The Vatican has rejected as defamatory allegations that Pope Francis did not do enough to protect two priests in his native Argentina during the country’s military dictatorship more than 30 years ago. Here’s James Robbins.
The Vatican has responded to allegations that Pope Francis much earlier in his life as a senior Jesuit priest failed to protect two fellow Jesuits who were kidnapped. The Vatican says there has never been accusation that was concrete or credible. In a statement the Vatican said he had tried to protect people during the so-called Dirty War under military dictatorship in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Argentina. Later as a bishop, he had promoted the whole cause of reconciliation. The Vatican has accused what it called a left-wing publication of bias and of pursuing an anti-clerical campaign.
The body of the late president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, has arrived at a military museum in Caracas where it will be laid to rest. It was received by a military guard of honour. Tens of thousands of Venezuelans, many of them in red, the colour of Mr Chavez’s political movement, lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the hearse carrying his body from the military academy.
This is the World News from the BBC.
After weeks of political manoeuvring a deal has been signed to form a new government in Israel. The Likud party of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will form a coalition including the centrist Yesh Atid and the pro-settler Jewish Home parties. Reports say there have been weeks of hard bargaining over the allocation of government jobs. The new coalition is the first in a decade to exclude ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.