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By Deanne Stillman
$9.66
By Robert Richie and Steven Hill
$15.00
$13
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By Eugene Robinson — At its holiest time of the year, the Roman Catholic Church is being forced to confront a more worldly riddle: What did the Holy Father know, and when did he know it?
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AP / Silvia Izquierdo
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On Thursday, the Vatican’s top legal official pointed out that Pope Benedict XVI won’t be implicated in any of the sex abuse cases currently under investigation, as he is technically a head of state. Also, the Vatican would like The New York Times to “reconsider its attack mode” regarding the pope.
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Wikimedia Commons / Whitedeer
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The highest-ranking Catholic clergyman in England and Wales, Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, has made the slightest of admissions that he understands why contraception use may seem, well, useful under certain conditions—such as poverty, for example.
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Hey, remember Sinead O’Connor? Remember Sinead O’Connor’s beef with the pope back in the day? Well, now she’s a bit older and has more hair on her head, but she’s still up for a good tussle with the Catholic powers that be, as she demonstrates ... (continued)
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So much ground to cover this week! We saw the passage of the notorious health care reform bill, more scandal among the ranks of the pope (who’s in a bit of a stew) and a nuclear breakthrough between the U.S. and Russia. Also on this week’s show: mortgages, usury and you!
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — As the church rightly teaches, acknowledging the true nature of our sin is the one and only path to redemption and forgiveness.
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By William Pfaff — I would think one judgment history will make on the Catholic Church’s Second Vatican Council (1962-65), under Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI, will be a reproach for its failure to lift the rule of celibacy for secular priests.
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Fabio Pozzebom / Agencia Brasil
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Pope Benedict XVI has OK’d the resignation of Bishop John Magee, an Irish clergyman who had held prominent positions within the Catholic Church for decades and whose diocese was rocked by allegations of child sexual abuse by members of the clergy ranging from at least the mid-1990s.
Posted on Mar 24, 2010
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Petar Pismestrovic, Kleine Zeitung, Austria —
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AP / Silvia Izquierdo
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One of Pope Benedict XVI’s past decisions as head of an archdiocese in Germany has come back around in relation to a priest accused of molesting boys three decades ago, according to The New York Times.
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Flickr / roblisameehan
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The long-running clergy sexual abuse scandal within Dublin’s Archdiocese is still the Catholic Church’s problem, and on Monday, Pope Benedict XVI met with Irish bishops for the first part of a two-day strategy and damage-control session at the Vatican.
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Wikimedia Commons / marxists.org
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Although Pope Benedict XVI made a point of denouncing institutionalized Marxism two years ago, the Vatican’s own newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, last week cast a more redemptive light on Karl Marx’s ideas by going to the primary source and validating the German economist’s critiques of capitalism.
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AP photo / Philippe Wojazer, pool
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — When Obama meets with Benedict XVI on Friday, there will be no right-wing Catholic demonstrators upbraiding the pontiff for conferring the church’s legitimacy upon this liberal politician. In fact, when it comes to economics, this conservative pope is to the left of the president.
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highvolumemedia.com
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In the spirit of the poignant critiques of capitalism made popular by Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI has written a scathing letter just in time for the capitalist G-8 economic summit in Italy that demands we find a “profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise.”
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AP photo / David Silverman, pool
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It was just the second day of his Holy Land Tour 2009, but unsurprisingly, the presence of Pope Benedict XVI in Israel stirred up more static on Tuesday—this time over his personal wartime history.
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UND / Ben Franske
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — You have heard the expression “more Catholic than the pope.” We now know that the reaction of right-wing Catholics to Notre Dame’s invitation to President Obama falls into this category.
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Wikimedia Commons/Fabio Pozzebom/ABr
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Pope Benedict XVI is heading for Jerusalem soon as part of his tour of the Holy Land, and although he occupies the same vaunted position as his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict’s own history, along with that of the church, carries a charge that could present challenges during his visit.
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Simanca Osmani, Cagle Cartoons, Brazil —
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The Nixon tapes have yielded untold, er, riches over the years, and here’s yet another nugget, featuring Nixon in a wide-ranging conversation with Bob Haldeman and John Erlichman on the subject of homosexuality. The discussion begins with a dissection of an episode of “All in the Family” and then spins off to such topics as how homosexuality “destroyed the Greeks,” the Roman Empire and San Francisco.
