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Federico Lombardi

Vatican welcomes Obama gun control proposal
The Vatican praised President Barack Obama's proposals for curbing gun violence, saying they are a "step in a right direction." The Vatican's chief ...
Nobel scientist Rita Levi-Montalcini dies in Rome
Rita Levi-Montalcini, a biologist who conducted underground research in defiance of Fascist persecution and went on to win a Nobel Prize for helping ...
Pope pardons ex-butler who stole, leaked documents
Pope Benedict XVI granted his former butler a Christmas pardon Saturday, forgiving him in person during a jailhouse meeting for stealing and leaking ...
China revokes new Shanghai Catholic bishop's title
In a fresh challenge to Vatican authority, China has revoked the title of a new Catholic bishop in Shanghai who outraged Chinese officials by ...
Vatican computer tech convicted in leaks scandal
A Vatican court on Saturday convicted a Holy See computer technician of helping the former papal butler in the embarrassing leak of confidential papal ...
Vatican digs in after gay marriage advances
The Vatican is digging in after gay marriage initiatives scored big wins this week in the U.S. and Europe, vowing to never stop insisting that ...
Pope to join celebs, presidents with Twitter feed
He already has a billion followers. Now, Pope Benedict XVI will join the Twitter-sphere, tweeting from a personal account along with the world's ...
World reaction to Barack Obama's victory
President Barack Obama's re-election in the United States elicited strong feelings — from optimism to skepticism — around the world. A sampling of ...
Vatican: Savile's papal honor cannot be removed
The Vatican said Saturday it never would have given Jimmy Savile his papal knighthood had it known of allegations the British TV star was a child sex ...
Pope names 6 cardinals, none from Italy
Pope Benedict XVI named six new cardinals on Wednesday, adding prelates from Lebanon, the Philippines, Nigeria, Colombia, India and the United States ...
Vatican court: Butler's theft harmed pope, church
The Vatican tribunal that convicted the pope's ex-butler of stealing private papal correspondence sharply condemned the theft on Tuesday as causing ...
Chilean bishop suspected of abusing minors resigns
The pope on Tuesday accepted the resignation of a Chilean bishop who is under investigation by the Vatican for the alleged sexual abuse of a minor.
Leaks author defends pope's butler, seeks clemency
The author of the book of Vatican secrets that earned the pope's former butler an 18-month sentence for stealing private papal correspondence has set ...
Papal pardon expected for butler after conviction
A painful and damaging chapter in Pope Benedict XVI's papacy closed Saturday with the conviction of his former butler on charges he stole the ...
Vatican police testify in trial of pope's butler
Vatican police said Wednesday they found thousands of documents hidden inside the home of Pope Benedict XVI's former butler, including original ...
Pope's butler pleads innocent to theft charge
Pope Benedict XVI's onetime butler declared Tuesday he was innocent of a charge of aggravated theft of the pope's private correspondence, but ...
Evidence tossed at start of papal butler's trial
The pope's once-trusted butler went on trial Saturday for allegedly stealing papal documents and passing them off to a journalist in the worst ...
Pope makes peace appeal at open-air Mass in Beirut
Pope Benedict XVI made a sweeping appeal Sunday for peace in Syria and the Middle East, decrying the violence "which generates so much suffering.
Pope's Lebanon visit made urgent by Syria's war
The brutal civil war in Syria and the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya have given a sense of urgency to Pope Benedict XVI's trip this week to ...
Vatican insists on interreligious dialogue
The Vatican underlined Pope Benedict XVI's push for dialogue among religions in the aftermath of the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya by a mob ...
Pope goes green with electric car
Pope Benedict XVI is now a bit greener. The 85-year-old pontiff was presented with his first electric car Wednesday, a customized white Renault Kangoo ...
Cardinal Martini, liberal papal contender, dies
Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, a rare liberal within the highly conservative Catholic Church hierarchy who was nevertheless considered a papal ...
Pope's butler, 2nd layman face trial in theft case
A Vatican judge on Monday ordered the pope's butler and a fellow lay employee to stand trial for the alleged pilfering of documents from Pope Benedict ...