Pray for success of Annapolis conference, Pope urges

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Sunday called for a "just and definitive" solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, asking the world to pray for the success of the Annapolis conference.

Benedict, speaking at his weekly address, asked that all join in a day of prayer called for Sunday by U.S. Catholic bishops for a positive outcome to the conference.

He said he hoped the conference would be able to find a "just and definitive solution to the conflict that for 60 years has been bloodying the Holy Land and which has caused so many tears and so much suffering among the two peoples".

Bishops defend right of pharmacists to conscientious objection

SANTIAGO, November 2 (CNA) - The president and general secretary of the Chilean Bishops’ Conference came to the defense of the “legitimate right” of pharmacists to exercise conscientious objection and not sell the so-called “morning after pill,” this week.

The Love In The Human Heart Is Force That Renews The World, says The Pope

Vatican City, Nov 4, 2007 / 01:02 pm (CNA).- While presiding over the Angelus prayer this Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI emphasized that love, acting in the human heart, is the force that renews the world.

The Pontiff commented that the Gospel, the passage of Zacchaeus, reminds us that Jesus called him from the tree saying: “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." (Lk 19:5).

"What a message in that simple phrase,” exclaimed the Holy Father. "Jesus calls on his behalf to a man despised by all. Today, yes, right now is for him the moment of the salvation”.

Saudi King Visit's Vatican Amid Middle East Tensions

Rome - When Saudi King Abdullah arrives in Rome on Tuesday he may wish to take a break from his schedule, including a historic meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican, for a quiet moment of prayer at the city's central mosque, Europe's largest Muslim house of worship. In the highly unlikely event of Benedict visiting Saudi Arabia, there the pontiff would not find a single church to pray in.

Morning-after pill is no cure and kills a human being, Italian expert says

ROME, November 1 (CNA) - The president of the Catholic Union of Italian Pharmacists, Pietro Uroda, explained that the morning after pill is “a sort of hormonal bomb” that “cures nothing.”  “It is a pharmaceutical product that is for killing an eventual embryo” that is already a human being.

“To be holy is the task of every Christian, of every man,” says Pope Benedict

VATICAN CITY, November 1 (CNA) - Marking today’s Feast of All Saints, Pope Benedict XVI said that striving after holiness is not the calling for a select few, but rather the task for all Christians and all men.