A geyser-like vent, known as a fumarole, opened up near a road crossing in the Italian capital on Saturday morning. The small opening in the Earth's crust has been filmed ejecting mud, water and steam near Fiumicino. Italian geologists are currently examining the phenomenon. According to local media, the vent is thought to be naturally occurring.

The nearest possibly active volcanic system is the Monti Albani, which lies 12 miles south-east of Rome, although its last known activity took place around 20,000 years ago.

The new offices will be in a separate building on the property, Breitbart reported. And while US officials are touting the relocation as a security measure that’s a cautionary reaction to last year’s attacks on America's facility in Benghazi, several former American envoys are raising the red flag.

It’s a “massive downgrade of US-Vatican ties,” said former US Ambassador James Nicholson in the National Catholic Reporter. “It’s turning this embassy into a stepchild of the embassy to Italy. The Holy See is a pivot point for international affairs and a major listening post for the United States, this is an insult to American Catholics and to the Vatican.”

“That’s like saying people get killed on highways because they drive cars on them,” he said in the report. “We’re not a pauper nation … if we want to secure an embassy, we certainly can.” Moreover, the existing facility has “state of the art” security, he said.

And Mr Nicholson went on, as Breitbart reported: “It’s another manifestation of the antipathy of this administration both to Catholics and to the Vatican — and to Christians in the Middle East. This is a key post for intermediation in so many sovereignties but particularly in the Middle East. This is anything but a good time to diminish the stature of this post. To diminish the stature of this post is to diminish its influence.”

Called “Evangelii Gaudium,” (the Joy of the Gospel), the document offers the Roman Catholic Church a road map of sorts for navigating the complexities of the modern world, with the Gospel as a compass for what the pope called “a new phase of evangelization, one marked by enthusiasm and vitality.”

The document, a papal pronouncement known as an apostolic exhortation, was the first major written work Francis has created since he was chosen eight months ago to lead the 2,000-year-old church. It challenges the church to “abandon the complacent attitude that says: ‘We have always done it this way,'” to find novel, “bold and creative” ways to speak to the faithful and to make the church more meaningful.

An apostolic exhortation does not define Church doctrine, and the document makes clear that some issues – like abortion or the ordination of women – are not up for discussion. But there is an acknowledgment too, that the world has changed, and that the church must change with it. It is time, Pope Francis said, for “still broader opportunities for a more incisive female presence in the Church,” in particular “in the various other settings where important decisions are made.”

The local church must have greater say in decision-making, and the renewal of the church can only gain strength if it begins from the bottom up, the pope said.

The 84-page document, known as an apostolic exhortation, was the first major work he has authored alone as pope and makes official many views he has aired in sermons and remarks since he became the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years in March.

In it, Francis went further than previous comments criticizing the global economic system, attacking the "idolatry of money", and urged politicians to "attack the structural causes of inequality" and strive to provide work, healthcare and education to all citizens.

He also called on rich people to share their wealth. "Just as the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills," Francis wrote in the document issued on Tuesday. "How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses 2 points?"

He also warns that rising global economic inequality is bound to explode in conflict. Since becoming Pope in March, Francis has struck a markedly different tone to his predecessor on several issues. In his "apostolic exhortation", Pope Francis said he preferred a Church that was "bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security".

The document suggests major changes are on the way, with Francis noting that the Church has to get over an attitude that says: "We have always done it this way," the BBC's David Willey reports from Rome. It represents an ambitious programme to try to rekindle his church's missionary zeal, our correspondent says. However, the document reiterates the Church's opposition to the ordination of female priests, saying this is "not a question open to discussion".

That was the message conveyed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to President Barack Obama in a private telephone call Sunday to discuss the interim deal on Iran's nuclear program, according to a senior Israeli lawmaker in Netanyahu's ruling coalition, as reported by the Jerusalem Post.

The White House's own official statement on the telephone call made no mention of any disagreement being aired, merely referring to "their shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon." Meanwhile, Netanyahu said that he would send a high-level diplomatic team to the US to lobby for a tough final agreement with Iran that sees that country's entire nuclear enrichment program dismantled.

