Pope Benedict XVI urged drivers to stay `sober and alert` Sunday and prayed for those who have died in traffic accidents.

`On this third Sunday of November, we remember in a special way all those who have died as a result of traffic accidents,` Benedict said as he delivered the Angelus prayer in St. Peter`s Square.

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Leaders of the world's main religions kicked off an annual inter-faith peace summit here Sunday with calls for a global organisation uniting their faiths.

Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Israel's chief rabbi Yona Metzger and the imam of the United Arab Emirates, Ibrahim Ezzeddin, were among those attending the gathering.

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Muslim, Jewish, Orthodox and other Christian leaders kicked off an annual inter-faith peace summit here Sunday with calls for a formal structure linking world religions.

The pope did not formally attend the summit, organised by the Sant'Egidio community, but met and lunched with the delegates as part of a pastoral visit to this impoverished southern Italian city.

'With respect for the differences between the various religions, we are all called to work for peace and... reconciliation among peoples,' he said.

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - The crackdown on monks in Myanmar was an 'extreme insult to Buddhism,' the country's leading monk in Britain said Sunday as an inter-faith peace summit opened in Naples, Italy.

In 'peaceful protests, Burmese (Myanmar) Buddhist monks marched in procession ... spreading loving kindness for all beings, by hoping that their loving kindness will win through,' U Uttar told the gathering of some 200 world religious leaders.

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday evoked the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as he urged 'reconciliation among peoples' ahead of an inter-faith summit in Naples.

'With respect for the differences between the various religions, we are all called to work for peace and ... reconciliation among peoples,' Benedict said as he met with Muslim, Jewish, Orthodox and other Christian leaders.

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday urged 'reconciliation among peoples' ahead of a religious summit in Naples.

'With respect for the differences between the various religions, we are all called to work for peace and ... reconciliation among peoples,' Benedict said in the meeting with leading Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Anglican, Orthodox and other Christian figures.

The meeting is the largest inter-faith dialogue he has held as pope.

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI began a pastoral visit to Naples on Sunday, calling for a 'struggle against all forms of violence' during an open-air mass in the city renowned for its mafia links.

Speaking as rain fell on pilgrims huddled under umbrellas in the city's main square, Benedict lamented 'the sad phenomenon of violence' in the impoverished city.

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI is to meet the leaders of some of the world's main religions in Naples on Sunday on the sidelines of an inter-faith peace summit.

The pope is making a pastoral visit to the impoverished southern Italian city at the same time as the summit organised by the Sant'Egidio community, in what the lay Catholic association called a 'happy coincidence.'

ROME, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI was to meet in Naples on Sunday with leaders of several of the world's main religions on the sidelines of an inter-faith peace summit.

The pope is making a pastoral visit to the impoverished southern Italian city at the same time as the summit organised by the Sant'Egidio community, in what the lay Catholic association called a 'happy coincidence.'

VATICAN CITY , Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI stressed Friday the importance of unity among Christians as he met with a delegation from the Mennonite World Conference, a branch of Protestantism.

'I hope your visit will be another stop toward mutual understanding and reconciliation,' the pontiff said.

Despite centuries of division, Catholics and Mennonites have 'many points in common,' Benedict added, noting that the Mennonites were renowned for supporting peace in the name of the Gospels.

ROME, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - A high profile Vatican cleric suspended after he was shown on television making advances to a young man allegedly had a list of homosexual priests and bishops in the Roman Catholic Church's governing body, Italy's Panorama weekly reported Friday.

Father Tommaso Stenico, 60, had 'a detailed dossier' of all the homosexual clerics at Vatican 'with a list of names and circumstances implicating a certain number of priests and even bishops working at the Curia,' Ignazio Ingrao, reporter for the conservative news weekly said.

ROME, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI will meet on Sunday with leaders of several of the world's main religions on the sidelines of their annual gathering in Naples for an inter-faith peace summit.

The pope is making a pastoral visit to the impoverished southern Italian city at the same time as the summit organised by the Sant'Egidio community, in what the lay Catholic association called a 'happy coincidence.'

ROME, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - A drunken, barefoot Frenchman early Wednesday managed to ring a bell in the facade of St Peter's Basilica before being arrested, Vatican sources said Wednesday, confirming a report by the ANSA news agency.

The man, thought to be homeless, reportedly gained entry by climbing up scaffolding around the Arco delle Campane (Arch of the Bells), which is currently being restored.

