CNN is reporting that a radical Islamist website has put a ransom on the heads of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone for depicting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad … in a bear costume.
Pope Benedict XVI is promising “church action” against predatory priests in his first comments since that teary meet-and-greet with abuse victims in Malta over the weekend. Benedict also accepted the resignation of an Irish bishop who says he failed to confront the nation’s abuse scandal. A suit filed Tuesday accuses outgoing LA Cardinal Roger Mahony and Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of covering up abuse.
The Miami Herald profiles the city’s new archbishop, Thomas Wenski (lately of Orlando). Outgoing Archbishop John Favalora is exiting, stage right, a little early, but says it’s because of age, not some kind of scandal. NPR asks whether the sins of Legionaries of Christ founder Marcial Maciel were overlooked because of his ability to bring in cash. The Archdiocese of Washington has identified a priest wanted in Germany on abuse allegations.
Speaking of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. Archbishop Donald Wuerl says he won’t intervene in a Mass scheduled for Saturday at the National Shrine featuring Cardinal DarÃo Castrillón Hoyos, the retired Colombian cardinal who’s under fire for praising a French bishop for not turning over an abusive priest to the police.
GOP lawmakers in Florida are trying to find ways to expand religion’s role in the education system, including student-led prayers or other “inspirational messages.” The Episcopal Church‘s flagship seminary may have to sell off some property to help pay the bills. From the Dept. of Irony, some students at Trinity University in San Antonio don’t want the phrase “in the year of our Lord” printed on their diplomas.
WaPo pays tribute to Dorothy Height, the “founding matriarch” of the civil rights movement, who died yesterday at 98. The Charlotte Observer’s Tim Funk says Billy Graham might be ready to come out of retirement — sort of — as his namesake library was reopened Tuesday. Sarah Palin is back in the news for saying it’s “mind-boggling” to think the U.S. is anything other than a Christian nation.
Flags are flying at half-staff across China as the country mourns the 2,000+ victims of an earthquake in a remote area near Tibet. French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants legislation to ban the full-body burqa in France (neighboring Belgium will probably beat him to the punch). Time magazine says Christianity is booming in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
Those on-again, off-again radio stations in Somalia that were ordered off the air for broadcasting music is, well, on again. And a member of the Mecca division of Saudi Arabia‘s religious police got canned for apparently suggesting that men and women should be allowed to mingle freely.
