'Italy's Terri Schiavo' Dies

Church could be handed $11B tax bill

(NEWSER) - Pope Benedict XVI may soon find himself stuck with an $11 billion tax bill. European officials are probing tax breaks Silvio Berlusconi gave the church on its 100,000 properties in Italy. If they decide the tax exemptions are unfair state subsidies for church run businesses, the Vatican will be required to pay back every euro saved. The probe is likely to send a shudder through church financiers already reeling from falling donations, potentially ruinous sex-scandal lawsuits, and a money-laundering probe of the Vatican bank , the Independent notes. 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»

Chief of Berlusconi paper says church figure provided fake dossier

(NEWSER) - The source of a bogus dossier that ousted the editor of a Catholic paper is now rumored to be the Vatican itself. Dino Boffo was forced to step down as editor of the Italian Bishops' Conference daily paper after a Bersluconi family paper printed a story labeling him a "renowned homosexual." Boffo says the editor of the other paper told him the fake documents came from "a very authoritative" Vatican source, the Independent reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Silvio Berlusconi’s penchant for flirting isn’t just annoying his wife—it bothers the Vatican, too. In an editorial, church officials warned Italy’s prime minister to adopt a more “sober and somber” lifestyle, the Telegraph reports. The front-page piece in the church's official newspaper decried his “weakness for young, flowing actresses” as reflecting badly on the country and its leaders. Berlusconi was re-elected last year with wide support from Catholic voters. More»

Joins PM Berlusconi in fighting Italian Terry Schiavo case

(AP) - Pope Benedict today waded into a fiercely debated right-to-die case in Italy, affirming the "absolute and supreme" need to protect life even when "weak and shrouded in the mystery of suffering." The pontiff's last-minute intervention in the case of a woman who has been in a coma for 17 years comes after Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi passed an emergency decree to prevent her father from taking her off feeding tubes, but the president refused to sign the decree. More»