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Thursday, May 23, 2013 | 7:58 a.m.

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A list of the most recent stories about Pope Benedict XVI.

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Rene Brulhart, director of the  Financial Information Authority, an institution established by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 to monitor the monetary and commercial activities of Vatican agencies, and Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, meet the press at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 22, 2013. The Vatican took another step Wednesday in trying to show greater financial transparency by publishing a first annual report from its financial watchdog agency and announcing new regulations to fight money laundering and terror financing that are expected in the coming weeks and months. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Vatican releases 1st report of financial watchdog

The Vatican took another step Wednesday to show greater financial transparency by publishing the first annual report from its financial watchdog agency and announcing new regulations to fight money laundering and terror financing. The report from the Financial Intelligence Authority showed the agency received six internal reports on suspicious transactions ...

Pope issues first appeal for Chinese Catholics

Pope Francis has issued his first appeal directed at Catholics in China, long the source of concern for his predecessor Benedict XVI. Francis urged special prayers Wednesday for China's faithful that they may "live their daily lives in service to their country and their fellow citizens in a way consistent ...

Pope Francis greets the faithful in St. Peter Square at the Vatican, after celebrating a Pentecost mass, Sunday, May 19, 2013.(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

The pope and the devil: Is Francis an exorcist?

Pope Francis' fascination with the devil took on remarkable new twists Tuesday, with a well-known exorcist insisting Francis helped "liberate" a Mexican man possessed by four different demons despite the Vatican's insistence that no such papal exorcism took place. The case concerns a 43-year-old husband and father who traveled to ...

Pope expresses solidarity with tornado survivors

Pope Francis has expressed his "closeness to the families of all who died in the Oklahoma tornado," with special concern for "those who lost young children." The pope posted a Twitter message to the survivors Tuesday, and followed up with a telegram to the archbishop of Oklahoma City, Paul S. ...

Today In History

Today is Tuesday, May 28, the 148th day of 2013. There are 217 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date: 1674 - Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I declares war on France. 1863 - The first black regiment from the North leaves Boston to fight in the ...

Pope Francis greets the faithful in St. Peter Square at the Vatican, after celebrating a Pentecost mass, Sunday, May 19, 2013.(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope: church should open up but follow teaching

Pope Francis is calling for renewal in the Catholic church as he wrapped up two days of mass gatherings in St. Peter's Square aimed at energizing the faithful. About 200,000 people turned out Sunday for Mass celebrated by Francis, about the same size crowd that came to a pep rally ...

Pope Francis meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a private audience at the Vatican, Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, Pool)

Pope leads pep rally at Vatican, meets with Merkel

Pope Francis lamented that investment losses by banks trigger more alarm in the economic crisis than the struggle of people to feed their families, as he led a huge rally Saturday to invigorate the church's moral conscience, hours after he held talks at the Vatican about the economic crisis with ...

Pope blasts "cult of money" that tyrannizes poor

Pope Francis has denounced the global financial system, blasting the "cult of money" that he says is tyrannizing the poor and turning humans into expendable consumer goods. In his first major speech on the subject, Francis demanded Thursday that financial and political leaders reform the global financial system to make ...

Religion news in brief

Scottish cardinal to atone for sexual misconduct VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has ordered a disgraced Scottish cardinal to leave Scotland for several months to pray and atone for sexual misconduct, issuing a rare public sanction against a "prince of the church" and the first such punishment meted out ...

FILE - In this Sept. 16, 2013 file photo, Cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien speaks to the media in Edinburgh, Scotland.  The Scottish cardinal who resigned as archbishop after admitting to sexual misconduct will leave Scotland for several months of prayer and atonement, the Vatican said Wednesday, May 15, 2013, in a rare sign of accountability for a "prince of the church." (AP Photo/Scott Campbell, file)

Scottish cardinal to atone for sexual misconduct

The Vatican on Wednesday ordered a disgraced Scottish cardinal to leave Scotland for several months to pray and atone for sexual misconduct, issuing a rare public sanction against a "prince of the church" and the first such punishment meted out by Pope Francis. Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigned as archbishop of ...

Pope Francis frees a dove during his weekly general audience in St. Peter Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. As Francis toured the square in his open-topped popemobile at his Wednesday audience with the public, someone at the edge of the crowd thrust a white bird cage at him. Looking puzzled, his security detail took the cage, containing a pair of white doves, and handed it to Francis. Without hesitation, the pope opened the cage door, thrust a hand inside and extracted one dove, and with a flick of his hand, sent the bird flying over the square.  (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope frees doves from cage in St. Peter's Square

Two doves celebrated their freedom with a soaring flight over St. Peter's Square on Wednesday, all thanks to Pope Francis. As Francis toured the square in his open-topped popemobile at his weekly public audience, someone in the crowd thrust a white bird cage with two doves inside at him. Looking ...

Director of the Vatican Museums Antonio Paolucci, center, speaks at a press conference with Venice Biennale of Arts President Paolo Baratta, left, and Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Vatican Council for Culture, to announce the Vatican participation at the 55th edition of the Venice Biennale of Arts, Tuesday, May 14, 2013, at the Vatican. The Vatican is getting back into its centuries-old tradition of arts patronage with its first-ever exhibit at the Venice Biennale, commissioning a biblically inspired show about creation, destruction and renewal for one of the world's most prestigious contemporary arts festivals. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Vatican re-enters art world with Venice Biennale

The Vatican is getting back into its centuries-old tradition of arts patronage with its first-ever exhibit at the Venice Biennale, commissioning a biblically inspired show about creation, destruction and renewal for one of the world's most prestigious contemporary arts festivals. The Holy See on Tuesday unveiled details of its Venice ...

