AP News in Brief
Pope Francis to call on Benedict next Saturday, also will meet with Argentine president
• VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis will visit his predecessor at the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo next Saturday+-, an eagerly anticipated meeting given the novelty of having a reigning and retired pope side-by-side. He will also meet with the Argentine president, whom he has criticized for her liberal measures.
• Francis will fly by helicopter March 23 to the retreat in the hills south of Rome and will have lunch with Benedict XVI before returning to the Vatican, the Holy See said in a statement Saturday.
• Benedict resigned Feb. 28, the first pontiff in 600 years to step down. Francis was elected on Wednesday.
• Francis will also meet with the Argentine president, Christina Kirchner, on the eve of his installation Mass on Tuesday, the Vatican said.
• The former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio has been an outspoken critic of Kirchner, who has imposed socially liberal measures that are anathema to the church, from gay marriage and adoption to free contraceptives for all.
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Syrian regime expands use of widely banned cluster bombs against civilians, rights group says
• BEIRUT (AP) -- The Syrian regime is expanding its use of widely banned cluster bombs, an international human rights group said in a report Saturday as the deadlocked conflict entered its third year.
• In the past six months, Syrian forces have dropped at least 156 cluster bombs in 119 locations across the country, causing mounting civilian casualties, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch said.
• Two strikes in the past two weeks killed 11 civilians, including two women and five children, the report said. The group said it based its findings on field investigations and analysis of more than 450 amateur videos.
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