Vatican

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7 Deadly Sins? Try These On for Size
7 Deadly Sins? Try These On
for Size
OPINION

7 Deadly Sins? Try These On for Size

PJ O'Rourke disagrees with Vatican, comes up with his own no-nos

(Newser) - The Vatican has released a list of seven new Deadly Sins, and satirist-curmudgeon PJ O’Rourke isn’t impressed. Writing in the Weekly Standard, O’Rourke details the updated catalogue, which includes “morally debatable experimentation,” “social inequality and injustice,” and “genetic manipulation.” Finding it...

Muslims Outnumber Catholics: Vatican

Islam is world's biggest religion with 1.3B members

(Newser) - Islam has topped Roman Catholicism as the world's biggest religion for the first time, the Vatican said today. About 1.1 billion people are still Catholic, but Muslims have pulled ahead with 1.3 billion members. “For the first time in history we are no longer at the top:...

Prominent Italian Muslim Baptized by Pope

Convert Takes Big Step at Vatican During Easter Vigil

(Newser) - Italy's best-known commentator on Islam converted to Catholicism yesterday at the Vatican, during Easter vigil, and was baptized by the Pope himself, the AP reports. Though Magdi Allam was born a Muslim, he said he "never" practiced his native religion, and made his name criticizing Islamic fanaticism, receiving death...

Pope Slams Iraq War
 Pope Slams Iraq War 

Pope Slams Iraq War

Speaks to faithful in Palm Sunday Mass

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI harshly criticized the Iraq war today at the close of a Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square, the AP reports. “Enough with the slaughters. Enough with the violence. Enough with the hatred,” he said to applause from a crowd of thousands. He said...

Catholic Colleges Brace for Pope's Criticism

Free-thinking academics anticipate call to toe the line

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI’s April address to top Catholic educators is likely to be a call to observe church teachings more closely, reports the Washington Post. All but 20 of the 235 American Catholic colleges and universities are too freethinking to suit the Vatican, says one expert, and the situation...

Kidnapped Priest Found Dead in Iraq
Kidnapped Priest Found Dead in Iraq

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

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
Pope to Cut Luther a Break

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

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

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
'Saint Factory' Slows Down Production

'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

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
Jews Outraged at Vatican Prayer

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!
British Cleric to Pope: Party On!

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

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

'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
Pope Ushers in Christmas

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
Catholics Now No. 1 in Britain

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

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
Blair Now Officially Catholic

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...

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