(RNS) As U.S. Catholics grow increasingly accepting of homosexuality, there’s going to be inevitable conflict as an uneasy “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” policy clashes with gay Catholics’ increasing visibility in the form of marriage licenses or wedding announcements.
JERUSALEM (RNS) Religious leaders are pressing for the release of two Orthodox bishops who were kidnapped outside war-torn Aleppo, Syria, saying their plight reflects the insecurity of Syria’s Christian population.
NEW YORK (RNS) The nation’s top Catholic bishop has said the hierarchy would benefit from hiring an “attractive, articulate, intelligent” laywoman to present their message because, as he put it, “In the public square, I hate to tell you, the days of fat, balding Irish bishops are over.”
(RNS) Leading U.S. Catholic bishops on Monday (April 22) denounced efforts to use the Boston Marathon bombings to derail the push for immigration reform, saying it is wrong to brand all immigrants as dangerous.
(RNS) The gay man ousted from posts at his New York parish after a critic complained that he had married his partner delivered a petition with more than 18,000 signatures on Thursday to Bishop William Murphy asking to be reinstated.
NEW YORK (RNS) As Catholic leaders signal a new tone of welcome for gays in the church, a Long Island parishioner was booted from his church posts after an anonymous letter writer told the bishop the man had married his partner.
(RNS) Catholic leaders appear to be adopting a more positive tone, if not policies, on gays and lesbians. But the new rhetoric may also be an acknowledgment of the huge shift in the court of public opinion, and maybe soon at the Supreme Court.
(RNS) New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan says the Catholic Church needs to do a better job on not demonizing gays and lesbians, and a gay Catholic leader calls it an “Easter miracle.”
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Ahead of his formal installation on Tuesday, Pope Francis is continuing to send clear signals that he intends to lead a papacy markedly different from his predecessor’s reign — and perhaps different from that of any other pope in modern times.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Naming yourself after St. Francis of Assisi is one thing. Running the Vatican is another. And taming the Vatican bureaucracy is likely to be one of Pope Francis’ most difficult assignments.
