Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the personal secretary of Pope John Paul II, recently gave a Krakow cultural center the cassock he wore when Ali Agca tried to assassinate him on May 13, 1981. The public will be able to view the cassock on display after the May 1 beatification of JPII.

Pope Benedict XVI received an audience with Olafur Grimsson, the President of Iceland. The president brought with him a statue of the Icelandic woman Gudridur, who lived 1000 years ago. She visited the New World of America on a religious journey and is considered one of the great heroes of Icelandic culture.

The meeting between Pope John Paul II and the Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev took place on December 1, 1989, just days after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Watch this video to listen to the sound of the first transmission in Vatican Radio's history! With words spoken in Latin, Pope Pius XI greeted listeners all over the world on February 12, 1931, 80 years ago. 

In 2002, the Diocese of Richmond opened the cause for the canonization of the Spanish Jesuit Martyrs of Virginia. In 1571, Fr. Segura and his seven companions were killed by hostile tribesmen at the St. Mary's mission sited on Virginia's Lower Peninsula, near the Chesapeake Bay - close to the spot where the English would permanently settle just thirty years later. Watch this video for more!

After years of repairs, the Roman Forum has finally opened over 7 acres of land for public use. This land includes the House of the Vestal Virgins and its temple, a group of ruins known in Latin as the 'Atrium Vestae' that includes the Temple of Vesta.

It was the brother-in-law who ennobled the family. Sargent Shriver married Eunice Kennedy in 1953, seven years after going to work for her father, Joseph P. Kennedy. A decorated veteran and outstanding executive in his own right, Shriver would often be considered an appendage to the famous family - a man dominated by his wife and the junior partner to the brothers Kennedy.

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20 January 2011 marks 50 years since the famous inauguration speech of the first Catholic president, John F Kennedy. As we all know JFK was not always a good example of what a Catholic politician should stand for... however the fact that a Catholic was elected president in the first place was in itself historic. According to a recent survey by the Knights of Columbus - of which JFK was a member - most people believe that the key themes from President Kennedy’s speech are still important more than 50 years later! Have a listen to the speech in this video, and see what you think...

Dr Martin Luther King Jr was one of the most pivotal figures in American history, as he effected a social change that was monumental. What is less well known is that Dr King remains a model for the political and social issues that we face today in the 21st century. In this video, Fr Robert Barron looks at what we can learn from Dr Martin Luther King Jr when approaching conflicts today.

Anthony Cleary is the director of Religious Education and Evangelisation for the Catholic Education Office for the Archdiocese of Sydney. He is about to travel to the Holy Land and Katrina Lee interviews him about the purpose of his trip, the importance of knowing the history of the Holocaust, opportunities and hurdles for peace in the Middle East and the modern Holocaust of abortion.