He was in a 'state of confusion,' ANSA said, adding that Vatican police arrested him and turned him over to the Italian authorities.

VATICAN CITY, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday named 23 new cardinals, more than half of them European, to the elite body of senior prelates who advise the pontiff and elect his successor upon his death.

Five of them, however, are more than 80 years old and thus ineligible to take part in a papal election.

Announced during the 80-year-old pope's weekly general audience in Saint Peter's Square, the list barely alters the geographical balance of the College of Cardinals, which is heavily weighted in favour of Europe.

VATICAN CITY, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday named 23 new members to the elite College of Cardinals, including 18 eligible to take part in a papal election, being under 80.

Following are those aged under 80:

Leonardo Sandri, 63, prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches

John Patrick Foley, 71, Pro-Grand Master of the Equestion Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem

Giovanni Lajolo, 72, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State

DUBLIN, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - Ireland's president and prime minister offered congratulations Wednesday to Sean Brady, the head of the country's Roman Catholic Church, who is to be made a cardinal.

President Mary McAleese said Brady was a man of 'great personal integrity, kindness and goodness, a man who leads by personal example.'

'It is most fitting that this announcement comes in 2007, a year of great progress in regard to the peace process in North Ireland to which Sean Brady has made a huge contribution,' McAleese said.

VATICAN CITY, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday named 23 new members of the College of Cardinals, the elite body of senior prelates who advise the pontiff and elect his successor upon his death.

Five of them, however, are more than 80 years old and thus ineligible to take part in a papal election.

Among those named was Genoa Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, 64, the head of the Italian Catholic Church.

From Africa there was Nairobi Archbishop John Njue and Theodore-Adrien Sarr of Dakar, while Mumbai Archbishop Oswald Gracias was named from Asia.

VATICAN CITY, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday named 18 new voting members of the College of Cardinals, the body that elects the pope.

Benedict named another five members who are over 80 and thus ineligible to take part in a papal election.

With the new nominations, the total of voting members comes to 121.

ROME, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - A priest at the Vatican who was suspended last week for revealing he was gay was an 'isolated case,' the head of the Holy See's disciplinary committee said in an interview published Monday.

Such cases elicit 'sadness, assuredly, but we are aware that these are exceptional, I dare say unique cases,' Cardinal Julian Herrantz told the daily La Repubblica.

Herranz enforces the Roman Catholic Church's rules for priests, including their vow of celibacy and a ban on homosexuality.

ROME, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) - The Vatican has suspended a senior cleric who confessed his homosexuality on a television programme, even though his face and voice were made unrecognisable, a spokesman was quoted as saying Saturday.

'His superiors are treating this situation with the required discretion and respect due to the person concerned, even if this person has committed errors,' Federico Lombardi told the Italian news agency ANSA.

VATICAN CITY, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI Friday unveiled the newly-restored bronze door of the Papal Palace, sculpted by Renaissance master Bernini and used to signal to the world that a Pope has died.

The famous bronze door was started in 1400 with pieces from ancient pagan Roman temples but the definitive version was installed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1619.

VATICAN CITY , Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - The next world Catholic families meeting will take place in Mexico January 16-18 and spotlight the family's role in instilling human and Christian values, Pope Benedict XVI announced Friday.

The previous Catholic families meeting took place last year in Spain.

The pope announced the dates for the latest gathering in a letter to the head of the Vatican's family council. He did not say whether he would attend.

VATICAN CITY , Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI called Thursday for a durable reconciliation between North and South Korea, whose leaders met last week, and for an end to the nuclear threat on the Korean peninsula.

'I take this opportunity to reiterate the Holy See's support for every initiative that aims at a sincere and lasting reconciliation, putting an end to enmity and unresolved grievances,' the pope said as he received the credentials of South Korea's new Vatican ambassador, Ji-Young Francesco Kim.

KAZIMIERZ DOLNY, Poland, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - More than 150 Polish police on Wednesday started evicting dozens of nuns from a convent where they have been holed up for more than two years as part of a revolt against the Vatican.

Sixty-five members of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of Bethany cut themselves off from the outside world two years ago in protest at the Roman Catholic Church's decision to replace their mother superior, who was at the centre of allegations over her personal behaviour.

VATICAN CITY, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - The World Jewish Congress on Monday urged Pope Benedict XVI to crack down on a Polish priest accused of broadcasting anti-Semitic views on his radio station.

