Monday’s Religion News Roundup

Pope Benedict XVI said Monday that the Catholic Church should think hard about how its message and its model of Christian life contributed to the clergy sexual abuse scandal, according to the AP. The Vatican tried to stop Dublin church leaders from defrocking a dangerous pedophile priest and relented only after he raped a boy […]

Pope Benedict XVI said Monday that the Catholic Church should think hard about how its message and its model of Christian life contributed to the clergy sexual abuse scandal, according to the AP.

The Vatican tried to stop Dublin church leaders from defrocking a dangerous pedophile priest and relented only after he raped a boy in a pub restroom, according to an Irish investigation. Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks show American diplomats pressing the Vatican to take a more positive line on the Iraq war.


It’s a grim Advent for Iraqi Christians, and the U.N. criticized Sweden for deporting five of their brethren back to Iraq, where the embattled minority continues to suffer severe attacks.

All eyes are on President Obama in the wake of Congress’s repeal on Saturday of Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell. Amid two wars, how soon will the new policy be implemented?

The incoming chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security said Sunday that he will hold hearings on the “radicalization of the American Muslim community.” Enrollment of Muslim students has spiked at Catholic campuses across the country.

The LDS Church has made subtle – but significant – changes to its online version of The Book of Mormon, toning down racial allusions. The words “skin of blackness” were removed from an introductory summary that describes the “curse” God put on unbelievers.

The White House website features Holidays at the White House, including videos of the First Family, holiday recipes, and a White House tour. Only 56 percent of Americans say Christmas is “primarily religious,” according to a new poll.

Violent clashes broke out in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, the day minority Shiite Muslims commemorated the death of their most sacred saint, the AP reports. Sudan’s president vowed to entrench Sharia law in the northern half of the country if the predominantly Christian south votes to secede in a Jan. 9 referendum.

A Utah judge eliminated a custody restriction that barred a polygamist from talking to his eight children about his belief in plural marriage.


Jamaica, mon, has its first patois version of Gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth. For example, here’s the Angel Gabriel speaking to Mary, “Di ienjel go tu Mieri an se tu ar se, ‘Mieri, mi av nyuuz we a go mek yu wel api. Gad riili riili bles yu an im a waak wid yu aal di taim.'”

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