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• Obama must remind Vladimir Putin of human rights, religious freedom concerns
• Vatican says pope beats Justin Bieber on re-tweets
• End of the world? Not just yet, says the Vatican's top astronomer.
• Vatican takes first spot in Internet domain name draw
• Late Pope Paul VI takes step toward sainthood
• Pope offers op-ed reflections at Christmas
• Lawyer who foretold church scandals writes his story

Obama must remind Vladimir Putin of human rights, religious freedom concerns Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:28 AM PST This year has featured grim news of serious human rights restrictions imposed by Moscow on Russian society, including religious groups. At their next discussion, President Obama should convey these concerns to Vladimir Putin, reiterating to Russia's president the need to adhere to universal human rights and religious freedom standards if relations are to progress between our two countries.

Vatican says pope beats Justin Bieber on re-tweets Posted: 20 Dec 2012 08:55 AM PST VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, white-haired, 85, and a neophyte to social media site Twitter, has beaten out 18-year old heartthrob Justin Bieber to set a percentage record for re-tweeting by his followers, the Vatican said on Thursday. The Vatican newspaper said that as of noon Italian time on Thursday the pope had 2.1 million followers on Twitter, eight days after his first tweet was sent. While Canadian singer-songwriter Bieber has roughly 15 times as many followers - 31.7 million - the Vatican newspaper said Benedict had beaten Bieber on re-tweets. ...

End of the world? Not just yet, says the Vatican's top astronomer. Posted: 20 Dec 2012 08:49 AM PST A Mayan prophecy that the world will end this week may have the more credulous stocking up on supplies and fleeing to "sacred" mountains in the hope of miraculous last-minute salvation by aliens.

Vatican takes first spot in Internet domain name draw Posted: 20 Dec 2012 08:32 AM PST PARIS (Reuters) - The Vatican has come out in first place in a long-awaited draw to expand the Internet address system with new domain names that go beyond the usual .com, .org or .net endings. ICANN, the corporation that oversees the Internet address system, announced this week the domain name .catholic written in Chinese characters will be the first bid it considers in a drive to expand and reorganize sites on the World Wide Web. ...

Late Pope Paul VI takes step toward sainthood Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:33 AM PST VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican moved the late Pope Paul VI, who died in 1978 after leading the Roman Catholic Church for 15 years and oversaw the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, a step closer on Thursday to sainthood. The Vatican said Pope Benedict had approved a decree recognizing the "heroic virtues" of Paul VI, who was born Giovanni Battista Montini in 1897 and held numerous high positions in the Church before he became pope in 1963. The recognition of heroic virtues, which means the person lived a exemplary Christian life, is an early step in the sainthood process. ...

Pope offers op-ed reflections at Christmas Posted: 20 Dec 2012 02:57 AM PST ROME (AP) — In a first for a pope, Benedict XVI has written an article for a secular newspaper, advising in the Financial Times that Christmas is a time for serious thought.

Lawyer who foretold church scandals writes his story Posted: 20 Dec 2012 02:37 AM PST London (Reuters) - Ray Mouton was a successful young lawyer in Lafayette, Louisiana, respected in the community and blessed with a loving family, when he received a call from a vicar in the Roman Catholic diocese for a lunch meeting on a fateful day in 1984. The diocese asked him to defend an errant priest, accused of abusing dozens of children in a rural community. Mouton reluctantly agreed to take on the task. ...

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