Catholic Church

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Gay Marriage Arriving in Mexico City

Gay rights battle raging across Latin America

(Newser) - The same-sex Mexican wedding will be born tomorrow as a new law puts Mexico City on the front lines of the gay marriage battle raging across Latin America. But even as gay couples line up to tie the knot, the Catholic Church and President Felipe Calderon's conservative party are gearing...

Gays Denied Communion: Then Turn Away All Sinners

Wig-wearing activists storm out of Dutch church

(Newser) - Hundreds of Dutch gay rights activists dressed in pink wigs stormed out of Mass yesterday in protest of a local Catholic priest's refusal to give communion to a gay man. The dispute began last month when the man, crowned Carnival prince in a nearby town, was denied communion because he...

Smears Against Catholic Editor Linked to Vatican

Chief of Berlusconi paper says church figure provided fake dossier

(Newser) - The source of a bogus dossier that ousted the editor of a Catholic paper is now rumored to be the Vatican itself. Dino Boffo was forced to step down as editor of the Italian Bishops' Conference daily paper after a Bersluconi family paper printed a story labeling him a "...

Bishop's Holocaust Denial Boosts UK Church's Fame

Richard Williamson a headache for St. Pius Society

(Newser) - The London-based Society of St. Pius X has done its best to hide away Richard Williamson since his infamous pronouncement last year that no Jews were killed in Nazi gas chambers. “We have lost one of our four bishops,” laments the group's leader, Bernard Fellay. “We can't...

Pope Urges UK Bishops to Fight Gay Equality Bill

Legislation 'violates the natural law,' pontiff contends

(Newser) - Pope Benedict wants English and Welsh bishops to fight proposed human rights legislation with "missionary zeal." The Equality Bill, which is pending in Parliament, is intended to combat discrimination on the basis of sex, race, disability, religion, or sexual orientation, but the pontiff argues that "it actually...

Make Annulments Tougher: Pope
 Make Annulments 
 Tougher: Pope 

Make Annulments Tougher: Pope

Benedict thinks pessimism about lasting marriage is driving trend

(Newser) - Pope Benedict wants Catholic Church tribunals to make marriage annulments more difficult to get. “We run the risk of falling into an anthropological pessimism which, in the light of today's cultural situation, considers it almost impossible to marry,” he said today. Marriage is stronger than people think, he...

Mormon Church Aimed to Cover Tracks on Marriage Ban
Mormon Church Aimed to Cover Tracks on Marriage Ban
PROP 8 TRIAL

Mormon Church Aimed to Cover Tracks on Marriage Ban

Directed funds to outside organization

(Newser) - The Mormon church wanted its members to support the 2008 effort to ban same-sex marriage in California, but urged they do it through an outside organization to give the leadership “plausible deniability,” according to documents released today in the Proposition 8 trial in San Francisco. The Catholic church...

Pope OK After Incident Before Christmas Mass

Woman clears barrier at Vatican, knocks down pontiff

(Newser) - A woman jumped the barriers in St. Peter's Basilica and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI tonight as he walked down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve Mass, a Vatican spokesman says. The pope was not hurt and quickly got up. Benedict, 82, calmly resumed his walk to the basilica's...

Vatican Praises The Simpsons' Take on God

Despite his jokes, Homer knows Him 'quite well'

(Newser) - The Vatican's newspaper sees right through Homer Simpson’s superficial ambivalence about—or even ignorance of—God to a soul that finds its “ultimate refuge in” the supreme deity. In a study of that great theological repository, The Simpsons, the editors of L'Osservatore Romano praise its portrayal of “...

Shakespeare May Have Secretly Been Catholic

English seminary in Rome says it has docs to prove it

(Newser) - Documents discovered by an English seminary in Rome suggest William Shakespeare may have been a secret Catholic, a revelation that could potentially solve the mystery of the bard's religious leanings. The Venerable English College points to cryptic names signed in its guest book for visiting pilgrims that they say indicate...

