urbi et orbi

(Newser) - Lamenting "the winds of war" blowing around the world, Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message on Monday called for a two-state solution to find peace in the Middle East and prayed that confrontation can be overcome on the Korean Peninsula—taking particular aim at areas of global tension...

(Newser) - Pope Francis focused his second Christmas address on the "so many tears" being shed on Christianity's biggest holiday, blasting in particular the "brutal persecution" being suffered at the hands of the Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. "I ask him, the savior of the world,...

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Easter Mass today, hailing the miracle of conversion, "which renews itself even today" before a rain-soaked crowd in St. Peter's Square and calling for an end to hostilities in "Darfur and Somalia, the tormented Middle East, especially the Holy Land, Iraq, Lebanon, and Tibet....