St. Peter's Basilica

Pat Burns, a Stanley Cup champion coach, remembered at funeral for booming voice, big heart. Pat Burns, who coached the New Jersey Devils to the 2003 Stanley Cup title, was remembered Monday for his booming voice, big heart and the ability to draw the most out of his players.

Iraq has arrested 12 militants suspected of helping take Christians hostage in a church siege that killed 44 worshippers and two priests last month, an interior ministry official said on Saturday.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict installed 24 new Roman Catholic cardinals from around the world on Saturday in his latest batch of appointments that could include his successor as leader of the 1.2 billion member church.

Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday elevated 24 new cardinals from around the world, bringing them into an elite club which will eventually elect his successor.

Pope creates 24 new cardinals amid cheers, prelates will eventually choose new pope. Pope Benedict XVI formally created 24 new cardinals on Saturday amid cheers in St. Peter's Basilica, bringing a mostly Italian group into the elite club that will eventually elect his successor.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Lovers of ancient books, parchments and illustrations can simulate being real-life researchers touching some of the world's rarest documents at a new exhibition on the treasures of the Vatican Library.

In a glass-walled workshop set up in one of the courtyards of the immense building, visitors can watch restorers work on two clay angels by Bernini, the celebrated Italian Baroque sculptor dubbed "the second Michelangelo."

Israel criticizes Mideast bishops' meeting that largely blames Israel for region's conflict. Israel said Sunday that a meeting of Middle East bishops was hijacked by enemies of the Jewish state, after the gathering at the Vatican largely blamed Israel for conflict in the region.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict called on Islamic countries in the Middle East on Sunday to guarantee freedom of worship to non-Muslims and said peace in the region was the best remedy for a worrying exodus of Christians.

Benedict praised Melbourne-born MacKillop's record as a teacher in the "difficult and demanding terrain" of the Australian Outback and said the teachers she inspired had educated "countless young people".

Pope creates first Australian saint, Canadian "miracle worker" also canonized. Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed Australia's first saint on Sunday, canonizing a 19th-century nun and also declaring five other saints in an open-air Mass attended by tens of thousands.

Speaking in Latin, the pope also canonised Australia's Mary MacKillop, and four other holy people, urging that "throughout the Church they be honoured devoutly among all the saints."

"She dedicated herself as a young woman to the education of the poor in the difficult and demanding terrain of rural Australia," Benedict said at the ceremony, attended by Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Sunday gave Australia its first saint, a 19th century "whistleblower" nun who activists say should be the patron of victims of sexual abuse by priests because she was punished for exposing it.

Saint Peter's Basilica half-built, the Colosseum in ruins and a blank space where the Trevi fountain now stands: computer whizzes rebuilt 16th-century Rome, with a twist, for the latest instalment of the video game phenomenon "Assassin's Creed".

Saint Peter's Basilica half-built, the Colosseum in ruins and a blank space where the Trevi fountain now stands: computer whizzes rebuilt 16th-century Rome, with a twist, for the latest instalment of the video game phenomenon "Assassin's Creed".

Sarkozy meets with pope in fence-mending visit after flap over Gypsy crackdown. French President Nicolas Sarkozy met Friday with the pope and top Vatican officials in a fence-mending visit following France's controversial crackdown on Gypsies, while a top Vatican cardinal urged France to welcome immigrants and those who have been persecuted.

The ordination of women as Roman Catholic priests is a "crime against the faith," the Vatican said Thursday as it issued a raft of new disciplinary rules.

Vatican says Naples cardinal will cooperate in Italian corruption probe. The Vatican pledged Sunday that Naples' cardinal would cooperate with an investigation by Italian prosecutors into a sprawling scandal for alleged corruption while he led the Holy See office bankrolling missionary work abroad.

In a city full of spectacular history, art, and activities, it is difficult to name only a few top attractions, but here are some of our experts? top picks. Pantheon "A magical space, expansive, evocative, and peaceful."?Ann Wise, Rome-based journalist. Rome's most intact ancient monument; a massive sphere designed as a pagan temple by Emperor Hadrian in A.D. 125; remained the world's largest concrete dome until the 1990s; houses the tombs of painter Raphael and 19th-century Italian king Vittorio Emanuele II. Go when it's raining to watch the drops shower through the oculus, the hole in the dome's top. Galleria Doria Pamphilj "Private Roman art gallery; works displayed in an informal way, as the Pamphilj family would have exhibited them."?Ann Natanson, Rome-based journalist and critic. Often overlooked and very quiet museum housed in a palazzo still owned by the aristocratic Pamphilj family, which collected artworks. Well-stocked with masterpieces by Caravaggio, Velàzquez, Raphael, and