Italian Priest Plans Nun Pageant

'Miss Sister' beauty contest canceled

(NEWSER) - An Italian priest's plans for a nun beauty pageant have been nixed by his higher-ups, the BBC reports. Father Antonio Rungi, who said the idea was to highlight the inner beauty of nuns and smash stereotypes of the sisters as old and dour, decided to draw a veil over the idea after the local bishop and other church officials expressed their displeasure. More»

Nuns show the best of Catholic Church; Rome, the worst: Nicholas Kristof

(NEWSER) - Catholic nuns represent much of the best the church has to offer—they're tough, smart, and humble. Which is why Nicholas Kristof has a clear warning for Pope Benedict: "You are crazy to mess with nuns," whom Kristof lauds as "the first feminists" and whom he has seen "defy warlords, pimps and bandits." Two weeks ago, the Vatican took aim at American nuns , criticizing them for being too liberal and sending a bishop to reform the umbrella group that represents 80% of American nuns. "In effect, the Vatican accused the nuns of worrying too much about the poor and not enough about abortion and gay marriage," he writes in the New York Times . More»

Pope is hopelessly tainted, and it's time for a nun to right the church

(NEWSER) - Maureen Dowd continues her rant on the scandal-ridden Catholic patriarchy for a second Sunday, calling for Pope Benedict to "go home to Bavaria," while the church gets itself a "nope"—"a nun who is pope." Dowd isn't buying claims that the "sin-crazed 'Rottweiler' " didn't know about a pedophile priest in his own parish; "The pope is in too deep," she writes, and the church "can never recover" with him at its helm. More»

Bishops allow abortion bias to cloud judgment

(NEWSER) - Catholic bishops used to be some of the biggest supporters of universal health care—now, thanks to controversial abortion provisions, those same bishops could play “a major role in its demise”…that is, unless the nuns have their way. The bishops are upset that the Nelson-Casey anti-abortion amendments don’t go far enough, writes EJ Dionne Jr. in the Washington Post . “Fortunately, major Catholic leaders—most of them women in religious orders—have picked up the flag of social justice.” More»

(NEWSER) - Last week the largest group of American nuns held its annual meeting, and once again they refused to let survivors of sexual abuse in Catholic schools attend. When even the bishops have acknowledged the depth and seriousness of abuse within the Church, it's strange for the nuns to bury their heads in the sand, writes Frances Kissling on Salon. "Perhaps it is simply too painful to listen," she says. "Much better to remember the Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman versions of religious life." More»