As the Wall Street Journal notes, Iran didn't ratify an additional protocol to its International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) agreement allowing on-demand inspections at Parchin and other sites. Furthermore, it is noted that Iran could send out UN inspectors at any time like North Korea did in 2009.

The Wall Street Journal similarly comments that the Iran deal did not address the Parchin issue at all. It is suspected that nuclear weapons research is being conducted at the Parchin site, particularly as satellite imagery from August provided evidence of ongoing construction and testing being carried out in secret at the base.

The satellite evidence showed major alterations at the site which the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) says were meant to hide possible tests of conventional triggers for a nuclear explosion. The evidence followed satellite images from August 2012 showing cleanup activities at the base, as well as images showing suspicious activities at a building suspected of housing nuclear blast experiments.

Furthermore, the IAEA has not been allowed in to inspect Parchin since 2005 despite calls by Yukiyo Amano, head of IAEA, to allow inspections.

The United States is still, despite recent debacles, the global hegemon. Ignoring the pleas of allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia is just one of those things a superpower can do if a president wants to put a diplomatic achievement in the White House column marked "legacy".

But for Sunni Arab leaders, deeply hostile to Iran, the deal is a sign that America's power is waning, that it has suddenly funked, decided it needs a multipolar world: one in which Washington negotiates with rather than rides roughshod over regional rivals like Iran, and global rivals like Russia and China. Those leaders are now fast reassessing their own relations with Moscow and Beijing. If you believe the noises coming out of Riyadh and Jerusalem, after the deal comes the deluge. Even if Israel holds off from bombing Iran's nuclear facilities - and it was ruling nothing out on Sunday - other disasters are lining up.

More quietly, convinced that Iran's promises are hollow and that it can no longer trust the United States, could Saudi Arabia itself go nuclear? It too has never ruled this out. Pakistan's nuclear deterrent has been described as "Saudi's proxy bomb" because of the two nations' close co-operation; that might become reality.

Meanwhile, it remains the world's number one oil producer, and has recently become the main guarantor of Egypt's new military-backed regime. It seems quite happy to see Cairo currying favour and arms deals with Russia. The Sunni world, it seems, may be on the verge of falling out of the American orbit.

As Britain urged the main regional powers to back the agreement, the Saudis offered their grudging support, with an official statement saying that it "could be a first step towards a comprehensive solution for Iran's nuclear programme, if there are good intentions". But the kingdom's rulers remain deeply suspicious of Iran's intentions - and almost equally wary of America's diplomacy, especially since they were kept in the dark about the secret US contacts with Iran that preceded the Geneva agreement.

Nawaf Obaid, a counsellor to Prince Mohammad bin Nawaf, the Saudi Ambassador to London, accused America of dishonesty. "We were lied to, things were hidden from us," he said. "The problem is not with the deal struck in Geneva, but how it was done." The response, said Mr Obaid, would be a "new defence doctrine" based on containing Iran.

His comments reflect Saudi fears that America's overtures towards Iran could upset their own traditionally close alliance with Washington. Although Saudi Arabia has great wealth, its military strength is limited and its 75,000-strong army is barely a fifth of the size of Iran's - forcing the country to rely on America as the ultimate guarantor of its territorial security.

"There is no absolute replacement for the US for Saudi Arabia as it casts around for allies, but there is a longer term project of looking to spread its focus," said Daniel Levy, the Middle East director of the European Council for Foreign Relations.

Angola's ban was first announced last Friday, when Angolan Minister of Culture, Rosa Cruz e Silva said "the process of legalization of Islam has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human rights, their mosques would be closed until further notice."

India Today reports Silva's statement was made at the 6th Commission of the Angolan National Assembly, and that the ban includes orders to demolish mosques in the country. Silva reportedly said the ban was necessary since Islam is "contradictory to the customs of Angolan culture."

The crackdown on Islam comes as Christians in the Middle East are being forced from Muslim countries. The Minister of Culture added that there is a legalization process through which over a thousand religious sects are currently applying.

At least the beginning of the "For the Future of the Family" conference offered a spectacle: For several minutes, a mighty drumming sound echoed through the conference hall. Dozens of demonstrators banged against the walls of the building in Schkeuditz, a small town located near Leipzig. "Your idea of family makes us want to puke," read placards held up by young leftist protesters.

