VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict on Saturday started a new Vatican department to promote the study and use of Latin in the Roman Catholic Church and beyond.

The old-style Latin Mass was phased out more than 40 years ago in favor of local languages, but the pope is giving it another try. Latin remains the official language of the universal church.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – A Vatican court on Saturday found a Holy See computer expert guilty of obstruction of justice in the investigation of leaks of sensitive papal documents to the media by Pope Benedict’s former butler.

But after two lightning trials in the so-called “Vatileaks” scandal that has been a major embarrassment for the Vatican, many questions remained unanswered.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – A Vatican court on Saturday found a Holy See computer expert guilty of obstruction of justice in the investigation of leaks of sensitive papal documents to the media by Pope Benedict’s former butler.

The same court which last month convicted Paolo Gabriele, the Pope’s former butler, gave Claudio Sciarpelletti a two-month suspended sentence. It ruled he “helped obstruct” the investigation by changing his version of events several times under police questioning.

VATICAN CITY, Nov 9 (Reuters) – Pope Benedict already has
1.2 billion “followers” in the standard sense of the word but he
soon will have another type when he enters what for any 85 year
old is the brave new world of Twitter.

Vatican officials say the pontiff, who is known not to love
computers and still writes most of his speeches by hand, will
have his own handle by the end of the year.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The former butler of Pope Benedict convicted of stealing papal documents had not allowed technicians to check his computer for the last six years, a court trying a second suspect in the Vatican leaks scandal heard on Monday.

The detail was made public at the first hearing in the trial of Claudio Sciarpelletti, a computer expert who is charged with aiding and abetting Paolo Gabriele, the former butler.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – A Vatican computer expert goes before a court on Monday in a trial that could shed light on whether Pope Benedict’s former butler acted alone in leaking sensitive documents or was a pawn in a bigger power struggle.

Claudio Sciarpelletti is accused of aiding and abetting the butler, Paolo Gabriele, who in October was sentenced to 18 months in jail for aggravated theft.

VATICAN CITY, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Michelangelo’s Sistine
Chapel ceiling frescoes turned 500 on Wednesday with the Vatican
warning it may eventually limit visitors to protect one of the
wonders of Western civilisation.

On October 31, 1512, only 20 years after the discovery of
America, Pope Julius II said an evening vespers service to
inaugurate the room where Michelangelo toiled for four years,
much of it on his back, to finish his ceiling frescoes.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy passed an anti-corruption law on Tuesday, the latest move by the government of Prime Minister Mario Monti to shed the country’s image tarnished by former leader Silvio Berlusconi.

Monti, who took office last November to replace the scandal-plagued Berlusconi, made approval of the law a confidence motion in his administration in order to speed its passage through both houses of parliament.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – If anyone thinks the Vatican newspaper is still a staid broadsheet that publishes only religious news and harsh papal edicts, consider this: On Tuesday it ran not one but five articles about the new James Bond film.

“Skyfall” gets a rave review in l’Osservatore Romano, which calls it one of the best of the 23 James Bond films made over the past 50 years.