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Roman Catholic bishop convicted of child pornography stripped of clerical duties

2012-05-16T17:45:38Z

ANTIGONISH, N.S. - A Roman Catholic bishop who was convicted of importing child pornography into Canada has been stripped of his clerical duties.

Exclusive: Order knew for months about priest scandal: Vatican official

2012-05-16T17:23:20Z

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Leaders of the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ religious order knew that their most famous priest had fathered a child for many months before they acknowledged it this week, a top Vatican official told Reuters on Wednesday. The once influential religious order, still in crisis following revelations that its founder was a sexual abuser with two secret families, suffered another major blow on Tuesday when American Father Thomas Williams admitted to having fathered a child with a woman in Rome. ...

Presbyterian churches ignore SF minister's censure

2012-05-16T04:12:47Z

Representatives of dozens of West Coast Presbyterian churches are defying their denomination's highest court by refusing to censure a retired minister who married same-sex couples in 2008.

Catholic college drops health plan over contraception mandate

2012-05-15T21:21:39Z

DENVER (Reuters) - A small Catholic college in Ohio said Tuesday it was dropping health insurance coverage for students rather than comply with a federal mandate that the plan provide free birth control. The Franciscan University of Steubenville "will not participate in a plan that requires us to violate the consistent teachings of the Catholic Church on the sacredness of human life," according to a bulletin to students posted on the university's website. Not only will the university drop its own plan, but it will no longer require its undergraduates to carry insurance, the bulletin said. ...

Scandal-plagued Catholic order rocked by priest's affair

2012-05-15T20:45:32Z

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ Roman Catholic religious order suffered another major blow to its image on Tuesday when one of its most prominent members admitted to having fathered a child. Father Thomas Williams said in a statement he was "truly sorry to everyone who is hurt by this revelation". Williams, the American author of more than a dozen books on spirituality and dean of moral theology at a papal university in Rome, often appeared on American television to explain Vatican affairs and Catholic teachings. ...

Philly church mum on priest until donor complained

2012-05-15T18:39:26Z

Documents from a clergy-abuse trial show Catholic church officials ignored complaints a Philadelphia priest had molested two boys until they heard he was also running a travel business — and competing with a big donor.

Vatican, Benetton settle dispute over pope kiss ad

2012-05-15T16:25:03Z

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Italian fashion firm Benetton has agreed to make a donation to a Catholic charity to end a legal dispute with the Vatican over an advertisement that showed Pope Benedict kissing an imam on the lips, the Vatican said on Tuesday. Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the Vatican had won a moral victory, achieving its aim of defending the pope's image through legal means. The company had promised not to circulate any of the photo-montages and to try to stop use of the image by third parties, Lombardi said. ...

Church lawyer: Philly cardinal, aides lied to me

2012-05-14T20:53:41Z

A Roman Catholic cardinal and his top aides lied to their lawyer about shredding a key piece of evidence in the Philadelphia clergy-abuse scandal, the lawyer testified Monday.

Reality TV, religion give birth to top baby names

2012-05-14T20:24:24Z

Reality TV is giving birth to some of the most popular baby names. No, not Snooki. But Mason, as in Kourtney Kardashian's son, jumped 10 spots to become the second most popular name for newborn boys in 2011.

Vatican mystery intensifies, bones found in grave

2012-05-14T19:17:52Z

Forensic police swarmed the crypt of a Roman basilica on Monday to exhume the body of a reputed mobster as part of an investigation into one of the Vatican's most enduring mysteries: the 1983 disappearance of the teenage daughter of one of its employees.

Roman Catholic bishops say religious voices should be heard in public debate

2012-05-14T18:28:06Z

OTTAWA - Canada's Roman Catholic bishops say religious voices have a right to be heard in public debates and shouldn't be shouldered aside in the name of separation of church and state.

Crypt opened for clues to missing Vatican schoolgirl

2012-05-14T17:19:27Z

ROME (Reuters) - Investigators attempting to resolve one of Italy's most enduring mysteries on Monday opened the tomb of a mobster in a Rome basilica for clues to the disappearance of a Vatican schoolgirl nearly 30 years ago. Enrico "Renatino" De Pedis, the feared head of Rome's Magliana gang which terrorized the capital in the 1980s, has been linked to the disappearance in 1983 of Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee. Forensic officials, lawyers and members of the Orlandi family witnessed the exhumation on Monday. ...

Vatican braced for removal of mobster's tomb over 1983 disappearance of employee's child

2012-05-14T14:00:21Z

ROME - Forensic police swarmed the crypt of a Roman basilica on Monday to exhume the body of a reputed mobster as part of an investigation into one of the Vatican's enduring mysteries: the 1983 disappearance of the teenage daughter of a Vatican employee.

Punk band arrest at heart of Russia church feud

2012-05-13T10:34:21Z

The skinny dissident is thrown headfirst into a police van by camouflage-clad officers. Nearby, a dozen bearded men bearing Russian Orthodox crosses and wearing skull-and-crossbones T-shirts cheer on the cops.

