British officials say a mysterious virus related to SARS may have spread between humans, as they confirmed the 11th case worldwide of the new coronavirus in a patient who they say...

Looking tired but serene, Pope Benedict XVI told thousands of faithful Wednesday that he was stepping down for "the good of the church," speaking in his first public appearance since...

    Spain took a key first step Tuesday toward enshrining bullfighting as a key part of the nation's cultural heritage, a move that could roll back a ban on the on the blood-soaked...

President Barack Obama will be looking across a vast partisan divide Tuesday night as he reports to Congress and the nation with his annual State of the Union speech, which is closely monitored as the...

For months, construction crews have been renovating a four-story building attached to a monastery on the northern edge of the Vatican gardens where nuns would live for a few years at a time in...

The closest of confidants, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger watched from the front row as Pope John Paul II, once a strapping athlete, steadily deteriorated in his later years.   John Paul,...

The world seems surprised that an 85-year-old globe-trotting pope who just started tweeting wants to resign, but should it be? Maybe what should be surprising is that more leaders his age do not,...

    Latin America is home to the world's largest Roman Catholic population, but hopes that the next pope will come from the region appear faint, experts said...

    Shock, sadness and declarations of faith met Pope Benedict XVI's announcement Monday that he would retire Feb. 28. Here's a look at reaction from around the...

    In Africa, where the Catholic church continues to grow, worshippers and clergy there greeted Pope Benedict XVI's announcement Monday that he planned resign with hopes...