The Vatican will make its most detailed defense yet on Monday against claims that it is liable for bishops who allowed priests to molest children, the AP reports. The setting: a courtroom in Louisville, Ky., where the Vatican’s American lawyer is trying to get a lawsuit tossed out.
More than 100,000 thronged to St. Peter’s Square on Sunday in a show of support for Pope Benedict XVI, who said he was moved by the “beautiful and spontaneous show of faith and solidarity.” On Saturday, the beleaguered pontiff lamented that the sex abuse scandal had obscured the Catholic Church’s message of hope, but said a few bad-seed priests can’t ruin the whole harvest.
The AP looked into the spotty sex abuse record of Cardinal William Levada, Benedict’s hand-picked successor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the former archbishop of Portland, Ore., and San Francisco. The NYT does the same with Big Apple Archbishop Timothy Dolan.
Seven years after the Episcopal Church consecrated an openly gay priest as a bishop, it did the same with an openly lesbian one.
Abortion rights opponents are using the new health-care bill to urge private plans to curtail abortion coverage, going beyond current federal restrictions. The Bishop of Phoenix has remonstrated and removed a nun and a hospital administrator who allowed a severely ill woman to have an abortion.
More than 200,000 non-profits are in danger of losing their tax exemptions because they didn’t complete the latest IRS form. Attorney General Holder was asked about the Obama administration’s policy towards religious charities using faith as a criteria in hiring, and didn’t say much of anything, but sounded like he was leaning toward not allowing it. (Thanks to Religion Clause for digging that up.)
Texas’ Board of Education is at it again, this time trying to amend the social studies curriculum to argue that the Founding Fathers intended no wall between church and state.
The U.S. and China reported no breakthroughs in their human rights talks. Muslims attended a conference in Vienna during which Europe’s veil bans were criticized as counterproductive. The Swedish artist who drew Prophet Muhammad as a dog has gone into hiding after several attempted attacks. An Indonesian filmmaker says his forthcoming movie demonstrates how the country’s diversity influenced Barack Obama.
The Dalai Lama continued his tour through the Midwest, meeting with Buddhist leaders, speaking at sold-out engagements, and opening a research center at the University of Wisconsin that will study the neuroscience behind meditation and compassion. Husband- and-wife pastors in Michigan have commutes that seem even worse than mine and my wife’s.
Militants in Afghanistan killed a peace-promoting cleric. Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel are angry that officials are relocating graves to make way for a hospital emergency room. The new Miss USA (pic top left) continues the trend of dual religious belonging, saying that her Lebanese family celebrates Islam and Christianity, and the pageant continued the trend of soliciting soundbite opinions on complex culture-war questions.
