Speaking at an outdoor Mass in Portugal, Pope Benedict XVI told some 400,000 pilgrims that human suffering is not in vain, but can assist in “the salvation of your brethren.” Yesterday, as the pontiff visited the Marian shrine at Fatima, he prayed before a statue holding the bullet that gravely wounded his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.
A Belgian committee probing allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic priests has received 270 new complaints since April 23. A Spanish court is investigating allegations that members of a religious order sexually abused disabled residents of a facility run by the order. Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the Vatican’s College of Cardinals, is “an ongoing embarrassment” and must resign, says the editor of the influential New York-based conservative Catholic journal First Things.
Milwaukee’s archbishop and a top priest pressured Marquette University not to hire a lesbian as dean of Arts and Sciences, according to the Journal Sentinel. A Catholic school in Massachusetts has withdrawn its acceptance of an 8-year-old boy with lesbian parents because their relationship is “in discord” with church teachings, according to one of the boy’s mothers. A former altar boy who says he was removed from his position because he’s gay reached a confidential agreement with a Canadian diocese.
A California paper has published an anonymous letter from a writer claiming to have stolen the Mojave cross. The writer, who claims to be a war veteran, says the Supreme Court, and particularly Justice Anthony Kennedy, who declared last month that the cross honors all war dead, not just Christians, “desecrated and marginalized the memory and sacrifice” of non-Christians who died in World War I.
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan tested the boundaries of her Jewish faith as a 12-year-old, reports the NYT, pressing her rabbi to allow the first formal Bat Miztvah at her Orthodox synagogue, which had til then only celebrated Bar Mitzvahs for boys.
The Obama administration has joined an international advisory group as part of its outreach to the Muslim world. The Dalai Lama is in Indiana, where he is visiting a cultural center founded by his late brother and giving public talks.
A surprising cohort of conservative evangelicals has called for immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. An evangelical who spent years in a gay relationship wants gays and evangelicals to kiss and make up. A Swedish artist who angered Muslims by drawing Prophet Muhammad as a dog was assaulted on Tuesday during a lecture on artistic freedom.
The Louisiana House reversed last week’s vote and approved a bill that would allow guns in houses of worship. The Archdiocese of New Orleans is taking up a collection for fishing families affected by the BP oil spill. Malaysia will allow non-Muslims to bet on sporting events. A cover story in Reform Judaism’s magazine makes a case that a Jewish countess wrote Shakespeare’s plays. Let every eye negotiate for itself.
