Divorced Berlusconi Challenges Communion Ban

Four-day visit is first state visit to his homeland

(NEWSER) - Pope Benedict XVI is back home for his first state visit to Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Christian Wulff, and Cabinet members met the pontiff upon his arrival at a Berlin airport today, the first of his four-day visit, as howitzers fired and fighter jets flew overhead. He is also expected to be met by large Catholic crowds, the AP reports, but a less-welcome sight will be the also-large crowds expected to protest. More»

Also said BA discriminates against those wearing crosses

(NEWSER) - A top aide to Pope Benedict is skipping tomorrow's trip to Britain after telling a German magazine that "when you land at Heathrow you think at times you have landed in a Third World country." As the BBC reports, German-born Cardinal Walter Kasper said the UK, where the pope is due to begin a four-day visit tomorrow, exhibits "a new and aggressive atheism." Kasper wasn't all down, adding: "Everyone who knows England knows that there is also a great Christian tradition there." More»

Divorced PM's taking of Holy Communion enrages priest, bishop

(NEWSER) - The relationship between Italy's two most reliable sources of sex scandals appears to be on the rocks. A furious Catholic priest has accused controversial Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of "sacrilege" for recently taking communion at a celebrity funeral and breaking the church ban on sacraments for divorced people who remarry. The priest has lodged a formal complaint with the church, the Telegraph reports. More»

Benedict thinks pessimism about lasting marriage is driving trend

(NEWSER) - Pope Benedict wants Catholic Church tribunals to make marriage annulments more difficult to get. “We run the risk of falling into an anthropological pessimism which, in the light of today's cultural situation, considers it almost impossible to marry,” he said today. Marriage is stronger than people think, he said, and tougher annulment standards would reflect that, reports the Catholic News Service . More»

(NEWSER) - A newly released audio tape apparently captures Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a graphic sexual conversation with a female escort, reports the Daily Telegraph. Two voices on the tape discuss orgasm and a just-ended satisfying sexual encounter, with the man recommending that the woman "touch" herself "often." The tape was recorded by escort Patrizia D'Addario, 42, after spending the night at Berlusconi's official residence, according to opposition newsmagazine L'Espresso. More»