The two week assembly of the synod of bishops for the Middle East opened Monday morning with an unscripted address from Pope Benedict XVI. “The Church's faith is the foundation that does not waver”, he told participants, “despite the threat of destruction”, and focusing on Mary's divine motherhood he warned against “false gods such as terrorism, drugs and capitalism which enslave mankind”.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sent a letter to the pope thanking him for opposing a Florida pastor's threat to burn the Quran and calling for cooperation against secularism, the Vatican and the Iranian presidency said Saturday.

Around 300 Israeli Druze are for the first time to be allowed into Syria for a religious visit after they were given permission by the interior ministry, the head of Israel's Druze community said on Thursday.

With Christianity dwindling in its Middle Eastern birthplace, Pope Benedict has convened Catholic bishops from the region to debate how to save its minority communities and promote harmony with their Muslim neighbors.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written to the Pope, thanking him for condemning an American pastor's threat to burn the Koran last month. In his letter, Mr Ahmadinejad also called for closer co-operation between Iran and the Vatican.

Leading conservative German politicians assailed President Christian Wulff on Tuesday for comments intimating Islam had gained a status comparable to Christianity and Judaism in Germany.

A press conference was held this morning in the Holy See Press Office to present the next World Youth Day, which is due to be held in the Spanish capital city of Madrid in August 2011.

"Embodying the Holy," a new exhibition at New York City's Rubin Museum of Art, brings to light striking similarities between Orthodox Christian icons and traditional Tibetan Buddhist painted scrolls.