MEXICO CITY (AP) — Banners purportedly signed by one of Mexico’s drug cartels and hung in Guanajuato promise there will be no violence during next weekend’s visit to the state by Pope Benedict XVI, an official said Sunday. At least 11 banners signed by The Knights Templar gang were found in five municipalities, including the city of Leon, where the pope begins his trip Friday, an official at the state Attorney General’s Office said. The official agreed to discuss the... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Tens of thousands of Coptic Christians lined up outside a cathedral in the Egyptian capital on Sunday to pay their final respects to the spiritual leader of their ancient church, whose body was seated inside on an ornate throne. The grief of the faithful filing past Pope Shenouda, who died Saturday at 88, may also reflect the uncertainty felt by the country’s Christian minority following the recent rise of Islamists to power. In his death, Egypt’s 10... Read more

HAVANA (AP) — Cuban authorities detained a prominent dissident and dozens of her colleagues early Sunday, while others held a weekly protest march through Havana. Police detained Bertha Soler and three dozen supporters of the Ladies in White dissident group hours before they were to take part in a regular march down Quinta Avenida in the leafy Miramar neighborhood of Havana. About 20 other Ladies supporters did make it to the march, which got off to a peaceful start. The... Read more

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — While most Americans are familiar with the Underground Railroad that helped Southern slaves escape north before the Civil War, the nation’s first clandestine path to freedom ran for more than a century in the opposite direction. Stories of that lesser-known “railroad” will be shared June 20-24 at the National Underground Railroad Conference in St. Augustine, Fla. The network of sympathizers gave refuge to those fleeing their masters, including many American Indians who helped slaves escape to... Read more

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has said the Catholic Church shares the pain of the Coptic Orthodox Church over the death of its patriarch, Pope Shenouda III. Benedict sent a message of condolences Sunday following Shenouda’s death Saturday at age 88. Shenouda led Egypt’s Christian minority for more than 40 years amid increasing tensions with Muslims. Benedict has called for greater protections for Egypt’s estimated 10 million Christians amid a surge of recent attacks, but his message Sunday... Read more

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — At El Sendero De La Cruz evangelical church, Rick Santorum sought prayers along with votes. He told the San Juan congregation that he felt “very blessed” to be with people of faith and said he can withstand the demands of campaigning because of the many people like them he meets while running for president. “The first thing they almost always say to me, ‘I’m praying for you,'” Santorum said. “It works.” It’s the kind... Read more

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has asked for prayers for his upcoming trip to Mexico and Cuba. Sunday marks the last time Benedict will greet the general public before his visit gets under way Friday. His traditional Wednesday audience was canceled for this week so Benedict, who turns 85 next month, can rest up before the long trip. Speaking in Spanish from his studio window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, Benedict asked Sunday for prayers for the six-day trip,... Read more

PARIS (AP) — The French butcher who cuts and tresses your meat with care, and serves as city dwellers’ link to the land, is falling on hard times, unable to find new blood to keep his iconic image alive — as supermarkets and Arab butchers selling halal meat at cheaper prices thrive. The changes in this age-old industry reflect profound economic and societal shifts gnawing at France’s core, and have catapulted the butcher shop into the debate before presidential elections... Read more

MEXICO CITY (AP) — For his first visit to Spanish-speaking Latin America, Pope Benedict XVI has chosen the region’s most Roman Catholic country — and its least. In Catholic Mexico, towns throw parties for their patron saints, pilgrims prostrate themselves at shrines and many people still cross themselves every time they pass a church. In Cuba, the churches are mostly empty and until the 1990s, believers were barred from the Communist Party. What the two countries on the pope’s weeklong... Read more

BEIRUT (AP) — An explosion struck near a Syrian government security building in the northern city of Aleppo Sunday while a harsh security crackdown prevented opposition rallies marking one year since the first nationwide protests of the uprising against President Bashar Assad. The Syrian state news agency called the Aleppo explosion a “terrorist bombing” and said one policeman and one female civilian were killed, while 30 were injured. It was the second attack in two days on regime strongholds. Three... Read more