Pope Benedict XVI

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In Easter Message, Pope Backs Israel-Palestine Peace

Sends message to Italy earthquake survivors

(Newser) - In his Easter message, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged Israel-Palestine peace efforts, acknowledged Italy’s earthquake survivors, and called for hope in trying times, Reuters reports. “At a time of world food shortage, of financial turmoil, of old and new forms of poverty...it is urgent to rediscover grounds for...

Italy Holds Mass Funeral for Quake Victims

(Newser) - Italy today held a mass state funeral for 205 of the people killed in the Abruzzo earthquake and observed a national day of morning, the BBC reports. Dozens of coffins and thousands of people gathered at the open-air service at a police training base outside the damaged city of L’...

Pope Out of Touch on Homosexuality: Blair

Former PM advocates 'metaphorical' reading

(Newser) - It's time for Pope Benedict to rethink his outdated views on homosexuality, charges former British prime minister Tony Blair. The Vatican considers homosexuality a "tendency" toward "moral evil," citing biblical references. But Blair, a Catholic convert, tells the gay magazine Attitude that religious leaders should treat the...

Pope May Reshape US Church as Bishops Age Out

Many bishops nearing retirement as church faces big changes

(Newser) - With many bishops nearing the age of required retirement, the Vatican has a chance to reinvent the US Catholic Church, moving beyond church sex scandals and adapting to a growing immigrant presence, reports the Los Angeles Times. Almost a third of 265 current US bishops must step down in the...

Pope May Be Right About Condoms in Africa

Study shows that monogamy is the best weapon against AIDS in Africa

(Newser) - Pope Benedict's controversial statements that condoms aren't helping in Africa may be unpopular, but evidence shows that he might be right, a public heath researcher argues in the Washington Post. It's a divisive topic in part because the condom has become such a potent symbol of sexual freedom and female...

Facebook Users to Deluge Pope With Condoms

Thousands protest pontiff's claim that contraceptives don't halt HIV

(Newser) - The pope’s recent remark that condoms not only don’t prevent the spread of HIV but make it worse hasn’t earned him many friends on Facebook, CNN reports. Almost a dozen groups have sprung up in protest of the pontiff’s scientifically inaccurate statement, with thousands of Facebookers—...

Top Medical Journal Blasts Pope's Condom Remark

(Newser) - The UK's most prestigious medical journal has joined the condemnation of Pope Benedict’s comments on contraception, the Financial Times reports. “By saying that condoms exacerbate the problem of HIV/AIDS, the Pope has publicly distorted scientific evidence to promote Catholic doctrine on this issue," says an editorial...

2 Teens Die in Pope Stampede
 2 Teens Die in Pope Stampede 

2 Teens Die in Pope Stampede

(Newser) - Two teenage girls were killed in a wild stampede as people rushed to view Pope Benedict in Angola yesterday, reports the Times of London. Some 30,000 people raced into a stadium where the pope spoke at a youth rally. The teenagers died at the scene and dozens were injured....

Pope to Angolans: Convert Witchcraft Believers

(Newser) - The Pope urged Catholics in Angola to reach out and convert witchcraft believers frightened by “evil powers,” the AP reports. “In today's Angola, Catholics should offer the message of Christ to the many who live in the fear of spirits,” a fear that can lead them...

Vatican Insiders Call Pope 'a Disaster'

Gaffe-prone and out-of-touch Benedict aggravates Holy See

(Newser) - As Benedict XVI continues his pilgrimage in Africa, sources inside the Vatican say that the pope's frequent gaffes and difficulties with modern communication are threatening to undermine him. One member of the Vatican told the Telegraph that Benedict is "a disaster" who is "out of touch with the...

Pope Must Hide Cross at Jerusalem Site: Rabbi

'I wouldn't go into a church wearing Jewish symbols,' Rabinovitch says

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem next month as a show of mutual understanding and sensitivity between Catholicism and Judaism—but a request from a prominent rabbi almost ensures he’ll offend someone, Time reports. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch said the pontiff should remove the cross...

Pope Draws 60K in Cameroon
 Pope Draws 60K in Cameroon 

Pope Draws 60K in Cameroon

(Newser) - Roughly 60,000 people packed a soccer stadium in Yaounde, Cameroon, today to hear Pope Benedict XVI’s first giant African mass, the BBC reports. The pontiff used his sermon to warn the throngs of the dangers of urbanization and materialism. Earlier, Benedict met with Cameroon’s Muslim leaders, and...

Let's Impeach the Pope
 Let's Impeach the Pope 
opinion

Let's Impeach the Pope

(Newser) - In his short reign, Pope Benedict has managed to insult Muslims, women, and Holocaust survivors, writes Robert S. McElvaine, a professor at Millsaps College in Mississippi. But his latest controversy, telling Africans that condoms increase the spread of AIDS, is the last straw. "I am a Catholic and the...

French Blast Pope's Anti-Condom Remarks

Condoms make Africa AIDS crisis worse, he had said

(Newser) - Irked by Pope Benedict’s anti-condom remarks in Africa, the French foreign ministry today called them “a threat to public health policies and the duty to protect human life” and voiced “extremely sharp concern over the consequences,” the BBC reports. The pontiff said on the first day...

Church Must Protect Africa's Poor: Pope

Pontiff praises growing church but worries about 'superstition'

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI set down strategy for his church in Africa today, telling bishops to protect the traditional values of the African family and to spare the poor from the impact of globalization. The pontiff, beginning his first African pilgrimage in Cameroon, also said that the exuberant local African rites...

Pope: Condoms Make AIDS Crisis Worse

On visit to Africa, pope makes first statement on their use

(Newser) - Condoms are not the answer to Africa's fight against AIDS, and in fact exacerbate the epidemic, Pope Benedict said at the start of a 7-day visit to the continent today. It's the first explicit statement about condoms from the pontiff, who has said that the Roman Catholic Church is at...

Pope Admits Fault in Holocaust Bishop Flap

Vatican vows to plug into how news spreads online

(Newser) - Pope Benedict will release a personal letter to bishops tomorrow that explains why he reinstated an excommunicated Holocaust denier and expresses regret for how that news was delivered, the New York Times reports. In leaked passages, the pontiff admits mistakes and promises greater awareness in the future of how news...

Vatican Condemns Obama Stem-Cell Decision

(Newser) - The Vatican is in a tizzy over President Obama’s decision to lift the federal ban on embryonic stem-cell research, the AP reports. A top official called it a “victory of politics over ethics” and said that “probably some drug companies, or some economic interests” influenced the move....

Vatican: Washing Machine Liberated Women

(Newser) - The Vatican’s newspaper appears to have come out in support of the washing machine as God’s greatest gift to women in the 20th century, Reuters reports. A weekend article in l'Osservatore Romano suggested that the time-saving gadget polls ahead of birth-control and suffrage in liberating the fairer sex....

The Church Wants U 2 Give Up Txting 4 Lent

Benedict thinks technology is ruining young lives

(Newser) - If you’re still deciding what to give up for Lent, the Catholic Church has a suggestion: How about Facebook? A handful of Italian dioceses have begun a "stop texting" campaign, the Times reports, urging young people to give up text messaging, Facebook, video games, and other such newfangled...

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