During audiences at the Vatican on Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI called divorce and abortion "grave sins" and warned that a "culture of death" may even put the lives of the elderly at risk.

The pope says divorce and abortion harm the dignity of human life, cause suffering to those involved and hurt innocent victims, such as the unborn child or the children of a divorced couple.

He told participants in a Catholic congress that "The ethical judgement of the Church on divorce and abortion is clear and well-known, they are serious offences... which violate human dignity, inflict deep injustice on human and social relations and offend God himself, guarantor of conjugal peace and origin of life."

However, he did add that there were those that have committed such "errors" and have "suffered" from wounds of the soul and sought peace.

"Divorce and abortion are choices....which sometimes develop in difficult and dramatic circumstances... and are a source of profound suffering for those who take such decisions."

He then called on the Catholic church to be merciful to those that have experienced such events.

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Looking for a good, cathartic read? Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert might be just it. Gilbert's memoir chronicling her year abroad following a painful divorce has become a huge success with more than 1 million copies in print and published in 30 languages.

This is not a huge surprise to us at First Wives World. With all of the divorced men and women out there, why wouldn't this book be a success?

Eat, Pray, Love details Gilbert's journey from a divorce to an enlightened, if more spiritual, place. She spends four months eating in Italy, four months praying and meditating in India, and four months finding a balance in Indonesia.

Gilbert, who begins her first national book tour this Friday in Arizona, says that her book tends to speak to all people, and said, "Even if you're not into the spiritual journey, you can enjoy the pizza."

She says that after her divorce, she desperately need to do what she did in order to "grow up" and get her life "back together."

Sounds like a great idea to me. But according to Gilbert, there are those have disagreed and told her that a year long vacation was nothing but a "selfish escape" from her "romantic failures." What do you think?

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The rate of divorce among those in the armed forces held steady last year at 3.3 percent, which is leaving some wondering whether the figure — which was reported by the Pentagon — is an accurate one.

Consider for a moment the amount of stress that having a spouse in the military, on active duty, can put on a marriage, especially if there are children involved, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if at least half of them divorced. So, why aren't they?

One Army spokesman, Paul Boyce, credits the military's "strong programs ... and a sense of real teamwork among the families," for the fairly low divorce rate.

For example, the Marines have offered workshops to teach couples to manage conflict, solve problems, and communicate better, and the Navy started a similar program.

The Army has started paying for what it calls its "Family Covenant," a broad initiative of services and facilities to improve the quality of life for military families nationwide and overseas. It includes improving health care, schools, housing, and child care to relieve stress on spouses.

Army chaplains have trained some 60,000 active duty and reservists in the "Strong Bonds" program for strengthening personal relationships. Troops also get mental-health training in a program called "Battlemind" that teaches about common problems to expect at home as troops readjust to domestic life.

Still, the numbers tracked do not speak of marriages that are in trouble or falling apart, just those that have ended. In 2006 troops were given a mental health survey, 20 percent of those questioned said that they or their spouse were planning a divorce, compared with 15 percent in 2005.

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I was having a perfectly lovely morning — coffee and breakfast in bed — when my boyfriend turns to me and says, "We have to talk about something". Uh oh, I thought.

Turns out he was just toying with me and wanted to talk about work stuff, but it still left me reeling. When he said those words I panicked and the fact that my reaction to it was "No" and a feeling like I wanted to bury my head in the sand, got me thinking.

Many marriages dissolve due to a lack of communication, and additionally, many divorces turn into even bigger nightmares than they have to be due to the same problem.

I did some research on the subject, and my conclusion? Most people hate the words "we have to talk" and most people avoid difficult conversations. Why? Well, because they're difficult and uncomfortable and who wants to do that?

But, there are ways to have reasonable, effective conversations about difficult and/or uncomfortable subjects. I found an article on Mediate.com offering a step-by-step checklist for difficult conversations. It offers tips on how to prepare yourself, suggestions on a successful outcome and ideas on how to open the conversation.

I know from my own personal experience that putting off a "talk" can be equally, if not more stressful than having it, and that once I finally do have it, I usually feel much better. So, if you're currently putting off a difficult conversation, or if you're engaged in an argument that doesn't seem to come to a resolution, I recommend you give this a read.