Pope Francis vowed Monday to power ahead with the reform of the Curia, the Church's "diseased" governing body, throwing down the gauntlet to those fostering a climate of intrigue, greed and double-crossing in the Vatican.

His annual address to cardinals, bishops and priests running the Holy See echoed his speech at this time last year, when he suggested the Vatican's administrative hierarchy was beset by a "spiritual Alzheimer's" and a lust for power.

More than 60 percent of Slovenian voters opposed legalism gay marriage in a referendum Sunday marked by low turnout, according to near-complete results from the electoral commission.

The outcome marked a setback for gay rights activists who had hoped to see the largely Catholic nation become Europe's first ex-communist country to give same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt.

In the capital of war-torn Libya, a dwindling Christian community of foreign workers leave their fears and anxieties at the church door as they gather for Christmas carols and laughter.

Lisa, a 47-year-old Filipina nurse, said she had just celebrated the festival of lights "for the tenth consecutive year" at Saint Francis Church, referring to the start of advent and the Christmas season.

More than 60 percent of Slovenians voted against legalizing gay marriage in a referendum Sunday marked by low turnout, according to near-complete results from the electoral commission.

Just 35.65 percent of registered voters turned out to have their say on whether the country should approve legislation -- already passed in parliament -- that would have given gay couples the right to marry and adopt.

The homework assignment at a U.S. high school asked students to reproduce a sample of classical Arabic handwriting, to help broaden their appreciation of its "artistry."

Instead, it sparked an uproar -- and even threats of violence -- that led officials on Friday to temporarily shut down the entire school district.

Parliamentarians from India's right-wing government on Friday blocked a private member's bill to decriminalize gay sex, in a setback for sexual freedom in the world's biggest democracy.

Shashi Tharoor, a lawmaker from the opposition Congress party, sought to table a bill to amend section 377 of the Indian penal code, which bans homosexual acts as "carnal intercourse against the order of nature". 

Pope Francis has recognized a second miracle attributed to the late Mother Teresa, clearing the path for the nun to be elevated to sainthood next year, the Vatican said Friday. 

Mother Teresa, celebrated for her work with the poor in the Indian city of Kolkata, is expected to be canonized as part of the pope's Jubilee year of mercy.

In a tiny flat in a rundown alley in New Delhi, Rakesh Kumar Misra is working against the odds to bring India's ancient Sanskrit language to the country's millions.

The 4,000-year-old classical language was traditionally used by Brahmin intellectuals and Hindu priests. Rarely spoken as a mother tongue in India, Sanskrit is often dismissed as a dead language.

A Brazilian lawmaker who said Amazon tribal peoples should be left to starve to death and are "a bunch of little gays" has been named Racist of the Year by an NGO.

The man who made these remarks in July is Fernando Furtado, a lawmaker in Maranhao state, said Survival International, which works to protect indigenous groups.

Licio Gelli, a masonic grand master implicated in some of the darkest chapters of Italy's post-war history and one of the worst scandals to rock the Vatican, has died at the age of 96.

Gelli, a fascist sympathizer who was the founder and leader of of the notorious P2 masonic lodge, passed away on Tuesday evening at his villa in Arezzo, Tuscany, his family said, according to local media.