CUBA: Vatican says pope’s Cuban trip should help democracy VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican’s No. 2 has dismissed suggestions that Cuba’s Communist government could exploit Pope Benedict XVI’s upcoming trip as a propaganda tool, saying the visit should help promote democracy on the island. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said he expects an outpouring of support for the pope because he is the head of the Catholic Church and that the visit will only make things... Read more

SILAO, Mexico (AP) — The last time a pope visited Mexico, more than 1 million believers cheered and wept in the streets of the capital. Aztec dancers shook rattles and blew conch shells inside the cathedral where John Paul II canonized the first Indian saint in the Americas. It’s been a decade since those ecstatic scenes capped the beloved pope’s final trip to the country, and his successor arrives Friday to a much more subdued welcome. Benedict XVI comes to... Read more

BOSTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Scott Brown is pointing to his mother’s history of abusive relationships with men as he pushes for renewal of a domestic violence law that has met with opposition from some fellow Republicans over proposed expansions of its protections. In recent days, Brown has released a radio ad and taken to the floor of the Senate to call for the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act. On Friday, the Massachusetts Republican and his sister plan... Read more

BEIRUT (AP) — As world leaders close ranks against Syrian leader Bashar Assad, the U.S. president summed up the popular wisdom during a recent White House press conference: “Ultimately, this dictator will fall.” That prediction may be premature. Regime forces have retaken the major opposition strongholds, the rebels are low on money and guns, and the U.N. has ruled out any military intervention of the type that tipped the scales against Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi. Relying on the scorched-earth tactics that... Read more

COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP) — Televangelists Paul and Jan Crouch have faced plenty of mountains building their religious broadcast empire — among them allegations of a homosexual tryst and a prolonged battle with the Federal Communications Commission — but the most recent attack on the founders of Trinity Broadcasting Network comes from their own flesh and blood. Their granddaughter, Brittany Koper, recently filed court papers that include allegations of $50 million in financial shenanigans at the world’s largest Christian broadcasting... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A defrocked Philadelphia priest pleaded guilty Thursday to a sex-abuse charge, just days before a landmark priest abuse trial is set to start. Edward Avery, 69, pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child. He was immediately sentenced to 2½ to five years in prison and was ordered to surrender within 10 days. The charges stemmed from Avery’s abuse of an altar boy at St. Jerome’s Parish in northeast... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A defrocked Philadelphia priest has pleaded guilty to a sex-abuse charge days before a landmark priest abuse trial. Sixty-nine-year-old Edward Avery pleaded guilty Thursday to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child. He was immediately sentenced to 2½ to five years in prison and was ordered to surrender within 10 days. The charge stems from Avery’s abuse of a boy at St. Jerome’s Parish in northeast Philadelphia. Two other church officials... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Defrocked Philadelphia priest pleads guilty to sex-abuse charge, gets 2½ to 5 years in prison Read more

JERUSALEM (AP) — Mosque loudspeakers calling the faithful to pre-dawn prayers can irritate non-Muslims being jerked from their slumber — particularly in Israel, where Muslims, Jews and Christians live near each other. Now the Arab village of Manshiya Zabda is testing a simple solution in a pilot project in response to complaints from Jewish neighbors. It’s replaced the boom box atop the local mosque with four smaller loudspeakers installed throughout the village, cutting the required volume in half. The local... Read more

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican No. 2 has said Pope Benedict XVI’s upcoming trip to Cuba should help promote democracy on the Communist-run island. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone dismissed suggestions that Raul Castro’s government could use the trip as a propaganda tool, saying he expected an outpouring of support for the pope because he is the head of the Catholic Church. Bertone spoke in an interview Thursday with the Turin daily La Stampa on the eve of his six-day trip... Read more