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NEWS ABOUT: Vatican

Discovery Channel, Vatican Team Up for Exorcist Series

Church will allow its investigations to be recreated on TV

(Newser) - Discovery Channel will deepen its involvement with the supernatural in a new series called the Exorcist Files—with the unusual twist that the Vatican is helping out, Entertainment Weekly reports. The network will recreate investigations of demonic possessions and hauntings conducted by the Catholic Church, which is opening its files... More »

Amid $31M Bank Probe, Vatican Creates Financial Watchdog

New laws will also fight terrorist financing

(AP) - The Vatican today created a financial watchdog agency and issued new laws to fight money laundering and terrorist financing in a major effort to shed its image as a tax haven that for years has been mired in scandal and secrecy. The decrees, which go into effect April 1, were... More »

Pope Razzes China in Christmas Message

Tells Catholics in the country to persevere

(AP) - Pope Benedict XVI urged loyal Catholics in China and Iraq to have courage in the face of persecution and limits on their religious freedom, as the largest number of pilgrims in a decade flocked to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem. Benedict's traditional holiday speech highlighted the tensions between Beijing and the... More »

Amid Heightened Security, Pope Ushers In Christmas

Pontiff heralds holiday without incident

(AP) - Pope Benedict XVI ushered in Christmas Eve with an evening Mass today amid heightened security concerns following the package bombings at two Rome embassies and Christmas Eve security breaches at the Vatican the past two years running. Benedict made his way down the central aisle of St. Peter's Basilica at... More »

Virgin Mary Appeared at Wisc. Chapel: Catholic Bishop

Mary is said to have appeared to a Belgian immigrant 3 times

(Newser) - About a dozen sites worldwide can boast that they have been validated by the Catholic Church as being sites where the Virgin Mary has appeared—and for the first time, that list includes a US location. A tiny chapel 17 miles northeast of Green Bay, Wisc., called Our Lady of... More »

WikiLeaks: Vatican Pulled Out of Holocaust Task Force

Group sought release of Pius XII records

(Newser) - The Vatican backtracked on an agreement to join an organization dedicated to remembering the Holocaust because of mounting controversy over the wartime role of Pope Pius XII according to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks. Plans for the Vatican to join the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance,... More »

Vatican Stonewalled Irish Sex-Abuse Investigation

Holy See was 'offended' by Dublin's request for info

(Newser) - Ireland's 2009 sex-abuse commission was an excruciating national cleansing—but when the Vatican was called on to help air the clergy's part in the scandal it balked, refusing to let its officials testify. The Holy See even went so far as say many were "offended" by requests for information,... More »

Model for Michelangelo's Pieta Found

12-inch sculpture was covered with tape

(Newser) - A US art historian says he’s found the model for Michelangelo's great statue the Pieta at the Vatican, the Daily Telegraph reports. An Italian art collector picked up the 12-inch terracotta model at an antiques shop; before restoration, it was covered in paint and dotted with Scotch tape. But... More »

Condoms OK for Ladies, Too: Pope

Even if it also will prevent babies

(Newser) - OK, OK, everyone can use condoms—but only if you’re trying to prevent HIV. That’s the new word from the Vatican, which today declared that giving HIV to your sexual partner was a greater evil than preventing a possible pregnancy, the AP reports. The statement clarifies the assertion... More »

Pope Says Condoms Are Sometimes OK

Prostitutes could use them to curb AIDS infection

(Newser) - Pope Benedict—he who not too long ago said condoms make the AIDS crisis worse —now thinks they're not such a bad idea all the time. ("Stunning development," says AP , noting the church's opposition to artificial contraception, while Reuters sees it as a potential "sea change"... More »

Pope Names 24 New Cardinals

... Who will elect his successor

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI named 24 new cardinals today, the third time during his tenure that he has added to the body of "princes of the church" who will eventually name his successor, reports the AP. The group is mostly Italian, spurring speculation that the papacy could swing back to... More »

Vatican Issues Warning on Angels, Demons Sect

Members believe women who have abortions are possessed by the devil

(Newser) - The Vatican has issued a warning to bishops to watch out for an ultra right-wing Catholic sect that prays to angels to combat demons, and believes women who have had abortions are possessed by the devil. Dozens of priests and nuns are part of the group, Opus Angelorum, and some... More »

D'Oh! Simpson Clan Not Catholic

Pope's wrong; they're 'Presby-Lutheran Protestants,' says producer

(Newser) - Turns out the pope is fallible after all. The official Vatican newspaper declared last week that Homer Simpson and his family are Catholic. But the creators of the cartoon characters have announced that church officials are downright wrong, reports the BBC . Homer and son Bart considered converting to Catholicism five... More »

Vatican Nixed Carla Bruni Visit

Pope 'feared press would print racy photos'

(Newser) - The Vatican had a request for Nicolas Sarkozy ahead of the French president's meeting with Pope Benedict XVI last week: Leave your wife at home. Sources say that the pontiff feared that the Italian press would pair his photo with pictures of a scantily-clad or nude Carla Bruni from her... More »

EU May Yank Vatican Tax Break

Church could be handed $11B tax bill

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI may soon find himself stuck with an $11 billion tax bill. European officials are probing tax breaks Silvio Berlusconi gave the church on its 100,000 properties in Italy. If they decide the tax exemptions are unfair state subsidies for church run businesses, the Vatican will be... More »

Vatican Slams Berlusconi Over Jewish Joke

It was 'just a laugh,' insists premier

(Newser) - The Vatican yesterday lashed Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for making a joke about Jews last week that stunned and infuriated his countrymen. The "deplorable" joke "offended the sentiment of believers and the sacred memory of 6 million Holocaust victims," blasted an editorial in the Vatican's official... More »

Vatican Bank Probed for Money Laundering

$34M in mystery funds frozen by Italian authorities

(Newser) - Italian authorities have frozen $34 million at the heart of a money-laundering probe of the Vatican Bank. Two officials, including the chairman of the institution, are under investigation for failing to disclose the identity of clients linked to the funds, which is required by Italian law. The bank, whose main... More »

6 Arrested in London Over Threat to Pope

Pontiff's visit sparks controversy in Britain

(AP) - British police staged a predawn raid at a central London garbage depot today, arresting five street cleaners in a suspected terrorist plot against Pope Benedict XVI on the second day of his state visit to Britain. A sixth person was arrested later. Acting on a tip, police detained the men,... More »

Pope Aide Skips UK Trip After '3rd World' Jab

Also said BA discriminates against those wearing crosses

(Newser) - A top aide to Pope Benedict is skipping tomorrow's trip to Britain after telling a German magazine that "when you land at Heathrow you think at times you have landed in a Third World country." As the BBC reports, German-born Cardinal Walter Kasper said the UK, where the... More »

Vatican: We're Watching Iran's 'Brutal' Stoning Case

Ashtiani now sentenced to 99 lashes over photo

(Newser) - Iran may think Carla Bruni's a prostitute, but the BBC reports that it also thinks it's going to give Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani—the woman Tehran already wants to put to death by stoning—99 lashes over a photo that may or may not depict her bareheaded. Sound like she needs... More »

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