ATHENS, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - The leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos, cannot undergo a liver transplant in the United States due to the advanced state of his cancer, a doctor said Monday.

'A liver transplant is not possible because the disease has spread to his abdominal cavity,' the head priest's doctor Andreas Tzakis said.

'As a result, the patient will follow a therapy specific to his case,' he added.

Christodoulos, 68, had travelled to Miami in August specifically for the transplant.

PARIS, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy Wednesday hosted the spiritual leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexis II, who was invited to Paris by the French bishops' conference.

'This exceptional event is a major and palpable sign of the will of Europe's Christians to grow closer and unite around Europe's Christian roots,' Sarkozy's office said in a statement after their meeting.

STRASBOURG, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - The spritual leader of the Russian Orthodox Church denounced homosexuality as an 'illness which changes a man's personality' on Tuesday, as he defended Moscow's decision to ban a Gay Pride march.

Patriarch Alexis II made the comments as he was questioned by an MP during a meeting of the parliamentary assembly of the the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

'There is today a fundamental breach between morality and the appearance of a new set of so-called Human Rights, which justify immoral acts,' he said.

BUCHAREST, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - The late patriarch of Romania's Orthodox Church, Teoctist I, belonged in the 1930s to an anti-Semitic group that attacked synagogues in Bucharest, documents published Wednesday alleged.

The documents, published in the Cotidianul newspaper, echoed similar accusations made against the recently deceased cleric a few years ago by two Romanian historians.

ATHENS, Aug 18, 2007 (AFP) - The leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos, who has a liver tumour, left Athens on Saturday for Miami in the United States to have a transplant, church sources said.

Christodoulos took off from the Eleusis military airport in the Athens suburbs on board a government plane accompanied by three doctors, Greek television reported in live coverage.

On Friday he was visited at home by Prime Minister Coastas Caramanlis as well as the leader of the Socialist opposition, Georges Papandreou.

VATICAN CITY, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray has handed a message from Pope Benedict XVI to Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II, the Vatican said Wednesday.

'While in Moscow, he was received yesterday (Tuesday) by His Holiness Alexy II, patriarch of Moscow and all the Russias,' the Vatican said in a communique.

The cardinal gave Alexy II 'a cordial message' and gift from Benedict during the meeting in a 'fraternal climate,' the Holy See said.

ATHENS, Aug 7, 2007 (AFP) - Greece's influential Orthodox Church will be given more than 30 million euros (41 million dollars) in the next six years for projects to be carried out by local dioceses, the Greek finance ministry said on Tuesday.

'The finance minister and (Church of Greece leader) Archbishop Christodoulos have signed an agreement...for projects contributing to Greece's national, social, economic and cultural development in 2007-2013,' the ministry said.

The precise nature of projects to be funded was not disclosed.

ATHENS, Aug 1, 2007 (AFP) - A group of dissident monks on Mount Athos, one of Orthodox Christianity's holiest sites, are under investigation for endangering religious relics, a report said Wednesday.

A prosecutor in northern Greece has begun legal proceedings against the monks of Esphigmenou Monastery for negligence related to relics that have been in the monastery's care for centuries, the Athens News Agency reported.

The probe was launched after the monks twice refused to allow archaeologists to inspect the relics in July.