Vatican

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Gay Critics Are Victims, Too: Vatican

Tells UN stigmatization is violation of 'fundamental human rights'

(Newser) - It’s not just gays who suffer discrimination, the Vatican says: Those who decry homosexual behavior are stigmatized for their beliefs, and it amounts to a violation of their "fundamental human rights," a Vatican official told the UN Human Rights Council Tuesday. "People are being attacked for...

Pope John Paul Gets Own Facebook Page
 John Paul Hits Facebook 
Mar 12, 2011 7:37 AM CST

John Paul Hits Facebook

Part of Vatican's social-networking push

(Newser) - Sure, Pope John Paul II is set to be beatified, but now he's even on Facebook. The Vatican, continuing its efforts to get hip with the kids, is unveiling a Facebook page to hype the late pope's May 1 beatification, featuring video highlights of his 27 years as pontiff. The...

Pope's Coffin Will Be Exhumed for Beatification

Faithful will be able to pray before it at John Paul's May ceremony

(Newser) - The coffin of John Paul II will be exhumed for his beatification ceremony in May, reports Reuters . It will remain closed, but the faithful will be able to pray before it at the Vatican. About a million people are expected at the ceremony—which will bring John Paul one step...

Vatican: You Cannot Confess by iPhone

Penance requires a 'personal dialogue between penitents, their confessor'

(Newser) - So much for instant absolution: The Vatican today emphatically stressed that Catholics cannot confess by iPhone , one day after news of the "Confession: A Roman Catholic App" emerged, reports the AFP . "It is essential to understand that the rites of penance require a personal dialogue between penitents and...

Inside Berlusconi's 'Bunga Bunga' Room

Prosecutors bare details: stripper pole, nurses' uniforms, and more

(Newser) - The reports of Silvio Berlusconi's activities just got a little more colorful. The Telegraph shares details contained within a 389-page investigation assembled by prosecutors, which exposes the sordid goings-on at the leader's alleged sex parties. They reportedly involved a "bunga bunga" room with sofas and a pole for strip...

John Paul's 'Miracle' Shows Catholic Church's Hypocrisy

Michael Kinsley: If we used stem cells, we wouldn't need miracles

(Newser) - News that the Vatican has given the late pontiff John Paul II credit for a miracle related to Parkinson's leads Michael Kinsley—who has Parkinson's himself—to one conclusion: "The Roman Catholic Church has either a very good or a very bad sense of humor." After all, if...

Secret Vatican Edict: Don't Report Abusive Priests

At a later meeting, bishops told to remember they were 'not policemen'

(Newser) - The Vatican is scrambling to explain a secret 1997 edict rejecting an Irish Catholic Church proposal to report pedophile priests to the local authorities. The “strictly confidential” document, obtained by Ireland’s RTE television for a new documentary, said that reporting priests might give them grounds to appeal to...

John Paul II Speeding Toward Sainthood

Benedict expected to beatify him this year

(Newser) - John Paul II's fast track to sainthood gets even faster this week. A Vatican panel has concluded that the former pontiff did indeed perform a miracle—a nun says her Parkinson's disappeared after she prayed to him—and will present its findings to Pope Benedict within days, reports Reuters . Benedict...

Discovery Channel, Vatican Team Up for Exorcist Series

Church will allow its investigations to be recreated on TV

(Newser) - Discovery Channel will deepen its involvement with the supernatural in a new series called the Exorcist Files—with the unusual twist that the Vatican is helping out, Entertainment Weekly reports. The network will recreate investigations of demonic possessions and hauntings conducted by the Catholic Church, which is opening its files...

Amid $31M Bank Probe, Vatican Creates Financial Watchdog

New laws will also fight terrorist financing

(Newser) - The Vatican today created a financial watchdog agency and issued new laws to fight money laundering and terrorist financing in a major effort to shed its image as a tax haven that for years has been mired in scandal and secrecy. The decrees, which go into effect April 1, were...

Pope Razzes China in Christmas Message

Tells Catholics in the country to persevere

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI urged loyal Catholics in China and Iraq to have courage in the face of persecution and limits on their religious freedom, as the largest number of pilgrims in a decade flocked to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem. Benedict's traditional holiday speech highlighted the tensions between Beijing and the...

Amid Heightened Security, Pope Ushers In Christmas

Pontiff heralds holiday without incident

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI ushered in Christmas Eve with an evening Mass today amid heightened security concerns following the package bombings at two Rome embassies and Christmas Eve security breaches at the Vatican the past two years running. Benedict made his way down the central aisle of St. Peter's Basilica at...

Virgin Mary Appeared at Wisc. Chapel: Catholic Bishop

Mary is said to have appeared to a Belgian immigrant 3 times

(Newser) - About a dozen sites worldwide can boast that they have been validated by the Catholic Church as being sites where the Virgin Mary has appeared—and for the first time, that list includes a US location. A tiny chapel 17 miles northeast of Green Bay, Wisc., called Our Lady of...

WikiLeaks: Vatican Pulled Out of Holocaust Task Force

Group sought release of Pius XII records

(Newser) - The Vatican backtracked on an agreement to join an organization dedicated to remembering the Holocaust because of mounting controversy over the wartime role of Pope Pius XII according to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks. Plans for the Vatican to join the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance,...

Vatican Stonewalled Irish Sex-Abuse Investigation
Vatican Stonewalled Irish
Sex-Abuse Investigation
WIKILEAKS CABLES
Dec 11, 2010 9:09 AM CST

Vatican Stonewalled Irish Sex-Abuse Investigation

Holy See was 'offended' by Dublin's request for info

(Newser) - Ireland's 2009 sex-abuse commission was an excruciating national cleansing—but when the Vatican was called on to help air the clergy's part in the scandal it balked, refusing to let its officials testify. The Holy See even went so far as say many were "offended" by requests for information,...

Model for Michelangelo's Pieta Found

12-inch sculpture was covered with tape

(Newser) - A US art historian says he’s found the model for Michelangelo's great statue the Pieta at the Vatican, the Daily Telegraph reports. An Italian art collector picked up the 12-inch terracotta model at an antiques shop; before restoration, it was covered in paint and dotted with Scotch tape. But...

Condoms OK for Ladies, Too: Pope

Even if it also will prevent babies

(Newser) - OK, OK, everyone can use condoms—but only if you’re trying to prevent HIV. That’s the new word from the Vatican, which today declared that giving HIV to your sexual partner was a greater evil than preventing a possible pregnancy, the AP reports. The statement clarifies the assertion...

Pope Says Condoms Are Sometimes OK

Prostitutes could use them to curb AIDS infection

(Newser) - Pope Benedict—he who not too long ago said condoms make the AIDS crisis worse —now thinks they're not such a bad idea all the time. ("Stunning development," says AP , noting the church's opposition to artificial contraception, while Reuters sees it as a potential "sea change"...

Pope Names 24 New Cardinals
 Pope Names 
 24 New Cardinals 
Nov 20, 2010 6:06 AM CST

Pope Names 24 New Cardinals

... Who will elect his successor

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI named 24 new cardinals today, the third time during his tenure that he has added to the body of "princes of the church" who will eventually name his successor, reports the AP. The group is mostly Italian, spurring speculation that the papacy could swing back to...

Vatican Issues Warning on Angels, Demons Sect

Members believe women who have abortions are possessed by the devil

(Newser) - The Vatican has issued a warning to bishops to watch out for an ultra right-wing Catholic sect that prays to angels to combat demons, and believes women who have had abortions are possessed by the devil. Dozens of priests and nuns are part of the group, Opus Angelorum, and some...

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