European inspectors gave the Vatican a mixed report card in its efforts to comply with international norms to fight money laundering and terror financing.

The Bab al-Hawa crossing post sits under a low ridge on the Syrian-Turkish border, not far from the Turkish town of Reyhanli.

A Buddhist trust has received resource consent to use a south Auckland rural block for a Tibetan temple with 38 bedrooms for monks and visitors and 28 affordable homes for followers.

The number of people who say they have no religion has reached 1.6 million.

Richard Lewis yesterday thanked his new congregation and family before delivering his first sermon since splitting from the controversial Destiny Church.

Negative posts from a Destiny Church pastor about defector Richard Lewis have been shared online by Bishop Brian Tamaki.

The new boss of a restaurant that has sent five owners broke in three years wants an exorcist to check the property for evil spirits.

Pope Francis issued the mission statement for his papacy, outlining how the Catholic Church and the papacy itself must be reformed.

The discovery of a 2,600-year-old simple wooden shrine in Nepal has made archeologists rethink Buddha's birth date.

A British academic believes she has identified from ancient texts the actual site of the elusive Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

The son-in-law of Destiny Church leader Bishop Brian Tamaki has been awarded a $10,000 scholarship to help feed the needy.

A controversial church leader and critic of homosexuality has made peace with a prominent transgender adversary as she battles kidney disease.

Charities are bracing themselves for an influx of more than 40,000 struggling Kiwi families who can't afford to serve Christmas dinner or put presents under the tree this year.

Recently, to much mirth, the capital's new Anglican Bishop despoiled his lovely cathedral's entrance by residing there in a wooden crate.

With a swing of his powerful arm, a prison guard landed a wicked-looking cane on a dummy wearing the white uniform of convicts in Brunei.

An evangelist whose inspirational autobiography has been labelled "99 per cent false" is here on a speaking tour - sparking a warning from some churches.

An attempt by Iran's reformist President, Hassan Rouhani, to abolish the chant "Death to America" as part of his drive to improve relations with the West has angered hardliners.

One of the largest remaining privately owned blocks of land in inner Auckland is for sale.

A New Zealand church has been let off the hook for forbidding a gay man from becoming a priest.

As a concession to belt-tightening, the decision by a sybaritic German bishop to take a budget airline flight to Rome is looking like too little, too late.

After winning many hearts and minds with vows of change and personal deeds, Pope Francis' reform strategy moves into higher gear tomorrow.

A 52-year-old Papakura man has been arrested in relation to an attack on a Buddhist monk who was bashed unconscious at his South Auckland monastery.

About half a million filled the streets of Jerusalem for Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's funeral procession, one of the largest ever held in Israel.

Eight months after his notorious "Wogistan" anti-Muslim rant NZ First MP Richard Prosser says he received more messages of support than of criticism.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has broken his self-imposed silence with a lengthy letter to a prominent atheist.

Over the past week, there have been two devastating terror attacks.