Alessandro Speciale

Alessandro Speciale writes for Religion News Service.

Articles by Alessandro Speciale

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Pope Benedict XVI gives direction to U.S. bishops on hot-button issues

May 23, 2012 by Alessandro Speciale

c. 2012 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY (RNS) Over the course of the last six months, Pope Benedict XVI delivered five major speeches to small groups of American bishops who were in Rome for their "ad limina" visits, which are required once every five years.

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Vatican details rules on Virgin Mary sightings

May 23, 2012 by Alessandro Speciale

c. 2012 Religion News Service (RNS) The Vatican has published rules to evaluate the authenticity of the dozens of apparitions of the Virgin Mary reported each year.

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Vatican settles with Benetton over pope-kissing ad

May 16, 2012 by Alessandro Speciale

c. 2012 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican announced on Tuesday (May 15) it had settled a lawsuit against Italian clothing group Benetton for using an image of Pope Benedict XVI in one of its advertisement campaigns.

The image had been modified to show Benedict kissing Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed El-Tayeb, imam of Cairo's renowned al-Azhar Mosque.

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Pope finds kindred spirit in German 'feminist' saint

May 14, 2012 by Alessandro Speciale

c. 2012 Religion News Service (RNS) Here are two things that don't typically go together: Pope Benedict XVI and feminist culture.

Yet they both share a veneration for Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th-century German nun who was the first woman to be officially recognized as a "prophetess" by the Roman Catholic Church.

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