Brother and sister Hardus and Nicolette Lotter, who made a brief court appearance on Wednesday charged with the murder of their parents, had been part of a religious sect and had been influenced by Nicolette’s boyfriend and co-accused, Mathew Naidoo, who had claimed he was “God’s messenger”, sources close to the investigation said on Wednesday.

A fake priest was caught trying to hear confessions in St. Peter’s Basilica and was tried by a Vatican tribunal, a Vatican judge said in an interview published Saturday.

A well-respected Ontario couple — a family doctor and his teacher wife — are at the centre of bizarre kidnapping allegations in a case that could spark debate about whether parents are justified in breaking the law if they believe their child is in peril. Dr. Renato Brun Del Re, his wife, Lucie, their son and several friends will appear in court in Hamilton today on kidnapping charges for their desperate efforts to remove their daughter, who is now 23, from what they believe is a cult operating in downtown Hamilton.