The Vatican daily newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, seen as required reading for those wanting to know the standpoint of the Holy See, but also known for an austere black and white layout, is appearing in colour for the first time.

Christian activists will make symbolic acts of commitment at the Ministry of Defence in London and at other venues in Scotland and the north of England tomorrow, urging a shift from waging war to waging peace in a divided world.

For the first time, a general secretary of the World Council of Churches has taken part with a pope in a Rome service to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which ended last week, recalling the centenary of this initiative born in the United States in 1908.

Pope Benedict XVI has told a gathering of academics that science should serve rather than enslave humanity, warning that the reduction of human beings and nature to mere 'objects' is not good for the spirit of reasoned enquiry.

The rector of La Sapienza university says he will re-invite the Pope to speak there after the pontiff cancelled following student protests about a comment about Galileo quoting, but not approving he says, a philosopher's remark.

Pope Benedict says he shares "the concerns and hopes" of the people of the Arab world, noting how constant cycles of violence make coexistence difficult, and can give rise to fears for the survival of Christian communities there.

Catholic parishes in England and Wales will this week be preparing to celebrate Peace Sunday on 20 January 2008, with its theme derived from an annual global message from the Pope. This year the focus is human solidarity.

In marking their annual visit to Rome, Pope Benedict XVI, leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, has told the diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican that peace is an integral way of life, not merely the absence of conflict.

Pope Benedict XVI has declared in one of his key Christmas messages that believers facing persecution, torture and death in some parts of the world and those who die forgiving their killers are a sign of hope and faith for humanity.

A senior leader of the Russian Orthodox Church met last week with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, a visit seen as adding credence to reports of a thaw in relations between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Roman Catholic Church.