Catholic Church – News Stories About Catholic Church - Page 31

ET, Phone Rome:
Vatican Holds
Alien Conference

Nov 11, 2009 2:35 AM CST

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

Oct 22, 2009 4:55 AM CDT

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

Oct 20, 2009 8:42 AM CDT

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

Oct 11, 2009 2:44 PM CDT

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

Sep 29, 2009 5:22 AM CDT

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...

Uruguay Legalizes
Gay Adoption

Sep 10, 2009 1:48 AM CDT

Uruguay Legalizes Gay Adoption

First Latin American nation to let same-sex couples adopt

(Newser) - Uruguay's senate has approved the first law in Latin America allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt children, AFP reports. The bill, backed by leftist President Tabare Vazquez, passed despite fierce objections from the Catholic church and right-wing politicians. Uruguay, traditionally much more liberal than other countries in the region,...

Flu-Fearing Churches Ban Peace Handshakes

Sep 8, 2009 2:37 PM CDT

Flu-Fearing Churches Ban Peace Handshakes

'Sign of peace,' prayer hand holding barred amid swine flu warnings

(Newser) - Churches nationwide are bracing for cases of swine flu, with one in Cincinnati banning peace handshakes during Mass, the Enquirer reports. The Catholic church passed out a flier telling parishioners not to shake with their neighbors during the “sign of peace” or clasp hands during the “Our Father”...

Catholic Bishops
Slam Obamacare

Aug 28, 2009 3:30 AM CDT

Catholic Bishops Slam Obamacare

Fears of abortion funding clash with social service concerns

(Newser) - After decades lobbying for better health care for the poor, a growing number of Catholic bishops have become an unexpected voice of opposition against President Obama's health care plan, the New York Times reports. "No health care reform is better than the wrong sort of health care reform,"...

US Nuns Dodge
Specter of Sex Abuse

OPINION

Aug 17, 2009 9:11 AM CDT

US Nuns Dodge Specter of Sex Abuse

(Newser) - Last week the largest group of American nuns held its annual meeting, and once again they refused to let survivors of sexual abuse in Catholic schools attend. When even the bishops have acknowledged the depth and seriousness of abuse within the Church, it's strange for the nuns to bury their...

Why Gingrich
Became Catholic

analysis

Aug 16, 2009 5:20 PM CDT

Why Gingrich Became Catholic

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich shrugged off religious issues while in office, and was recently seen reading a novel before Mass—so why his sudden conversion to Catholicism? Some analysts say he converted this spring to position himself for the Republican nomination in 2012. Joining other high-profile conservatives on the road to Rome,...

Holy Hell:
Churches
Squeezed
by Economy

Aug 11, 2009 2:37 AM CDT

Holy Hell: Churches Squeezed by Economy

(Newser) - The hallelujahs are strained in US churches these days as donations plunge at the same time demand for aid is skyrocketing, reports the Wall Street Journal. Congregations across the nation are slashing budgets and even laying off staff, including pastors. Churches and synagogues usually weather downturns well, but not this...

Italy OKs RU-486; Vatican Threatens Excommunications

Jul 31, 2009 1:37 PM CDT

Italy OKs RU-486; Vatican Threatens Excommunications

(Newser) - Italy has legalized the abortion drug RU-486, drawing the ire of the Vatican, which threatened to excommunicate doctors who prescribe the medication and women who take it. A church official said using the pill is "a sin in a moral and juridical sense," but a politician who is...

Vatican
Warms
to Wilde

OPINION

Jul 17, 2009 9:38 AM CDT

Vatican Warms to Wilde

Paper praises writer's 'lucid' analysis of his world

(Newser) - The Vatican long regarded Oscar Wilde as a “dissolute homosexual,” but things have changed, writes Richard Owen in the Times of London. A review in the Vatican newspaper of a study on the Irish writer celebrates him as “one of the personalities of the 19th century who...

Pope Has
Best Take on Financial Crisis

OPINION

Jul 13, 2009 10:13 AM CDT

Pope Has Best Take on Financial Crisis

Goldman exec touts Benedict's 6-point plan for global economy

(Newser) - All of Pope Benedict XVI's gaffes and controversies have obscured his principal appeal, writes Brian Griffiths in the Times of London: he's a scholar, with an uncommon command of theology and philosophy. For Griffiths, a vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs, the pope's recent encyclical on the economy is "without...

Obama Promises Pope He'll Work to Cut US Abortions

Jul 11, 2009 6:36 AM CDT

Obama Promises Pope He'll Work to Cut US Abortions

(Newser) - President Obama told Pope Benedict XVI yesterday that he would make every effort to reduce the number of abortions in the US, according to a Vatican spokesman. Bioethics and life issues were the focus of the men's 40-minute talk yesterday. The pontiff gave the president a booklet explaining the church's...

Vatican Steps Up Scrutiny
of American Nuns

Jul 2, 2009 1:57 AM CDT

Vatican Steps Up Scrutiny of American Nuns

Nuns fear church heirarchy is seeking to return them to strictly traditional ways

(Newser) - The Vatican has launched two major probes into the lives of America's 60,000 nuns, the New York Times reports. Many nuns have stopped wearing habits, moved out of convents, and found work in academia or political advocacy in the last few decades, and some fear the investigations are part...

Kissing Priest Marries Galpal

Jun 17, 2009 8:34 AM CDT

Kissing Priest Marries Galpal

(Newser) - In scarcely more than a month, Alberto Cutié has gone from celebrity priest to sex scandal poster boy to Episcopalian—now he can add boring old married guy to his resume, reports the AP. The Miami priest who left the Catholic Church amid a racy photo scandal married his secret...

'Father Oprah,' Fiancée Set Wedding Date

Jun 12, 2009 3:39 PM CDT

'Father Oprah,' Fiancée Set Wedding Date

Former Catholic cleric plans Episcopalian nuptials

(Newser) - The onetime Catholic priest whose cavorting with his then-girlfriend led to his departure from the church is headed for the altar—as the groom. The Rev. Alberto Cutié, aka the "kissing priest," and his girlfriend of 2 years plan to wed this month in the Episcopal church,...

Confession Isn't Therapy, Church Warns

Jun 4, 2009 4:12 AM CDT

Confession Isn't Therapy, Church Warns

Priests told to get tough on sinners instead of providing counseling sessions

(Newser) - The Vatican plans a campaign to remind priests that the confessional isn't a psychiatrist's couch, the Guardian reports. A handbook will be issued to emphasize that sinners are in confession to be given penance, not counseling sessions. The number of Catholics going to confession has slumped in recent years and...

'Church Is About Forgiveness': Kissing Priest

May 31, 2009 2:49 PM CDT

'Church Is About Forgiveness': Kissing Priest

'Father Oprah' gives first Episcopal sermon to standing ovation

(Newser) - His Catholic parish was scandalized when photos surfaced of the Rev. Alberto Cutié cavorting on the beach with a 35-year-old divorceé, but his new Episcopalian flock greeted his first sermon this morning with a standing ovation, reports the Miami Herald. From the altar of Miami’s Episcopal Church of the...