In the run-up to it, the event attracted significant controversy, in no small part due to the second half of the title to Saturday's program: "Are Europe's peoples being abolished?" German Middle East expert Peter Scholl-Latour and former news anchor Eva Herman - who gained notoriety in Germany and was fired from her job at a public broadcaster several years ago for making favorable remarks about family values during the Third Reich - had both been scheduled to attend.

But both withdrew at short notice, Scholl-Latour citing scheduling issues while Herman said she was doing so out of fear for her family's safety and "because I don't want to expose myself to media mud-slinging." Several speakers from Russia took part in the Leipzig conference, sparing no effort to promote President Vladimir Putin's family policies.

Among them was lawmaker Yelena Mizulina, chair of the Duma Committee on Family, Women and Childrens' Affairs and co-author of the country's infamous law banning "homosexual propaganda". Mizulina told the audience how she'd been kicked by demonstrators on arrival at the convention center and that she planned to press charges. "These people are intolerant, aggressive and well organized," she complained. "This shows that ineffective gay activists are a thing of the past," she continued.

“Blessed Father. Beloved by all Ukrainians, Pope Francis!” The enthusiasm from the major archbishop for the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, was evident as he greeted Pope Francis in the Pope's native language.

Along with the much larger Ukrainian group, a smaller Greek-Catholic delegation from Belarus attended. The Pope spoke about how St Josaphat is an example of the communion of saints. “The memory of this martyred saint speaks to us about the communion of saints, of the communion of life between all of the people who belong to Christ.”

The Pope added that the best way to honor St Josaphat is to love and serve towards the unity of the Church. He called on Ukrainians to build stronger relationships with other Churches. “I hope that the deep communion that you wish to strengthen each day within the Catholic Church, will help you build bridges of fraternity also with other Churches and ecclesiastical communities in Ukrainian land, and wherever your communities are present.”

“With good information about risk, pain and lack of health benefits of the intervention, I think parents from minorities would voluntarily abstain from circumcising children,” Anne Lindboe, Norway’s Children’s Ombudsmen, told the Norwegian Aftenpost daily last week.

Lindboe, who last year advised Jews and Muslims to replace circumcision with “a symbolic ritual,” also told the paper that non-medical circumcision of pre-teen boys should be outlawed and those performing it should be punished similarly to people who use violence against children.

“We introduced a law on violence against children even though we had reason to believe that individuals would still be beaten and mistreated,” she said, dismissing concerns raised in Norwegian media that a ban on ritual circumcision would mean that parents would perform it illegally.

They emphasized “the need to bring an end to the violence” in Syria, ensuring humanitarian assistance to Syrians affected by the fighting while seeking ways to find a “peaceful solution to the conflict,” the Vatican said in a statement.

They also touched on “the life of the Catholic community in Russia,” according to the Vatican, but the Holy See spokesman, the Rev Federico Lombardi, said that the “ecumenical question” between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, whose relationship has been tense since the two churches divided nearly 1,000 years ago, was not discussed.

A recent signatory is Dr Belinda Martineau, former member of the Michelmore Lab at the UC Davis Genome Center, University of California, who helped commercialise the world’s first GM whole food, the Flavr Savr tomato. Dr Martineau said: “I wholeheartedly support this thorough, thoughtful and professional statement describing the lack of scientific consensus on the safety of genetically engineered (GM) crops and other GM organisms (also referred to as GMOs). Society’s debate over how best to utilize the powerful technology of genetic engineering is clearly not over. For its supporters to assume it is, is little more than wishful thinking.”

Another signatory, Dr Judy Carman, director of the Institute of Health and Environmental Research, Adelaide, and adjunct associate professor, health and the environment, Flinders University, South Australia, said: “Of the hundreds of different GM crops that have been approved for human and animal consumption somewhere in the world, few have been thoroughly safety tested. So it is not possible to have a consensus that they are all safe to eat – at least, not a consensus based on hard scientific evidence derived from experimental data.”

A third signatory, Professor Elena Alvarez-Buylla, coordinator of the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics of Plant Development and Evolution, Institute of Ecology, UNAM, Mexico, said: “Given the scientific evidence at hand, sweeping claims that GM crops are substantially equivalent to, and as safe as, non-GM crops are not justifiable.”