Latest Rome News

Richard Williamson, Catholic bishop whose denial of Holocaust embarrassed Pope Benedict XVI, dies

Jan. 30, 2025 07:43 AM EST

ROME (AP) — Richard Williamson, an ultra-traditionalist Catholic bishop whose denial of the Holocaust created a scandal in 2009 when Pope Benedict XVI rehabilitated him and other members of his breakaway society, has died. He was 84. Williamson suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in his...

International Criminal Court has Putin, Netanyahu in its sights, yet its courtrooms are empty

Jan. 30, 2025 03:18 AM EST

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — For a few hours last week, the International Criminal Court looked poised to take a Libyan warlord into custody. Instead, member state Italy sent the head of a notorious network of detention centers back home. That has left the court without a single...

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni says she is being investigated for repatriating a Libyan warlord

Jan. 28, 2025 12:53 PM EST

MILAN (AP) — Rome prosecutors have opened an investigation against Premier Giorgia Meloni and two government ministers for repatriating a Libyan warlord wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague, the premier announced Tuesday. Meloni revealed the investigation over...

AP PHOTOS: The rail tracks of Auschwitz still cross the area as aging reminders of horror

Jan. 27, 2025 00:03 AM EST

OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) — During World War II, men, women and children were transported from across Europe to Auschwitz-Birkenau, horrendous journeys in which they were packed into cramped cattle cars. They arrived onto an unloading platform, known as the ramp, where Nazi doctors...

Vatican says sanctions still in effect against Opus Dei cardinal following sex abuse allegations

Jan. 26, 2025 04:52 AM EST

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican said Sunday that disciplinary sanctions are still in effect against the first-ever cardinal from Opus Dei following accusations of sexual abuse, confirming a series of restrictions against the once-powerful archbishop of Lima, Peru that included requiring him to...

Italy's government discusses the case of an Italian citizen detained in Venezuela without charges

Jan. 17, 2025 09:14 AM EST

ROME (AP) — The Italian government met on Friday to discuss the case of an Italian national arrested in Venezuela two months ago and held without formal charges, the premier’s office said in a statement. Foreign minister Antonio Tajani and the Italian Embassy in Caracas have been...

Italy rail asks authorities to investigate outages behind train delays

Jan. 15, 2025 09:45 AM EST

ROME (AP) — Italy’s national railroad filed a formal complaint with law enforcement authorities Wednesday alleging that power outages up and down the peninsula that have caused days of train delays were suspicious. “It can’t be a coincidence” that the outages have occurred...

Biden honors Pope Francis with the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Jan. 11, 2025 15:22 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Saturday honored Pope Francis with the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction, the highest civilian award given by the president, saying the pontiff was “a light of faith, hope, and love that shines brightly across the world.” ...

Italy’s foreign minister heads to Syria to encourage post-Assad transition

Jan. 10, 2025 02:14 AM EST

ROME (AP) — Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he will travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by Islamist insurgents, and said Europe should review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has...

An Italian journalist is freed from detention in Iran and returns home

Jan. 08, 2025 22:02 PM EST

ROME (AP) — An Italian journalist detained in Iran for three weeks was freed Wednesday and returned home, after her fate had become intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer arrested in Italy and wanted by the United States. A plane carrying Cecilia Sala, 29, landed at Rome’s...