Catholic Church

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Why Gingrich Became Catholic


 Why Gingrich 
 Became Catholic 
analysis

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

(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

(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
 Vatican 
 Warms 
 to Wilde 
OPINION

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
Pope Has
Best Take on Financial Crisis
OPINION

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

(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

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
 Kissing Priest Marries Galpal 

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

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

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

'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...

Kissing Fla. Priest Joins Episcopal Church

He's expected to marry girlfriend and keep preaching

(Newser) - The Miami priest who sparked a debate on celibacy earlier this month when he was caught kissing and embracing a woman has left the Roman Catholic church to join the more liberal Episcopalians. The latter doesn’t require chastity for priests, and Alberto Cutié is expected to announce that he’...

Pizzeria in Town Built by Domino's Chief Not Domino's

(Newser) - The first pizza shop in Domino’s founder Thomas Monaghan’s Catholic university town of Ave Maria, Fla., will not be a Domino’s, the Fort Myers News-Press reports. Domino’s says the town is covered by another franchise’s delivery radius, and Ave Maria will get a Milano’s...

Pope Benedict Wants to Meet You on Facebook

(Newser) - Pope Benedict probably isn’t at the computer himself, but the Vatican is making a major push to lure young believers online, Reuters reports. It’s launched www.pope2you.net, which offers Web 2.0 applications like “The pope meets you on Facebook,” and another that downloads the...

Sex-Abuse Report Shames Ireland, Church
Sex-Abuse Report Shames Ireland, Church
OPINION

Sex-Abuse Report Shames Ireland, Church

Writer lauds harrowing report of violence against children

(Newser) - The massive report released yesterday documenting the systematic abuse of children in Irish Catholic schools and institutions is "a monument to the shameful nature of Irish society throughout most of the decades of the 20th century," writes Mary Raftery in the Irish Times. The painstaking disclosure of physical...

Irish Church Long Shielded Pedophiles: Report

Long-awaited report finds rampant abuses at reform schools

(Newser) - Sexual abuse was endemic in Irish Catholic institutions until the 1980s, a 9-year government inquiry has found. Over a 60-year period, 2000 children—mostly boys, now over 50—suffered physical and sexual abuses at the rigid schools, the BBC reports. Church officials encouraged beatings and shielded pedophiles in their orders,...

A Win for Obama, Moderate Catholics
 A Win for Obama, 
 Moderate Catholics 
OPINION

A Win for Obama, Moderate Catholics

President's Notre Dame speech was radical and conservative: Dionne

(Newser) - Abortion opponents protested and pro-life students skipped, but Barack Obama's Notre Dame commencement address was at once "the most radical and the most conservative speech of his presidency," writes Washington Post columnist EJ Dionne. The president refused to indulge the protesters' desire to "reignite the culture wars,...

Bishops Scorn Obama, but Pope Is a Fan
Bishops Scorn Obama, but Pope Is a Fan
ANALYSIS

Bishops Scorn Obama, but Pope Is a Fan

The Vatican takes softer stance on Notre Dame debate

(Newser) - While conservative Catholics rage over President Obama's upcoming commencement speech at Notre Dame, one man has remained silent: the Holy Father. Indeed, American Catholic leaders and the Pope have staked out dramatically different positions from the Obama administration's, Amy Sullivan observes in Time. Yet the Vatican’s response to the...

Mideast Peace Possible: Pope at Holy Sepulcher

Benedict makes pilgrimage to Jerusalem church

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI assured his followers in the Holy Land that peace is possible, as he ended his Mideast visit today as a pilgrim to the site of Jesus' crucifixion. A traditional escort of men in black robes and red fezzes accompanied the pontiff as he entered the Church of...

Priest Suspects Cuban Spies Snapped Him With Lover

Cutié says girlfriend is the love of his life

(Newser) - A celebrity priest photographed cavorting with his girlfriend on a beach has hinted Cuban spies might have been tailing him, the Miami Herald reports. "I knew that during some time I was being followed," Father Alberto Cutié told a Spanish-language TV station. "Being Cuban-American, we have that...

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