Vatican – News Stories About Vatican - Page 28

Mar 13, 2008 12:49 PM CDT

Kidnapped Priest Found Dead in Iraq

Captors tell church Chaldean archbishop was ill before death

(Newser) - The body of the Chaldean Catholic archbishop who was abducted last month has been found in a shallow grave in northern Iraq, the BBC reports. His kidnappers contacted church officials yesterday to tell them Paulos Faraj Rahho, archbishop of Mosul, had become very sick. They reported his death later that...

Environment, Bioethics Under Vatican's Scrutiny

Mar 10, 2008 3:30 PM CDT

Environment, Bioethics Under Vatican's Scrutiny

Church updates Catholic morality for modern, globalized life

(Newser) - Catholics must guard against "new sins" such as polluting the environment and using genetic modification, the Vatican says. Their church has updated the concept of sin for the contemporary world, paying special attention to the expanding and morally murky world of bioethics, a top official from the Apostolic Penitentiary,...

Pope to Cut Luther a Break

Mar 6, 2008 5:33 AM CST

Pope to Cut Luther a Break

Vatican changing view after 500 years

(Newser) - Five centuries after he ignited the Reformation by challenging papal authority, Martin Luther is expected to get a break from—of all people—Pope Benedict XVI. The pope is German and ostensibly that's the only thing he has in common with Luther. Nevertheless, the pope plans a warmer and fuzzier...

Vatican Meets With Muslims
to Set Summit

Mar 4, 2008 12:50 PM CST

Vatican Meets With Muslims to Set Summit

Leaders aim to mend rift created by pope's inflammatory speech

(Newser) - Leaders from the Muslim world met with Vatican officials today to begin preparations for this summer's landmark Catholic-Islamic summit. Pope Benedict XVI will participate in the talks in an effort by the two religions to reconcile differences aggravated by a 2006 speech by the pontiff that offended many Muslims, reports...

Vatican Goes to Confessional in an Art Museum

Mar 2, 2008 9:36 AM CST

Vatican Goes to Confessional in an Art Museum

Church reveals Inquisition artifacts

(Newser) - Sure, thousands of accused witches and blasphemers were burned and tortured during the Roman Catholic Church’s centuries-long Inquisition in the Middle Ages—but, with the help of a new art exhibition, the Vatican hopes to show that it wasn't so bad after all, Newsweek reports. The “Rare and...

'Saint Factory' Slows Down Production

Feb 19, 2008 11:57 AM CST

'Saint Factory' Slows Down Production

New Vatican rules will make getting a halo a little harder

(Newser) - The Vatican is moving to slow traffic on the road to sainthood, the BBC reports. Critics accused the Vatican of becoming a "saint factory" under the late Pope John Paul II, who created more saints than all his predecessors combined. The new, more rigorous guidelines under Benedict XVI require...

Spain's PM Tells Church to Get Out of Election

Feb 14, 2008 11:53 AM CST

Spain's PM Tells Church to Get Out of Election

Zapatero meets with Vatican rep over campaign to oust him

(Newser) - Spanish PM José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is meeting today with a Vatican representative to protest the Catholic Church's call for voters to oust his Socialist party in the March 9 general election. Zapatero was infuriated by bishops' publication of "moral guidance," calling on parishioners to vote out...

Jews Outraged at Vatican Prayer

Feb 8, 2008 4:15 AM CST

Jews Outraged at Vatican Prayer

Anger over call for Jewish conversion

(Newser) - An updated version of a centuries-old Good Friday prayer has opened a rift between Roman Catholics and Jews. When Pope Benedict XVI reinstated the Latin mass, the Vatican promised to rewrite a controversial prayer calling for the conversion of Jews. But the new, merely toned-down version has infuriated Jewish leaders...

British Cleric to Pope: Party On!

Jan 29, 2008 1:14 PM CST

British Cleric to Pope: Party On!

Archbishop of York knows Bavarian pontiff likes brew

(Newser) - An Anglican archbishop from the land of Monty Python brought Pope Benedict a hoppy Holy Grail this month, reports the Guardian. Archbishop of York John Sentamu had heard that Benedict liked Black Sheep, so he brought along the British ale and a custom brew dubbed Holy Grail to his audience...

Italy's Favorite Saint to Be Exhumed

Jan 8, 2008 2:00 PM CST

Italy's Favorite Saint to Be Exhumed

Preservation procedure sparks controversy among some devotees

(Newser) - The body of Padre Pio, one of Italy’s most beloved saints, will be exhumed this year for a “checkup” and to be put on display for public veneration, the Guardian reports. "It is our duty to allow the generations that come after us the ability to venerate...