Punk band's arrest at heart of growing feud over Putin and Russian Orthodox Church

2012-05-13T07:07:01Z

MOSCOW - The skinny dissident is thrown headfirst into a police van by camouflage-clad officers. Nearby, a dozen bearded men bearing Russian Orthodox crosses and wearing skull-and-crossbones T-shirts cheer on the cops.

In address at Christian university, Romney to urge graduates to honour commitments to family

2012-05-12T14:40:16Z

LYNCHBURG, Va. - Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were trying to steer clear of the fight over gay marriage as the president jabbed at Republicans and his presumed election rival prepared for an address at a conservative Christian university.

For Romney, speech at Christian college offers test

2012-05-11T22:57:27Z

(Reuters) - There are not many Mitt Romney fan clubs at Liberty University. The Lynchburg, Virginia, school, founded by the late television evangelist Jerry Falwell, is a bastion for conservative Christian thought. Its theology students are taught that Mormonism - Romney's religion - is a cult. So for Romney, giving the commencement speech at Liberty on Saturday is a chance to make a heart-to-heart appeal to evangelical Christians who are skeptical of his Mormon faith and conservative credentials. ...

Pope enjoys concert conducted by Muti at Vatican

2012-05-11T21:38:44Z

Maestro Riccardo Muti conducted a concert of selections of sacred music by Vivaldi and Verdi at the Vatican for an appreciative Pope Benedict XVI Friday in a celebration of the seventh anniversary of the pontiff's election to the papacy.

AP Exclusive: Vatican eyes Legion priests on abuse

2012-05-11T21:11:28Z

The Vatican is investigating seven priests from the troubled Legion of Christ religious order for alleged sexual abuse of minors — evidence that the scandal over the order's pedophile founder doesn't rest solely with him, The Associated Press has learned.

Stradivarius violin played for pope in Vatican concert

2012-05-11T20:14:35Z

Pope Benedict XVI was serenaded on Friday with a religious-themed classical concert conducted by Italian maestro Riccardo Muti featuring rare instruments, including a Stadivarius violin from 1720.

Czech restitution plan may unlock vast church lands

2012-05-11T20:12:45Z

CERVENA RECICE, Czech Republic (Reuters) - Wires hang out of the walls, windows are smashed and the grass grows tall in the gardens of the once-elegant archbishop's residence in Cervena Recice, a 16th-century chateau left to rot after the communists took over in 1948. Bent on building a society free of religion, the communists seized the chateau, of the diocese of Prague, and thousands of other church properties and threw clergymen into labor camps and prisons or forced them into exile. ...

Vatican investigates seven cases of priest abuse

2012-05-11T15:55:49Z

The ultra-conservative Legion of Christ movement on Friday said it had reported seven suspected cases of child abuse by its priests to the Vatican for investigation under new anti-abuse rules.

Czech restitution plan may unlock vast church lands

2012-05-11T15:24:16Z

Legion of Christ order says Vatican investigating 7 of its priests for alleged sexual abuse

2012-05-11T07:09:19Z

Legion of Christ order says Vatican investigating 7 of its priests for alleged sexual abuse.

Girl Scouts under scrutiny from Catholic bishops

2012-05-10T21:28:00Z

Long a lightning rod for conservative criticism, the Girl Scouts of the USA are now facing their highest-level challenge yet: An official inquiry by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Irish church tries to rebuild after sex abuse, still haunted by past and demanding truth

2012-05-10T21:01:24Z

VATICAN CITY - The archbishop of Dublin, a leading voice for reform following Ireland's devastating Catholic church sex abuse scandal, said Thursday that the Irish church is trying to rebuild even as he demands the full truth be told about the past.

Nun: Catholic official could have quit over abuse

2012-05-10T20:36:34Z

A Roman Catholic nun testified Thursday that she and two relatives were sexually abused by a priest described by a church leader as "one of the sickest people I ever knew."

Nun: Catholic official could have left over abuse

2012-05-10T17:51:46Z

A Roman Catholic nun has testified that she and two relatives were sexually abused by the same priest as girls.

Irish church tries to rebuild after sex abuse

2012-05-10T16:49:03Z

The archbishop of Dublin, a leading voice for reform following Ireland's devastating Catholic church sex abuse scandal, said Thursday that the Irish church is trying to rebuild even as he demands the full truth be told about the past.

Gay-led Los Angeles parish breaks with Presbyterian Church

2012-05-10T01:10:04Z

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As throngs of religious conservatives break from the U.S. Presbyterian Church over the ordination of gay ministers, a small gay-led California parish is staging a schism of its own, saying the church has done too little to accept homosexuality. The West Hollywood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles plans to formally join the ranks of the more liberal United Church of Christ on Saturday. "I can't wait" said the Reverend Dan Smith, a gay pastor who has led the congregation with 57 members since the 1980s. "It's like being released from an abusive relationship," he said. ...