'Anti-Semitic statements by the Polish priest Tadeusz Rydzyj... should not be tolerated any more,' the WJC's new president, Ronald Lauder, told the pope during an audience, the group said in a statement.

VATICAN CITY, 8 oct 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Monday targetted Iran as he vowed to help fight anti-Semitism, a top official of the World Jewish Congress said following an audience with the pontiff.

'We thanked the Holy Father for everything he did for the Jewish people, and more importantly what he will do,' WJC vice secretary general Maram Stern told AFP.

ROME, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - A Vatican cardinal on Thursday waded into a debate in Italy on whether the Roman Catholic Church violated its own teachings by honouring pope John Paul II's wish to refuse medical care in his last days.

In fact, the Church is opposed to extraordinary care, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan said, while adding that 'precise definitions of disporportionate treatment' are lacking.

VATICAN CITY, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday that the Roman Catholic Church does not expect special treatment as EU competition regulators considered a probe into tax breaks it enjoys in Italy.

'The Church does not seek power, does not claim privileges and does not aspire to positions of economic or social advantage,' Benedict said as he accepted the credentials of Italy's new ambassador to the Holy See.

VATICAN CITY, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Monday named a new person to organise the celebration of the major dates in the Catholic calendar, the Vatican announced.

The new master of papal liturgical ceremonies is Guido Marini, 42, who previously served as secretary to the last three archbishops of Genoa.

He succeeds Piero Marini, who had organised papal ceremonies since 1987.

ROME, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - A meeting between British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican scheduled for October 6 has been postponed, a papal spokesman said Monday.

No reason was given for the postponement of Brown's visit, which the I.Media news agency had disclosed on September 26 without subsequent official confirmation.

Nor was any new date set for the meeting between the pope and the Scottish Presbyterian Brown.

ROME, Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) - A convent in southern Italy is being shut down after a quarrel among its last three remaining nuns ended in blows, press reports said Sunday.

Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista, reportedly upset about their mother superior's authoritarian ways, scratched her in the face and threw her to the ground at Santa Clara convent near Bari in an incident in July that was kept quiet until now.

CASTEL GONDOLFO, Italy, Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday voiced his 'spiritual closeness' to the people of Myanmar in the face of the junta's violent crackdown on mass protests.

'I am following with great trepidation the very serious events in recent days in Myanmar and wish to express my spiritual closeness with these dear people as they are enduring a painful ordeal,' the pope said after his traditional Sunday Angelus blessing.

VATICAN CITY, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday ordained six new bishops in a solemn ceremony at St Peter's Basilica, the first of his pontificate.

Among them was Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, a former personal secretary of the late pope John Paul II, who becomes bishop coadjutor of Lviv, Ukraine.

Benedict paid warm tribute to Mokrzycki during his homily, praising 'his great humility, his competence and his devotion.'

VATICAN CITY, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - The Vatican on Friday urged a 'culture of peace and solidarity' in a greeting addressed to Muslims ahead of the Eid holiday at the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in two weeks' time.

'In the troubled times we are passing through, religious believers have ... a duty above all to work in favour of peace,' Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran said in a message.

ROME, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will meet Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on October 6, the I.Media news agency reported Wednesday.

The office of Prime Minister Romano Prodi said it did not know when asked late Wednesday whether the British leader would also meet with him.

Brown's predecessor Tony Blair had an audience with the pontiff on June 23, shortly before stepping down as prime minister.

VATICAN, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Friday warned against using God's name as a justification for attacks against the West.

'Terrorism is a serious problem whose perpetrators often claim to act in God's name and harbour an inexcusable contempt for human life,' the head of the Roman Catholic Church said at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, outside Rome.

He was speaking at a meeting of centrist and Christian Democrat leaders.

VATICAN CITY, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Friday formally approved the ordination of Father Joseph Li Shan as new bishop of Beijing, the second of two appointments in China over the past month, said a Vatican newspaper cited by ANSA agency.

The Holy See had blessed the choice, with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone calling Li 'a very good and qualified' man, but there had been no formal approval at Friday's ordination.

BEIJING, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - China's official Catholic church on Friday installed a new Vatican-approved bishop of Beijing in a sign of quiet dialogue between China and the Holy See despite the lack of diplomatic relations.

'Father Joseph Li Shan was ordained the bishop of Beijing in a ceremony held here this morning,' Sister Yu Shuqin, a spokeswoman at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, told AFP.

Pope Benedict XVI formally approved the ordination, the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano newspaper said in an article due to appear Saturday.