Catholic Church

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Anti-Franco Fights Erupt at Vatican Ceremony

Anger over church role supporting Spanish dictator as it honors clergy

(Newser) - Old wounds were ripped open and fights erupted yesterday as the Vatican beatified 498 priests and nuns killed in the Spanish Civil War. Scuffles between Catholics and leftists broke out near the Vatican's largest-ever beatification ceremony in St. Peter's Square. The Vatican, which supported dictator Francisco Franco during the war,...

Priest Gets Life for 'Dirty War' Crimes

He shared parishioners' confessions with police

(Newser) - A former Roman Catholic priest  who delivered dozens of Argentines to the former military junta was sentenced to life in prison yesterday. Christian von Wernich, 69, passed his parishioners’ confessions to police during the so-called "Dirty War,"  leading to 7 murders, 42 abductions and 31 cases of...

Catholic Leader: Condoms in Africa Carry HIV

Mozambican archbishop charges plot to kill Africans

(Newser) - Catholic opposition to condom use as an AIDS preventive in Africa took a bizarre turn yesterday when a respected archbishop in Mozambique charged that condoms imported from Europe had been deliberately infected with HIV. Maputo Archbishop Francisco Chimoio made his comments at an Independence Day celebration and reiterated them to...

6 Ark. Nuns Excommunicated
6 Ark. Nuns Excommunicated
Sep 27, 2007 11:32 AM CDT

6 Ark. Nuns Excommunicated

Members of 'Army of Mary' cast out

(Newser) - Six Arkansas nuns have been booted from the Catholic Church for refusing to renounce the Army of Mary, a sect the Vatican deems heretical for its founder’s claim to be the reincarnation of the virgin. “We know we are doing the right thing,” said an 82-year-old nun....

Did Docs Speed Pope's Death?
Did Docs Speed Pope's Death?
Sep 23, 2007 5:31 PM CDT

Did Docs Speed Pope's Death?

Doctor claims euthanasia was behind John Paul II’s death

(Newser) - An Italian doctor is claiming that Pope John Paul II’s 2005 death was hastened by measures that would qualify as euthanasia—a practice the Catholic Church condemns. She believes the Vatican stressed the Pope’s breathing problems in public reports to conceal the real threat to his life, which...

German Cardinal Uses Nazi Term to Describe Art

Says "degenerate" remark unintentional, but critics disagree

(Newser) - Germans are in an uproar after an archbishop labeled some modern art “degenerate,” the same word Nazis used to persecute artists. A spokesman for Cardinal Joachim Meisner said the archbishop didn’t intend to acknowledge “old ideologies,” but the BBC says the term was precisely scripted...

Mugabe Critic Quits Over Sex Scandal

Archbishop's supporters suspect regime is behind adultery lawsuit

(Newser) - An archbishop and prominent critic of Robert Mugabe's regime has resigned his Catholic Church leadership position after being accused of having an affair with a married woman. Pius Ncube remains a bishop, and his supporters say they see the authoritarian Zimbabwean regime behind the scandal, which Ncube calls "a...

Pope Honors Holocaust Victims
Pope Honors Holocaust Victims
Sep 7, 2007 5:05 PM CDT

Pope Honors Holocaust Victims

Pontiff expresses "sadness, repentance, and friendship" at lives lost to Nazis

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute today to the 65,000 Austrian victims of the Holocaust at the start of his three-day visit to Austria, BBC reports. Alongside Jewish leaders, the pontiff expressed “sadness, repentance, and friendship” at a monument honoring those killed by the Nazis. Benedict tomorrow leads a...

100 Years of Anti-Modernism
100 Years of Anti-Modernism
Sep 2, 2007 1:41 PM CDT

100 Years of Anti-Modernism

Pius X's 1907 'Pascendi' slammed 'modernists' in the Catholic Church

(Newser) - Pope Pius X's encyclical "Pascendi Dominici Gregis" turns 100 years old next week. The  document decried so-called "modernists" in the Church who looked to new discoveries and theories about human experience and desire to explain religious belief. The ensuing purge of Catholic thinkers did not relent until Paul...

Your Credit's Good With God
Your Credit's Good With God
Aug 27, 2007 1:41 AM CDT

Your Credit's Good With God

Boston church now accepting parishioners' plastic for collection plate

(Newser) - Franciscan friars have another deep question to ask their congregation: Paper or plastic? The brothers of St. Anthony's Shrine in Boston have installed a wireless kiosk allowing their flock to make contributions with credit or debit cards. The service is provided by SecureGive.com, created by a Georgia minister and...