Benedict Plans to Meet With Muslim Leaders

Jan 2, 2008 11:59 AM CST

Benedict Plans to Meet With Muslim Leaders

'Historic' spring summit seeks to mend rift after 2006 controversy

(Newser) - Catholic and Muslim leaders plan a "historic" meeting at the Vatican this spring, reports the AP, a year and a half after Pope Benedict's controversial comments about the Prophet Muhammad. Benedict proposed the meeting in response to an open letter from 138 Muslim scholars that urged interfaith dialogue based...

Pope Ushers in Christmas

Dec 24, 2007 8:02 PM CST

Pope Ushers in Christmas

Pontiff uses midnight Mass to speak out against harm to environment

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI ushered in Christmas with a traditional midnight Mass at St. Peter's Basilica, using his homily to speak out against the degradation of the environment and man's selfishness, reports Agence France Presse. The leader of the world's 1 billion Catholics lamented our "polluted world whose future is...

Catholics Now No. 1 in Britain

Dec 23, 2007 12:47 PM CST

Catholics Now No. 1 in Britain

Anglicans second to Catholicism for first time in 400 years

(Newser) - For the first time in 400 years, Catholicism has more adherents than the Church of England in Great Britain, the Sunday Telegraph reports. Immigrants from Eastern Europe and Africa have filled the pews of Catholic churches, while attendance at Anglican Sunday services has dipped 20% since 2000, according to a...

Italy Depressed by News Story
Calling Italy Depressed

Dec 22, 2007 7:12 PM CST

Italy Depressed by News Story Calling Italy Depressed

Portrait of Italian malaise hits a nerve

(Newser) - In a self-referential moment, the New York Times interviews its own reporter, Ian Fisher, about the nationwide soul-searching set off in Italy by Fisher's Dec. 13 article that depicts Italians as wallowing in a collective funk. Fisher's description of a dispirited national mood has prompted an impassioned response from all...

Blair Now Officially Catholic

Dec 22, 2007 11:16 AM CST

Blair Now Officially Catholic

Former British PM makes long-awaited conversion

(Newser) - Tony Blair converted to Catholicism yesterday, confirming months of rumors that he would switch from the Church of England, the UK Times reports. "I am very glad to receive Tony Blair into the Catholic church," said the archbishop of Westminster, who performed the ceremony in London. The former...

Pope Rips Christmas Materialism

Dec 9, 2007 12:36 PM CST

Pope Rips Christmas Materialism

Continues Vatican battle against rampant consumerism

(Newser) - Continuing the Vatican's battle against rampant consumerism on the occasion of Jesus' birthday, Pope Benedict XVI today blasted a pervasive "materialistic mentality" in "the way of living out and perceiving Christmas." The pontiff urged pilgrims gathered below his window on St. Peter's Square instead to "fill...

Michelangelo Sketch Turns Up at Vatican

Dec 7, 2007 4:25 PM CST

Michelangelo Sketch Turns Up at Vatican

Long-lost drawing is detailed plan for St. Peter's Basilica

(Newser) - A red chalk drawing, possibly Michelangelo's last before his death at 88, has been found in a Vatican archive after nearly 500 years. The sketch is a plan for the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, which Michelangelo was put in charge of in 1546, the BBC reports. A researcher "...

Vatican Offers Earthly Rewards

Nov 23, 2007 6:35 AM CST

Vatican Offers Earthly Rewards

Employees get new corporate-style bonus system

(Newser) - The Vatican is offering corporate-style performance bonuses to its workers for the first time, the Times of London reports. Pope Benedict XVI is offering rewards based on "dedication, professionalism, productivity and politeness." The conditions will apply to the thousands of lay workers who do everything from run Vatican...

950 Years Later, 2 Churches
May Reunify

Nov 16, 2007 12:26 PM CST

950 Years Later, 2 Churches May Reunify

Catholic, Orthodox leaders draw up road map to end schism

(Newser) - Nearly a millennium after they split, the Catholic and Orthodox churches have published a joint document outlining first steps towards reunification. The Ravenna Document imagines a reunified church with the Pope at its head and proposes a new council composed of Catholic and Orthodox bishops that could formally end the...

Pope to Shun Boston on US Visit

Nov 14, 2007 7:52 AM CST

Pope to Shun Boston on US Visit

Omission of city at center of church sex abuse scandal raises ire

(Newser) - For his much-anticipated inaugural trip to the US this spring Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit the White House, the United Nations, the site of the World Trade Center—but not Boston, where the Church sex abuse scandal first erupted. The omission of Boston from the papal tour has infuriated...