RELIGION

The woman who lunged at Pope Benedict and caused him to fall to the floor at the start of his Christmas Eve mass was psychologically unstable and was not armed, the Vatican said on Friday.

At least 23 people died in attacks across Iraq on Thursday, including a provincial leader and pilgrims observing a major Shi'ite religious ritual, police and officials said.

One of Osama Bin Laden's wife and six children, missing since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, are under house arrest in Iran, a Saudi-owned newspaper reported Wednesday, citing Omar Bin Laden, the fourth son of the al-Qaeda leader.

Pope Benedict's decision to move his controversial wartime predecessor Pius XII closer to sainthood has put a cloud over his planned visit next month to Rome's synagogue, with some fearing it risks being cancelled.

Relief agencies have been hit by the global recession and falling donations, forcing them to cut jobs and to scale back or slow aid projects, and experts warn they may have to take more extreme measures.

The economic crisis in Dubai is over, the United Arab Emirates foreign minister said on Thursday.

Television polygamy drama Big Love returns for a fourth season in January with a gay storyline that is likely to stir up controversy in Mormon circles where homosexual relations are prohibited.

Oscar winner Nicole Kidman dodged British reporter Andrew Marr's question about her former husband's religion, Scientology in an interview on a BBC show.

Thousands of Jewish West Bank settlers and their supporters demonstrated near the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday to protest his 10-month building freeze.

The U.S. military could have captured or killed Osama bin Laden in 2001 if it had launched a concerted attack on his hideout in Afghanistan, according to a report prepared for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

There are 3 types of travelers in the world. One that travels while on a business tour, the other with first-aid box and a map, while the third traveler is the one who packs the bag with a tooth brush and paste. said a friend.

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews demonstrated on Saturday at Intel Corp.'s new electronic chip plant in Israel in protest against work taking place at the site on the Jewish Sabbath.

The Vatican said on Monday its plan to allow married Anglican priests to convert to Catholicism does not signal any change to its age-old rule of celibacy for the overwhelming majority of Catholic priests.

If Opus Dei had a rough ride in the blockbuster movie based on Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, it looks set for an altogether more sympathetic portrayal in another film that deals with the Catholic organization.

In our society, we so often hear that we are unable to fully apprehend and enjoy anything unless it comes from our own culture. For instance, we hear that you cannot really appreciate jazz or blues music if you are white, or certain religious concepts or places unless you belong to that religion, and so on.

Israeli police stormed Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday, hurling stun grenades at Palestinians who threw rocks at them, in another outbreak of violence at the holy city's most sensitive site.

The latest character to go 3D? Jesus Christ.

A German publisher said Tuesday it had canceled the printing of a murder mystery about an honor killing because it contained passages insulting Islam and may have prompted Islamist retaliation.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday vowed the United States would keep relentless pressure on al Qaeda and ensure extremist networks, which he called a principle threat, do not find safe havens overseas.

Pope Benedict opened a synod of Roman Catholic bishops on Africa by denouncing the West's materialism and lack of moral values, which he said were contaminating the world's poorest continent like toxic waste.

A Muslim, a Catholic and an agnostic composer have contributed music to an album featuring Pope Benedict singing and reciting prayers, which is due for release in November.