From a distance it could be a scene from Qatar's ancient past, long before the country's modern-day wealth was secured by the discovery of gas and oil.

Several kilometers (miles) off the coast of southern Qatar, five traditional dhow boats bob gently up and down on the becalmed blue-green waters of the Gulf.

Thirty-five years after he was gunned down while delivering mass, controversial Salvadoran archbishop Oscar Romero will be beatified Saturday, held up by Pope Francis as a symbol of a Catholic Church dedicated to the poor.

In a move long resisted by conservative Catholics and the Salvadoran right, Romero will be declared "blessed" in a ceremony led by the pope's envoy, Cardinal Angelo Amato, on San Salvador's main square.

Lebanon will celebrate in June the crowning of its ancient city of Jbeil as the 2016 Arab Tourism Capital, a title chosen by the Arab Council of Tourism.

Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon announced the event late Wednesday from the Grand Serail, voicing hopes that the security plan implemented in Lebanon paves way for the country to benefit from the event.

Opening the church door in Baihanluo reveals a large portrait of Pope Francis -- something of a paradox in an ethnically Tibetan area of Communist China.

The village is only reachable on foot or by horse, and surrounded by snow-capped Himalayan peaks.

Australia's former top Catholic cleric, now Pope Francis' finance chief, on Thursday denied trying to bribe a victim of a paedophile priest to keep quiet as an inquiry heard of horrifying abuse.

Cardinal George Pell spoke out as abuse survivors demanded he return to Australia to give evidence to a royal commission on the allegations.

It was a beautiful morning when Lord Mountbatten took his family out on the water off western Ireland, the last trip of the summer that ended in bloodshed when their boat was blown up by the IRA.

Louis Mountbatten, a cousin to Queen Elizabeth II, uncle to her husband Prince Philip and godfather to her son Prince Charles, died along with his teenage grandson and two others in an assassination that shocked the world.

Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won Britain's Man Booker International Prize for career achievement on Tuesday, saying he hoped it would allow him to access a wider audience.

In his acceptance speech at a ceremony in the Victoria & Albert Museum, the 61-year-old credited author Franz Kafka, singer Jimi Hendrix and the city of Kyoto in Japan for inspiration.

Friday's vote on legalising same-sex marriage in Ireland is a further sign of the waning influence of the once-dominant Catholic Church, experts said.

Bishops have come out strongly against changing the constitution, but polls indicate their attempt to swing the vote for the "No" side will fall through. 

Mother Teresa of Calcutta's elevation to sainthood has been set for September 2016, according to a top Catholic cleric.

Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella was quoted by Italian media Tuesday as telling municipal officials in Rome that Pope Francis would canonize the nun celebrated for her work with the poor of Calcutta as part of the upcoming Jubilee Year declared by the pontiff.

Saudi Arabia advertised vacancies for eight executioners Tuesday after beheading nearly as many people since the start of the year as it did in the whole of 2014.

The civil service ministry said that no qualifications were necessary and that applicants would be exempted from the usual entrance exams.