Condom Machine in School Enrages Vatican

(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) - The UK's most prestigious medical journal has joined the condemnation of Pope Benedict’s comments on contraception, the Financial Times reports. “By saying that condoms exacerbate the problem of HIV/AIDS, the Pope has publicly distorted scientific evidence to promote Catholic doctrine on this issue," says an editorial in the Lancet. And the Vatican's "attempts to tweak the Pope’s words" are "not the way forward." More»

Italians Catholics renouncing their faith turn to the Web for help with 'debaptism'

(NEWSER) - Cutting ties with the Catholic Church is, in theory, a relatively simple matter known as "debaptism." More and more Italians who aren't worried about the Vatican's formal stance on what it calls "an act of apostasy, heresy or schism" are finding the documents they need online. Wired considers the digital angle on an ecclesiastical process. More»

Four-day visit is first state visit to his homeland

(NEWSER) - Pope Benedict XVI is back home for his first state visit to Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Christian Wulff, and Cabinet members met the pontiff upon his arrival at a Berlin airport today, the first of his four-day visit, as howitzers fired and fighter jets flew overhead. He is also expected to be met by large Catholic crowds, the AP reports, but a less-welcome sight will be the also-large crowds expected to protest. More»

Says Benedict alone has right to appoint bishops

(NEWSER) - The Vatican has excommunicated a newly ordained bishop in China's Catholic Church, reports Reuters, peeved that the Beijing church went ahead and ordained the Rev. Joseph Huang Bingzhang without papal approval. The Vatican maintains that Pope Benedict alone has the right to name bishops; Beijing sees that as foreign interference, notes the AP. The priest defied numerous requests from the Holy See to refuse the ordination, it said in a statement, adding that Benedict "deplores the manner in which the church in China is being treated." More»