Mother Teresa Tormented by Long, Dark Night of The Soul

Nun suffered shocking 50-year spiritual crisis

(Newser) - Even as she was selflessly ministering to the poor, Mother Teresa felt nothing of God’s presence, according to stunning personal letters published in a new book and this week’s TIME magazine. The nun wrote of a great “silence and emptiness” and the “pain and darkness” in...

France Bids Adieu to Archbishop
France Bids Adieu to Archbishop
Aug 10, 2007 4:34 PM CDT

France Bids Adieu to Archbishop

Notre-Dame holds Catholic-Jewish funeral ceremony for former church leader

(Newser) - Catholic and Jewish prayers rang out at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris today during the funeral of the former archbishop of Paris, Jean-Marie Lustiger, who died Sunday at 80. A convert from Judaism whose mother died at Auschwitz, he was known for his tireless work to bridge his two faiths, and...

Religious Pilgrims Perish in Bus Crash

26 Poles die, 24 injured after apparent brake failure in French Alps

(Newser) - Twenty-six people died and 24 were injured today when a bus carrying religious pilgrims plunged off a bridge in the French Alps. Forty-nine Polish nationals and two drivers were on a tour of European Roman Catholic shrines when their coach slammed through a wall onto a riverbank and burst into...

Pizza Mogul Orders Town, University
Pizza Mogul Orders Town, University
Jul 19, 2007 11:19 AM CDT

Pizza Mogul Orders Town, University

Domino's founder courts controversy with new Florida development

(Newser) - Ten years in the making, Ave Maria University and the eponymous town built around it by Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan will open Saturday. Monaghan is a devout Catholic, and the university—and to some extent the town—will reflect that. Intended as what Monaghan calls a "fresh, faithful...

Heaven Can Wait, and So Must Research

Scholars chafe at temporary closing of Vatican Library

(Newser) - Despite rumblings from anxious researchers, the Vatican Library has closed its doors for at least 3 years to undergo renovations after an inspection this year revealed that the structure couldn’t support the weight of its books. Reading rooms were unusually full last week, the BBC reports, as researchers got...

Mass Embarrassment: Priests Need Latin Lessons

Pope restores old rite, but clerics don't know the words

(Newser) - Traditionalist Catholics have lauded Pope Benedict's recent call for more Masses in Latin, but priests are biting their nails—few of them know enough of the language to say a Latin Mass. Even Italian priests face embarrassment in the wake of Pope Benedict 's decision to allow Latin services at...

LA Cardinal Apologizes to Abuse Victims

Record $660M deal means cardinal won't have to testify

(Newser) - Cardinal Roger Mahony publicly apologized yesterday to the 508 plaintiffs in a sexual-abuse lawsuit the archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to settle for a record $660 million. Mahony, who met privately with many of the victims abused by clergy, said he wished their lives were like a videotape—"...

$650M Deal to Settle Clergy Abuse Charges

LA archdiocese close to a settlement on more than 500 cases, biggest to date

(Newser) - The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is on the verge of an agreement to spend $650 million to settle more than 500 claims of alleged sex abuse against Roman Catholic clergy, the Los Angeles Times reports. The deal, which would be the largest settlement in the 5-year-old clergy-abuse scandal, comes as...

Pope Gives Go-Ahead to Latin Mass
Pope Gives Go-Ahead to Latin Mass
Jul 7, 2007 5:53 PM CDT

Pope Gives Go-Ahead to Latin Mass

After 4 decades out of favor, rite faces opposition, controversy

(Newser) - Four decades after sweeping reforms intended to make the Catholic Church more accessible, Pope Benedict backed off the best-known change today, lifting restrictions on the Tridentine rite, better known as the Latin Mass. The move is already controversial, Time reports, because it's perceived as a sop to traditionalists—and because...

Questions Dog Longtime Giuliani Friend

Candidate's company employs priest accused of child sex abuse

(Newser) - A Catholic priest who was best man at Rudy Giuliani's first wedding, performed his second marriage, and presided at his parents' funerals is on the payroll of the candidate's consulting firm—and suspended from his pastoral duties because he has been accused of sexually abusing children. Salon looks at the...

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