceful coexistence of two states".  "Let us pray that confrontation may be overcome on the Korean peninsula and that mutual trust may increase in the interest of the world as a whole," the pope said. In his Christmas eve mass on Sunday Pope Francis urged the world's 1.3 billion Catholics not to ignore the plight of migrants who are "driven from their land" because of leaders willing to shed "innocent blood". "So many other footsteps are hidden in the footsteps of Joseph and Mary," the Argentine pontiff, himself the grandson of Italian , ...ادامه مطلب