Vatican

By BosNewsLife News Center VATICAN CITY/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)--  The Vatican's missionary news agency says more than two dozen priests, nuns and lay Catholics were killed worldwide in 2011, BosNewsLife monitored Monday, January 16.

By BosNewsLife News Center VATICAN CITY (BosNewsLife)-- A new pope was elected Wednesday, March 13, with white smoke rising from Sistine Chapel. White smoke – produced by mixing the smoke from burning ballots with special flares – indicated that a new head of the Roman Catholic Church has been chosen at a time of turmoil in the church. Cardinals had gathered since Tuesday, March 12, for the conclave after Benedict XVI became the first pontiff to retire in some 600 years.

By BosNewsLife News Center TRIPOLI/ROME/WASHINGTON (BosNewsLife)-- Italian police say they have detained 15 Muslims who allegedly threw 12 Christians from an overcrowded migrant boat after they expressed faith in Jesus Christ. Vatican Radio, citing survivors, reported that the Christians had been praying for their lives during during a recent crossing from Libya.

Listen to this BosNewsLife report via Vatican Radio: By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BELGRADE/BUDAPEST(BosNewsLife)-- A 60-year-old war veteran has killed 13 people in a shooting spree near Serbia's capital Belgrade,including his own son, mother and a two-year-old cousin, local police said.

By BosNewsLife News Center with additional reports from Rome, Vatican City and reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos ROME/VATICAN CITY/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- As the doors closed and the Swiss Guards left his summer residence, Benedict XVI became the first pontiff to retire in some 600 years, following a moving farewell address to thousands in which he urged the Catholic Church to remain united in one of the most challenging times in its history.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife with additional reporting from Vatican and BosNewsLife Research VATICAN CITY (BosNewsLife)-- Pope Benedict XVI, who oversaw the Catholic Church through nearly eight turbulent years, says he will resign on February 28 because of health reasons. "Before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are [no] longer suited to an adequate exercise" of his position as head of the world’s one billion Roman Catholics, he said in a statement Monday, February 11.

By BosNewsLife News Center WASHINGTON/PARIS/VATICAN (BosNewsLife)-- The Catholic Church and other denominations have condemned an apparent Islamist militant attack on a satirical magazine that killed 12 people in Paris.

Listen to this BosNewsLife report via Vatican News By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BERLIN/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Germany and its allies marked the 30th...

By BosNewsLife News Center VATICAN CITY/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Pope Francis has called a Christian Syrian woman "a martyr" after hearing she was killed by Islamic militants for refusing to deny her faith in Jesus Christ. The leader of the world's one billion Catholics told the faithful in St. Peter's Square that he spoke with the young woman's widow during his visit Saturday, April 16, to the Greek island of Lesbos where he also visited refugees held in an overcrowded detention center.