India's Catholics may account for less than two percent of the country's population but they will be Asia's most powerful voice in the election to choose a new pope.

Nepalese police said Sunday they have arrested more than 60 pilgrims for smoking cannabis and disturbing the peace at a major religious festival.

Rebel groups including the jihadist Al-Nusra Front have set up a religious council to administer affairs in the east of Syria which is mostly under their control, a rights watchdog said on Sunday.

A record 120 million pilgrims washed away their sins with plunges in an Indian holy river during the world's biggest religious festival set to end Sunday, officials said.

A record 120 million pilgrims washed away their sins with plunges in an Indian holy river during the world's biggest religious festival set to end Sunday, officials said.

As the Catholic Church prepares to elect a pope, some irreverent souls are betting on the outcome while more religious-minded ones are "adopting" individual cardinals on a website to pray that they make the right choice.

Anyone who wants a beer in Haddonfield, New Jersey had better be ready for a drive: buying or selling alcohol anywhere within city limits is punishable with jail time.

The Vatican installed a special chimney on the Sistine Chapel from which white smoke will signal the election of a new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics as cardinals prepare for the centuries-old tradition starting on Tuesday.

Thousands of angry protesters on Saturday set ablaze more than 100 houses of Pakistani Christians over a blasphemy row in the eastern city of Lahore, officials said.

A bomb explosion inside a Sunni Muslim mosque on Saturday killed four people and wounded 28 others in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar, officials said.

Vatican workers made final preparations in the Sistine Chapel on Saturday after Roman Catholic cardinals voted to begin their conclave to elect a new pope under Michelangelo's famous frescoes next week.

Clergy sex abuse victims on Friday apologized for describing 12 potential papal candidates as a "dirty dozen" over their alleged failure to do enough to tackle pedophile priests.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, regarded as a long shot to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, is credited with helping rebuild the Archdiocese of Boston after the devastating 2002 child sex abuse scandal.

As Catholic cardinals prepare a secret conclave in the Vatican to choose a new pope, the only woman seen taking part in the preparations has been the seamstress sewing the ceremonial tablecloths.

Cardinals from around the globe will hold a conclave in the Sistine Chapel from next Tuesday to elect a new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, after "pope emeritus" Benedict XVI's historic resignation.

Catholic cardinals will meet for a conclave starting on Tuesday to elect the next pope after Benedict XVI's historic resignation, the Vatican said in a statement.

Cardinals from around the globe will hold a conclave to elect a new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics next week, the Vatican said, although the exact date will be set later on Friday.

US Catholics support gay marriage by a larger margin than ordinary Americans despite Church teachings that forbid it, a new poll out Friday has found.

Catholic cardinals have seized the rare chance of being able to air their grievances against the Vatican at talks that continued Friday, with no new pope to defer to and no old pope to mourn.

As Roman Catholic cardinals prepare a secret conclave in the Vatican to choose a new pope, the only woman seen taking part in the preparations has been the seamstress sewing the ceremonial tablecloths.