Atheist defends critical focus on Islam

The Vatican this week marks the fifth anniversary of Pope John Paul II's death amid some doubts that the miracle needed for his saint-making cause will stand up to scrutiny and questions about his record combatting pedophile priests.

Pope Benedict launches broadside against critics who have called on him to do more to explain his previous role as the Vatican’s head investigator of child abuse claims.

A Christian nurse re-assigned to an office role after refusing to take off a necklace bearing a cross will take her case to an employment tribunal next week, a hospital said today.

Senior bishops today claimed Christians in Britain are being "treated with disrespect" while followers of other faiths are dealt with more sensitively.

Fr Murphy was the only adult his pupils could communicate with – and he betrayed them. Andy McSmith reports

Spokesman says Pope knew nothing about reassigning paedophile priest

Office headed by Benedict XVI declined to defrock priest who molested deaf children

The Turin Shroud captivates the faithful, intrigues even the sceptical – and earns the Catholic Church a fortune. What is it about this ancient relic that makes it so special? Michael Day reports from Italy on this spring's real blockbuster exhibition

The authoritarian leader of the world's Catholics promised to restore the purity of his church. So why is it still plagued by scandal upon scandal? Peter Popham reports

Pope John Paul II's fast-track to sainthood is in danger of derailment after doubts were cast yesterday on the prerequisite miracle, in which the former pontiff was said to have cured a nun of Parkinson's disease.

Being gay is not an illness, say demonstrators as they picket Belfast church

The Church of England's General Synod avoided yet another damaging schism yesterday. It sidestepped an attempt by evangelicals to officially recognise a controversial sect of American Anglicans who have formed their own church in protest at the growing acceptance of homosexuality.

The Ministry of Defence will not be ordering troops to remove coded references to the Bible from a range of specialist gun sights that are being used by British units in Afghanistan, The Independent has learned.

With seminaries all but empty and many clerics fast approaching retirement, almost half the country's parishes have no priest

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