Forty years after the Vatican upheld the ban on birth control, the U.S.-based Catholics for Choice, which has affiliates around the world, is urging Catholics to press their bishops to help end the prohibition.

The Vatican has declined an invitation for Pope Benedict XVI to address the European Parliament at Strasbourg, according to a report by the London Times.

By Anthony Barich SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 21, 2008 .- Tim Fischer, a former Australian deputy prime minister, has been appointed the country's first resident ambassador to the Holy See.

THE Pope has left the door open for a face-to-face meeting with Australian victims of sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy, with victims' groups calling on him to follow up Saturday's apology with concrete ...

Photo Credit: AP Photo Pope Benedict XVI thanks World Youth Day volunteers at the Domain in Sydney, Australia, Monday, July 21, 2008 for a farewell ceremony.

SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 20, 2008 .- At Benedict XVI's announcement that the next World Youth Day will be hosted by the Archdiocese of Madrid, red and yellow flags went flying up across the field in Sydney's ...