Catholic Church

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Christian ISIS Captive Dies a Muslim— Now What?

Photojournalist James Foley apparently converted during captivity

(Newser) - Many Roman Catholics saw journalist James Foley—who was kidnapped, tortured, and beheaded by ISIS —as a symbol of enduring faith under horrible circumstances. Then it came out that he had converted to Islam in captivity. Now what? "The answer is we can’t assess it," says...

Pope: It's 'Selfish' Not to Have Children

After 'rabbits' remark, he praises big families again

(Newser) - Deciding not to have children is a "selfish choice," Pope Francis told an audience in St. Peter's Square yesterday, presumably referring to childless couples instead of people who take vows of celibacy. The pontiff—who said last month that Catholics shouldn't breed "like rabbits" —...

Vatican Probes Own Child-Porn Cases

(Newser) - The Vatican investigated two cases of child pornography possession in the past year, officials said yesterday. The chief prosecutor of the Vatican city state's criminal tribunal, Gian Piero Milano, cited the two cases in a speech summarizing the tribunal's work in 2014. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico...

Santorum: 'Very Difficult' to Listen to Pope

Ex-senator didn't like pontiff's statements on Catholics breeding 'like rabbits'

(Newser) - Pope Francis likely wasn't referring specifically to Rick Santorum when he said Monday that there was no need for Catholics to breed "like rabbits" —but the ex-Pennsylvania senator and past/possibly future US presidential contender didn't like what he heard. "It's sometimes very difficult to...

Pope Francis: Big Families Are Good
Pope Francis: Big Families
Are Good
Jan 21, 2015 6:59 AM CST

Pope Francis: Big Families Are Good

Softens his comment that Catholics needn't breed 'like rabbits'

(Newser) - Pope Francis praised big families today as a gift from God, after his comments that Catholics don't have to breed "like rabbits" made headlines this week. Francis said numerous children don't cause poverty in the developing world, as some have suggested, and that the real cause of...

Pope: There's No Need to Breed 'Like Rabbits'

Catholics have plenty of 'licit' ways to regulate births

(Newser) - After this colorful metaphor , an equally colorful simile from Pope Francis: While the pontiff firmly upholds church teaching banning contraception, he today said that Catholics don't have to breed "like rabbits" and should instead practice "responsible parenting." Speaking to reporters en route home from the Philippines,...

Pope Knocks Vatican's 'Spiritual Alzheimer's'

Pontiff describes 15 'ailments' in Christmas speech

(Newser) - Speaking to cardinals, bishops, and priests during his yearly Christmas speech, Pope Francis offered up a harsh critique of Vatican practices. Francis described 15 "ailments" within the church administration known as the Curia—ailments he's seeking to remedy next year, the BBC reports. Among his concerns are "...

Median Age of US Nuns: Mid- to Late 70s

Vatican report praises their work

(Newser) - A Vatican investigation of American nuns that many sisters feared would be highly critical ended up being "generally appreciative" instead, reports the New York Times . But it still laid out some stark numbers: The US now has about 50,000 Catholic nuns, down from the peak of 125,000...

Pope: Kids Deserve a Mom and Dad

They have a 'right' to that type of family, he says

(Newser) - Despite a recent move toward embracing non-traditional families , Pope Francis said yesterday that "children have a right to grow up in a family with a father and a mother." He made the remark during the Complementarity of Man and Woman conference, a "gathering of global religious conservatives"...

After Man Tells Bishop He Smells, Vatican Takes Action

3 public showers to be installed

(Newser) - Pope Francis made headlines last year when he said that he would like a "poor church, and for the poor." Now, after a man declined an invitation to dine with a bishop because, the man said simply, "puzzo"—or "I smell"—the pope is...

Pope Francis Beatifies Paul VI

Says 'God is not afraid of new things'

(Newser) - Pope Francis today beatified Pope Paul VI, concluding the remarkable meeting of bishops debating family issues that drew parallels to the tumultuous reforms of the Second Vatican Council which Paul oversaw and implemented. Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI was on hand for the Mass. The bishops failed to reach consensus on...

Vatican Warming Toward Gay and Divorced Catholics

Synod urges Church to appreciate 'positive aspects of civil unions,' 'gifts' of gay Catholics

(Newser) - The Vatican, in the latest sign that this is not your daddy's Catholic Church , appears to be opening its arms to gay and divorced Catholics, urging its priests to make "courageous pastoral choices" that are inclusive to a bevy of family models outside the traditional one. The shift...

New Jersey Nun Closer to Sainthood

Miriam Teresa Demjanovich being beatified, is credited with curing boy

(Newser) - A New Jersey nun credited with curing a boy's eye disease is moving a step closer to sainthood with her beatification. A beatification Mass for Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, who died in 1927 at age 26, was being led today by Cardinal Angelo Amato at the Cathedral Basilica of...

Pope Marries Couples Who Were Living in Sin

Marriage is 'real life, not some TV show,' he says

(Newser) - Telling his audience that marriage is "real life, not some TV show," Pope Francis today married a somewhat risque group—by Catholic Church standards, anyway—of 20 couples that included a guy who annulled his first marriage, the mother of an out-of-wedlock daughter, and couples who were already...

Satanists Stole Holy Wafer for Black Mass: Archbishop

His lawsuit asks judge to halt Satanic ritual in Oklahoma City

(Newser) - A Satanist group has stolen a holy wafer from a Catholic church to use in an upcoming "black Mass," or so alleges a lawsuit filed yesterday by the Oklahoma City Catholic archbishop. Paul S. Coakley asked an Oklahoma County district court judge "to halt the desecration" of...

Pope Figures He'll Live '2 or 3' More Years

Doesn't rule out retirement

(Newser) - Pope Francis thinks he's got only a few years left to live, and that seems OK with him. "Two or three years, and then I'll be off to the Father's house," he told reporters aboard a flight to the Vatican. He was speaking in lighthearted...

Vatican: Pope Misquoted on Pedophile Cardinals

And he didn't say he'd 'find solution' to celibacy

(Newser) - Pope Francis has made headlines around the world with an interview in which he said 2% of clergy, including cardinals, are pedophiles , but the Vatican says those weren't his words—and it wasn't exactly an interview. The words attributed to the pontiff in the La Repubblica newspaper came...

2% of Clergy Are Pedophiles: Pope Francis

Pontiff hints at possible changes to priest celibacy

(Newser) - Pope Francis has offered an estimate on "the level of pedophilia in the Church," Sky News reports: He puts it at 2%, basing his information on aides' figures. "That 2% includes priests and even bishops and cardinals," the pope tells La Repubblica newspaper of Italy. "...

Vatican OKs Exorcist Group
 Vatican OKs 
 Exorcist Group 
Jul 2, 2014 1:18 PM CDT

Vatican OKs Exorcist Group

Formally recognizes International Association of Exorcists

(Newser) - Exorcists now have a legal weapon at their disposal. The Vatican has formally recognized the International Association of Exorcists, a group of 250 priests in 30 countries who liberate the faithful from demons. The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano reported yesterday that the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy had approved...

Pope Francis: Communists Hijacked Church's Ideas

And women are 'taken from a rib,' he jokes

(Newser) - Pope Francis has excommunicated the Mafia , will bankers be next? Asked by an interviewer about the criticisms of capitalism that have led some to suggest he has communist leanings, the pontiff said the church was helping the poor long before Marxist ideology existed, Reuters reports. "I can only say...

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