Irish Bishop Quits Over Child Sex Scandal

Vatican mum about scathing report, government furious

(Newser) - The bishop of Limerick is offering his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI today in the wake of a damning report on the church's cover up of multiple child sexual abuse cases. Donal Murray acted "inexcusably" in one case and handled others badly, the report concluded. The report has caused...

Sex Abuse by Irish Priests 'Hidden for Decades'

Senior clerics implicated in child abuse cover-up

(Newser) - Catholic authorities in Ireland covered up sexual abuse by priests for decades in an effort to protect the church, according to a damning government report. The report, which looks into allegations of child sex abuse against 46 Dublin-area priests over a 30-year period, will "shock us all," said...

Zip It on Communion Ban: Bishop to Kennedy
 Zip It on 
 Communion 
 Ban: Bishop 
 to Kennedy 
ROLLICKING RHODE ISLAND

Zip It on Communion Ban: Bishop to Kennedy

Tobin thinks Patrick's spiritual matters should be left private

(Newser) - The bishop who had the nerve to tell a Kennedy not to take communion—because he supports abortion rights—is steamed that he blabbed about it. “I am disappointed that the congressman would make public my pastoral and confidential request,” says Bishop Thomas Tobin of Patrick Kennedy. He...

RI Bishop Disses Kennedy Over Pro-Choice Stance
 RI Bishop Disses 
 Kennedy Over 
 Pro-Choice 
 Stance 

NO COMMUNION FOR YOU, MY SON

RI Bishop Disses Kennedy Over Pro-Choice Stance

Spat over Patrick's position on abortion escalates

(Newser) - Health care reform, the cause of his father's life, has made Rep. Patrick Kennedy persona non grata in his Rhode Island parish—thanks to the furor over publicly funded abortion. As the debate rages, Bishop Thomas Tobin has told the only public servant remaining in America's most famous Catholic family...

DC, Catholic Church in Gay Rights Standoff

Church to pull plug on social programs if marriage bill passes

(Newser) - The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington has told the District of Columbia it will tear up its social service contracts to help the city's needy if it passes a proposed same-sex marriage bill next month. The bill wouldn't require the church to perform or provide space for gay marriages, but would...

ET, Phone Rome: Vatican Holds Alien Conference

Astrobiology experts ponder big picture

(Newser) - Does intelligent life exist elsewhere in the universe and if so, is it Christian? Those and other weighty questions are up for discussion this week at a Vatican conference on astrobiology. Religious leaders and a range of scientists—including some non-Catholics—have been called in to discuss the possibility of...

Anglican Deal May Lead to Married Priests

Vatican's gesture cracks door to ending celibacy

(Newser) - The Vatican's attempts to heal the centuries-old rift with the Anglican Church may have a consequence nobody intended: an end to celibacy for priests. By offering a new Anglican rite under the umbrella of Catholicism, Pope Benedict XVI has invited married Anglican clergy into the fold—and cracked open...

Catholic Church Welcomes Disgruntled Anglicans

Extends a hand to those unhappy with gay bishops, ordained women

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI has created a new church structure for Anglicans who want to join the Catholic Church, responding to the disillusionment of some Anglicans over the ordination of women and the election of openly gay bishops. The new provision will allow Anglicans to join the Catholic Church while maintaining...

Pope Canonizes Father Damien
 Pope Canonizes Father Damien 

Pope Canonizes Father Damien

Belgian missionary, four others elevated to sainthood

(Newser) - Father Damien, the Belgian missionary who ministered to leprosy victims on the Hawaiian island of Molokai before contracting and dying of the disease, was canonized today. The 19th-century priest, the founder of the Little Sisters of the Poor, and three others were elevated to sainthood in a ceremony that drew...

Vatican Slams Sex Abuse in Other Religions

Pedophilia statement charges that most abusers are gay

(Newser) - The Vatican hit out at critics of its handling of the church's sexual abuse crisis yesterday, maintaining that most of its abusive clergymen were gay men and not pedophiles. The Holy See's UN representative cited "available research" that only 5% or less of its clergy were involved in...

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