Vatican City - Top Vatican officials, citing Wednesday a new message by Pope Benedict XVI, urged European nations to show more solidarity towards refugees and immigrants from poor countries.

"In a globalized world, migration is unstoppable and the problem won't be solved by closing borders, but by welcoming" people, said Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's refugee department.

Vatican City  - Africa can claim some of history's greatest biblical centres, but today the holy scriptures remain unaffordable to many of the continent's people, a Nigerian cleric on Tuesday told the Roman Catholic bishops Synod meeting.

Vatican City - The first Jewish holy man to address the Roman Catholic Bishops' Synod on Monday caused possible embarrassment to his Vatican hosts when in his speech he appeared to criticize the conduct of controversial wartime pope Pius XII.

Referring to the World War II Nazi massacre of the Jews, the Holocaust, Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen said: "We remember those religious leaders who did not raise their voice to save our brethren. We cannot forgive and forget."

Vatican City  - Pope Benedict XVI said Monday that the current global market crash should teach humans not to value their career and success above all else and that money is ultimately worth "nothing".

"Those who build the house of their lives on sand, are those who build on things that are visible and tangible, such as success, career and money," Benedict was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency.

"We can now see with the collapse of the great banks, how this money disappears, and becomes nothing," the pontiff added.

Vatican City - The Vatican issued its traditional good wishes to Muslims on Friday for their holy month of Ramadan, calling on them to work with Christians to defend the "dignity" of the traditional family.

The Vatican's top official for relations with Muslims, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran wrote that the family offered "a mutually topical subject" on which to reflect.

"The development of both the human person and of society depends largely on the healthiness of the family," wrote Tauran, who heads the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue.