The Trumpet staff is out of the office this weekend. In lieu of the regular Weekend Web, so as not to leave you empty-handed we assembled a few stories from the past week that caught our eye.

Pope Benedict xvi’s visit to America dominated the headlines all week. While most outlets swooned over Benedict’s every move, a few astute analysts proved to be a little more objective in their observations of the pope’s actions.

In this article, the Australian noted how Benedict, speaking on his 81st birthday, laid part of the blame for the clergy abuse scandal that has rocked the U.S. church and cost it hundreds of millions of dollars on the breakdown of values that has occurred in American society.

Meanwhile, David Gibson in the Wall Street Journal on Friday observed how Benedict has made resurrecting a distinctive Catholic culture a principal theme of this first visit to America.

And while their boss might be across the Atlantic wining and dining with the Americans, officials at the Vatican aren’t taking it easy. After meeting in Israel this week, Israeli and Vatican officials released a “joint communique” highlighting the “atmosphere of cordiality” at the meetings. Israel and the Vatican are working to increase “mutual trust” by pressing forward with an agreement that would restore certain Christian holy sites in Israel to Vatican control. Among these sites are such areas as the Caesarea Maritima—purported to be the site of the “last supper.” The Trumpet has often written about the Vatican’s keen interest in Jerusalem and the future of this growing relationship. For example, read Jerusalem in Prophecy.

With skyrocketing food prices and foot shortages sparking riots around the world (see Joel Hilliker’s column from last Wednesday), this piece by Monica Davis explains how America is not immune to the potential for food shortages, food riots and food insecurity.

In his column last Tuesday, Robert Morley wrote about the coming oil shortages and the potentially catastrophic consequences for America as a result of Russia’s declining oil production. Russia is the world’s second-largest producer. On Wednesday, the Financial Timesrevealed that oil production in Nigeria, the largest oil producer in Africa and the eigth-largest oil exporter in the world, could fall by a third by 2015.

While former U.S. President Jimmy Carter conducted his own freelance diplomacy with Hamas this week, it appears the Iranians have found a new way of smuggling weapons into Gaza. The Jerusalem Postreported that Iranian smugglers are dropping the weapons just off the coast of Gaza in waterproof floatation devices, which are then retrieved by Hamas terrorists. And while the Israeli Navy is able to intercept many of these weapons, the Israeli government remains utterly incapable of working up the will to confront Iran (or Jimmy Carter, for that matter).

Meanwhile, in Iraq, all the talk is about the impending withdrawal of American troops, a move recommended by Gen. David Petraeus before the Senate Armed Services Committee this week. But while a large-scale withdrawal might appease the American public, it would be devastating for Israel, says Townhall’s Chuck Colson. With its eastern flank exposed, the fledgling Jewish state would quickly fall prey to Iran’s ambitions for nuclear Armageddon, which Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu warned about again this week.

Lastly, this column from the ever-prescient Charles Krauthammer explains how the era of nuclear nonproliferation is over, and that America and the West must begin to face up to and deal with the reality of a world replete with multiple rogue nuclear states and organizations.