Catholic Church

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US Archbishop Quits Amid Sex Abuse Coverup Charges

As Vatican announces former envoy will stand trial on molestation charges

(Newser) - The archbishop of St. Paul, Minn., stepped down this morning over allegations that his deeply troubled archdiocese repeatedly failed to protect children from what the AP is calling "unspeakable harm from a pedophile priest." Out of a job is Archbishop John Nienstedt, as well as Auxiliary Bishop Lee...

Archdiocese Charged With Failing to Protect Kids

Prosecutors say Minneapolis church authorities ignored pedophile priest

(Newser) - Criminal charges were filed today against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for its handling of a priest who molested children, with a prosecutor saying church leaders "turned a blind eye" to the abuse. Ramsey County prosecutors charged the archdiocese as a corporation with six gross...

Vatican OKs Controversial Missionary for Sainthood

Seems like Francis pushed for Junipero Serra, despite Native American complaints

(Newser) - The Vatican's saint-making office has officially given a thumbs-up for the Rev. Junipero Serra to be declared a saint—four months after Pope Francis announced he would canonize the controversial 18th-century missionary during his upcoming visit to the United States. The Vatican said today that the Congregation for the...

Disgraced Cardinal Resigns After Sex Inquiry

Keith O'Brien gives up rights, privileges of cardinal

(Newser) - After sending him away for "penance," Pope Francis has officially accepted the resignation of disgraced cardinal Keith O'Brien. The cardinal resigned as archbishop in 2013 when he was accused of inappropriately touching four priests, but the latest move means O'Brien will give up the rights and...

Christian ISIS Captive Dies a Muslim— Now What?

Photojournalist James Foley apparently converted during captivity

(Newser) - Many Roman Catholics saw journalist James Foley—who was kidnapped, tortured, and beheaded by ISIS —as a symbol of enduring faith under horrible circumstances. Then it came out that he had converted to Islam in captivity. Now what? "The answer is we can’t assess it," says...

Pope: It's 'Selfish' Not to Have Children

After 'rabbits' remark, he praises big families again

(Newser) - Deciding not to have children is a "selfish choice," Pope Francis told an audience in St. Peter's Square yesterday, presumably referring to childless couples instead of people who take vows of celibacy. The pontiff—who said last month that Catholics shouldn't breed "like rabbits" —...

Vatican Probes Own Child-Porn Cases

(Newser) - The Vatican investigated two cases of child pornography possession in the past year, officials said yesterday. The chief prosecutor of the Vatican city state's criminal tribunal, Gian Piero Milano, cited the two cases in a speech summarizing the tribunal's work in 2014. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico...

Santorum: 'Very Difficult' to Listen to Pope

Ex-senator didn't like pontiff's statements on Catholics breeding 'like rabbits'

(Newser) - Pope Francis likely wasn't referring specifically to Rick Santorum when he said Monday that there was no need for Catholics to breed "like rabbits" —but the ex-Pennsylvania senator and past/possibly future US presidential contender didn't like what he heard. "It's sometimes very difficult to...

Pope Francis: Big Families Are Good
Pope Francis: Big Families
Are Good
Jan 21, 2015 6:59 AM CST

Pope Francis: Big Families Are Good

Softens his comment that Catholics needn't breed 'like rabbits'

(Newser) - Pope Francis praised big families today as a gift from God, after his comments that Catholics don't have to breed "like rabbits" made headlines this week. Francis said numerous children don't cause poverty in the developing world, as some have suggested, and that the real cause of...

Pope: There's No Need to Breed 'Like Rabbits'

Catholics have plenty of 'licit' ways to regulate births

(Newser) - After this colorful metaphor , an equally colorful simile from Pope Francis: While the pontiff firmly upholds church teaching banning contraception, he today said that Catholics don't have to breed "like rabbits" and should instead practice "responsible parenting." Speaking to reporters en route home from the Philippines,...

Pope Knocks Vatican's 'Spiritual Alzheimer's'

Pontiff describes 15 'ailments' in Christmas speech

(Newser) - Speaking to cardinals, bishops, and priests during his yearly Christmas speech, Pope Francis offered up a harsh critique of Vatican practices. Francis described 15 "ailments" within the church administration known as the Curia—ailments he's seeking to remedy next year, the BBC reports. Among his concerns are "...

Median Age of US Nuns: Mid- to Late 70s

Vatican report praises their work

(Newser) - A Vatican investigation of American nuns that many sisters feared would be highly critical ended up being "generally appreciative" instead, reports the New York Times . But it still laid out some stark numbers: The US now has about 50,000 Catholic nuns, down from the peak of 125,000...

Pope: Kids Deserve a Mom and Dad

They have a 'right' to that type of family, he says

(Newser) - Despite a recent move toward embracing non-traditional families , Pope Francis said yesterday that "children have a right to grow up in a family with a father and a mother." He made the remark during the Complementarity of Man and Woman conference, a "gathering of global religious conservatives"...

After Man Tells Bishop He Smells, Vatican Takes Action

3 public showers to be installed

(Newser) - Pope Francis made headlines last year when he said that he would like a "poor church, and for the poor." Now, after a man declined an invitation to dine with a bishop because, the man said simply, "puzzo"—or "I smell"—the pope is...

Pope Francis Beatifies Paul VI

Says 'God is not afraid of new things'

(Newser) - Pope Francis today beatified Pope Paul VI, concluding the remarkable meeting of bishops debating family issues that drew parallels to the tumultuous reforms of the Second Vatican Council which Paul oversaw and implemented. Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI was on hand for the Mass. The bishops failed to reach consensus on...

Vatican Warming Toward Gay and Divorced Catholics

Synod urges Church to appreciate 'positive aspects of civil unions,' 'gifts' of gay Catholics

(Newser) - The Vatican, in the latest sign that this is not your daddy's Catholic Church , appears to be opening its arms to gay and divorced Catholics, urging its priests to make "courageous pastoral choices" that are inclusive to a bevy of family models outside the traditional one. The shift...

New Jersey Nun Closer to Sainthood

Miriam Teresa Demjanovich being beatified, is credited with curing boy

(Newser) - A New Jersey nun credited with curing a boy's eye disease is moving a step closer to sainthood with her beatification. A beatification Mass for Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, who died in 1927 at age 26, was being led today by Cardinal Angelo Amato at the Cathedral Basilica of...

Pope Marries Couples Who Were Living in Sin

Marriage is 'real life, not some TV show,' he says

(Newser) - Telling his audience that marriage is "real life, not some TV show," Pope Francis today married a somewhat risque group—by Catholic Church standards, anyway—of 20 couples that included a guy who annulled his first marriage, the mother of an out-of-wedlock daughter, and couples who were already...

Satanists Stole Holy Wafer for Black Mass: Archbishop

His lawsuit asks judge to halt Satanic ritual in Oklahoma City

(Newser) - A Satanist group has stolen a holy wafer from a Catholic church to use in an upcoming "black Mass," or so alleges a lawsuit filed yesterday by the Oklahoma City Catholic archbishop. Paul S. Coakley asked an Oklahoma County district court judge "to halt the desecration" of...

Pope Figures He'll Live '2 or 3' More Years

Doesn't rule out retirement

(Newser) - Pope Francis thinks he's got only a few years left to live, and that seems OK with him. "Two or three years, and then I'll be off to the Father's house," he told reporters aboard a flight to the Vatican. He was speaking in lighthearted...

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