Vatican Condemns Cloning, Morning-After Pill

(NEWSER) - Italy has legalized the abortion drug RU-486, drawing the ire of the Vatican, which threatened to excommunicate doctors who prescribe the medication and women who take it. A church official said using the pill is "a sin in a moral and juridical sense," but a politician who is also a gynecologist hailed yesterday's decision, telling ANSA, "It's above all a victory for Italian women, who from today have more choice." More»

(NEWSER) - President Obama told Pope Benedict XVI yesterday that he would make every effort to reduce the number of abortions in the US, according to a Vatican spokesman. Bioethics and life issues were the focus of the men's 40-minute talk yesterday. The pontiff gave the president a booklet explaining the church's opposition to abortion and stem cell research, Reuters reports. More»

Church updates Catholic morality for modern, globalized life

(NEWSER) - Catholics must guard against "new sins" such as polluting the environment and using genetic modification, the Vatican says. Their church has updated the concept of sin for the contemporary world, paying special attention to the expanding and morally murky world of bioethics, a top official from the Apostolic Penitentiary, which deals with transgressions of conscience, tells Reuters. More»

(NEWSER) - A group of House Democrats bridled at Pope Benedict's recent suggestion that politicians who support abortion rights should be excommunicated, The Hill reports. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut led 18 legislators in condemning the Pope's comment, which "offends the very nature of the American experiment," according to their statement. More»

Leaks shed light on Holy See power struggle

(NEWSER) - The Vatican's already-battered image is taking a beating lately from a series of leaks that have exposed an ugly power struggle inside the Holy See, Reuters reports. "It is a total mess," says one source, who believes the leaks are part of a "mutiny of the monsignors" against Pope Benedict XVI's heavy-handed deputy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. The leaks have brought to light an alleged murder plot against the pontiff and revealed that Bertone transferred an archbishop who tried to blow the whistle on corruption . More»