Africa, Asia see boom in priests as Europe withers

The number of Catholic priests in Africa and Asia has shot up over the past decade while decreasing in Europe, mirroring trends in the numbers of Catholic faithful that helped lead to the election of Pope Francis as the first non-European pope in over a millennium. The Vatican on Monday ...

Pope Francis, middle, kisses the altar as he arrives to celebrate his first canonization ceremony in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, May 12, 2013. The pontiff will canonize Antonio Primaldo and his companions, also known as the Martyrs of Otranto, Laura di Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya of Colombia, and Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala of Mexico in a ceremony at the Vatican on Sunday. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Francis gives church hundreds of new saints

Pope Francis on Sunday gave the Catholic Church new saints, including hundreds of 15th-century martyrs who were beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam, as he led his first canonization ceremony Sunday in a packed St. Peter's Square. The "Martyrs of Otranto" were 813 Italians who were slain in the ...

Faithful, bearing the image of Laura di Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya of Colombia, wait for the arrival of Pope Francis for a canonization mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, May 12, 2013. The Pontiff will canonize Antonio Primaldo and his companions, also known as the Martyrs of Otranto, Laura di Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya of Colombia and Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala of Mexico in a ceremony at the Vatican on Sunday. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A look at new saints canonized by Pope Francis

Pope Francis has made hundreds of new saints at his first canonization ceremony in St. Peter's Square. Here is a look at the people receiving the Catholic Church's highest honor: ____ ANTONIO PEZZULLA AND 812 FELLOW MARTYRS In 1480, some 20,000 Turkish troops overran the citadel of Otranto in what ...

AP News in Brief at 5:58 a.m. EDT

Police: Trenton hostage situation resolved, 3 children safe TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A standoff with an armed man who took multiple hostages inside a Trenton home has ended and three children are safe, police said early Sunday. Word of the confrontation's conclusion came a short while after the standoff, which ...

Pope Francis, right, listens to Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt Pope Tawadros II during their private audience in the pontiff's library, at the Vatican, Friday, May 10, 2013. The head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, Pope Tawadros II, called on Pope Francis on Friday in the first such meeting in 40 years. The occasion was to mark the anniversary of the signing of a declaration for improving ties between the two churches between Pope Paul VI and Tawadros' predecessor, Pope Shenouda III. (AP Photo/Andreas Solaro, pool)

2 popes praying: Egyptian Copt and Pope Francis

Two popes prayed together Friday at the Vatican, one Catholic and one Orthodox, in a sign of improving ties following the election of new leaders for both churches. Pope Francis welcomed the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, Pope Tawadros II, in the first such meeting at the ...

FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2013 file photo, statues of La Santa Muerte are shown at the Masks y Mas art store in Albuquerque, N.M.  The Vatican's culture minister said in Mexico City on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 that Mexico's folk Death Saint is a blasphemous symbol that shouldn't be part of any religion.  La Santa Muerte is worshipped both by drug dealers in Mexico and by the terrified people who live in drug-torn neighborhoods. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras, File)

Vatican: Mexico's folk Death Saint is blasphemous

The Vatican's culture minister says Mexico's folk Death Saint is a blasphemous symbol that shouldn't be part of any religion. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi says worshipping such an icon is a degeneration of religion. The Santa Muerte is a skeletal figure of a cloaked woman with a scythe in her bony ...

People attend a Mass in honor of Puerto Rico's Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves at a church in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, May 8, 2013. Roman Catholics in Puerto Rico rallied Wednesday around the archbishop who is apparently under pressure from the Vatican to resign for allegedly covering up for sexually abusive priests and other misdeeds. Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves has not confirmed that he is being asked to step down as leader of the Catholic Church in the U.S. island territory. However, he has asked parishioners to pray for him. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)

Puerto Rico Catholics support archbishop

Roman Catholics in Puerto Rico rallied Wednesday around an archbishop who is apparently under pressure from the Vatican to resign for allegedly covering up for sexually abusive priests and other misdeeds. Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves has not confirmed that he is being asked to step down as leader of the ...

The casket of Bishop Joseph McFadden is brought to the Bishop's Circle at Holy Cross Cemetery for his burial near St. Catherine Laboure Parish in Swatara Township, Pa. on Wednesday, May 8, 2013.  Mourners turned out by the hundreds Wednesday for the funeral of Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph P. McFadden, a spiritual leader of 250,000 central Pennsylvanians. McFadden, 65, had been Harrisburg's bishop for less than three years when he died May 2. (AP Photo/The Patriot-News, Christine Baker)

Harrisburg bishop hailed as tireless church leader

Mourners turned out by the hundreds Wednesday for the funeral of Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph P. McFadden, a spiritual leader of 250,000 central Pennsylvanians, as colleagues hailed him as a tireless advocate for his church. McFadden, 65, had been Harrisburg's bishop for less than three years when he died Thursday, ...

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