Pope Benedict XVI sought to “kick-start a debate” when he said condom use may sometimes be justified, Vatican insiders told the AP, and boy did he ever.
On Tuesday, the Vatican said using condoms to prevent the greater evil of HIV transmission also applies to women – even if that means averting a potential pregnancy, according to the AP – a significant philosophical shift since just last year for the pontiff. Africans, who are beset by an AIDS crisis, are listening closely.
The book-length interview in which B16 first made his condom remarks goes on sale today.
Other religious leaders are doing things, too. For instance, the Dalai Lama wants to give up his role as leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile, an aide told the AP, in yet another step toward preparing Tibetans for life without the 75-year-old leader. Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, the new president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said there is a movement within the hierarchy to confront the exodus of Catholics leaving the church.
A federal judge said Monday that she will rule by the end of the month on Oklahoma’s Shariah law amendment. The developer behind Park51, the Islamic center planned near Ground Zero, has requested federal funding for the project, CNN reports.
The number of hate crimes decreased in 2009, according to the FBI. Nearly 20 percent of the 6,600 hate crimes were motivated by religious bias, according to the AP. Nearly half were motivated by race; about 18 percent by sexual orientation. Seven of 10 religiously motivated hate crimes targeted Jews.
An Iraqi lawmaker called on his government to protect its dwindling Christian community. A schismatic Catholic bishop who has denied the Holocaust is facing expulsion from his order after hiring a lawyer linked to neo-Nazism.
The wave of Ponzi schemes targeting religious communities has prompted questions about what makes them so vulnerable to scammers. A former Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy is now accused of trying to murder the boy as well.
Montana’s Supreme Court held that public school officials violated the free speech rights of a high-school valedictorian who wanted to talk about Christ in her graduation address. The AP profiles the Nebraska religious community recently excommunicated by the local Roman Catholic bishop. A Nashville megachurch’s gym, bookstore, and cafe are commercial enterprises, Tennessee officials said as they handed the church a $425,000 tax bill.
Roman Catholic priests blessed what Poles say is the world’s largest state of Jesus. The singing Irish priests are defending their decision to collaborate with the bibulous frontman of the Pogues, Shane MacGowan. What the hey, he used to sing with the Popes, right? A Church of England bishop is apologizing for calling Prince William and his fiancee “shallow lovebirds” and predicting that their marriage will last “seven years,” tops.
After spending 45 years on his new Talmud translation and commentary, an Israeli scholar is on a mission to “Let my people know.”