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AP photo / Andrew Medichini
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On his way to his first visit to Africa, Pope Benedict XVI told attendant members of the press that he believes encouraging condom use not only doesn’t help in the fight against AIDS, but actually worsens the situation.
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youtube.com
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With a media-dubbed moniker that doesn’t look good for either party, the “Holocaust Bishop”—a British bishop recently un-excommunicated by the pope—is being told by the Vatican to recant his views after news broke that he “believe[s] there were no gas chambers [during World War II].”
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Flickr/roblisameehan
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Pope Benedict XVI on Monday called for the protection of traditional heterosexuality, comparing the Catholic church’s role in defending the family to saving the rain forests.
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AP photo / Gerald Herbert
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Jokes about religion often play with the boundaries of tolerance and taste, but they don’t always carry the consequences that Sabina Guzzanti now faces. The Italian actress could go to jail for upsetting the powers that be with a satirical zinger about the pope and two gay devils.
Jokes about religion often play with the boundaries of tolerance and taste, but they don’t always carry the consequences that Sabina Guzzanti now faces. The Italian actress could go to jail for upsetting the powers that be with a satirical zinger about the pope and two gay devils.
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time.com
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If the war in Iraq has taught us anything about the politics of chaos it is that rarely, if ever, does more violence quell violence. But tell that to Indian police who were issued shoot-on-sight orders after clashes between Hindus and Christians rocked the Orissa state in eastern India.
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Simanca Osmani, Cagle Cartoons, Brazil —
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AP photo / Andrew Brownbill
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Pope Benedict XVI hit a green note Thursday, pontificating (har har) about the environment to a crowd of pilgrims at the Roman Catholic Church’s youth festival in Sydney, Australia, and making good on his eco-friendly nickname, “the green pope.”
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iwatchstuff.com
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It would appear that the pope is not a Dan Brown fan. The Vatican has refused to allow star Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard to film scenes from author Brown’s “Da Vinci Code” prequel, “Angels and Demons,” on its holy territory.
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In this “Daily Show” special feature, “Blessed Week Ever,” Jon Stewart surveys the American media’s scintillating coverage of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit, from brilliant observations about the pope’s “gentle” ways to the glory of his White House visit, and offers his own take on just what President Bush might have said upon first meeting the pontiff. Popemania!
Posted on Apr 17, 2008
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AP photo / Gerald Herbert
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Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass Thursday in a venue different from his customary surroundings, leading a service at the Washington Nationals baseball stadium on the latest stop of his American tour.
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AP photo / Gregorio Borgia
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The pope is set to land Tuesday for a whirlwind visit to America, his first since assuming the mantle of the Roman Catholic Church. A spokesman has indicated that Benedict XVI will address the church’s sex abuse scandal, a topic around which protests are expected.
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The “Real Time” host uses the recent raid on a polygamist compound to point a finger at the Vatican, which he calls “the Bear Sterns of organized pedophilia—too big to fail.” This wasn’t one of Maher’s more applauded closing numbers, but it’s not one you should miss.
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philadelphiaweekly.com
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During his midnight Christmas mass at the Vatican on Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI paid special attention to what he called the “ill-treated world” and our “selfish and reckless exploitation” of energy. He’s not just all talk: it turns out the Vatican bought carbon credits this holiday season to offset emissions. It’s just a little present to the world from the biggest little city in Italy.
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bbc.co.uk
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Atheist authors Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris have some new material to work with, thanks to the latest official release from Pope Benedict XVI, who critiqued the work of Karl Marx, warned against excessive faith in scientific progress and condemned atheism, which he believes has led to some of the “greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice” in recent history.
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timesonline.typepad.com
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No offense to those Catholics who were heartened by the prospect of Pope John Paul II’s image appearing in a commemorative bonfire in Poland last April, but the UK’s Times Online has helpfully offered some other possibilities as to who else, besides the departed pontiff, may have materialized in that mystical blaze.
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catholic-heritage.net
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At a gathering in southern Poland to mark the second anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s death on April 2, 2005, one Gregorz Lukasik took pictures of the commemorative bonfire lit at the memorial and found a striking image when he saw the photos after the event.
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boston.com
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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may be persona non grata at the Vatican. When Rice swung through Italy in August, she gave notice ahead of time about her hopes to meet with Pope Benedict XVI, but the pontiff’s camp politely rebuffed her request, explaining that he was on holiday.
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theponderingamerican.blogspot.com
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The Vatican has come up with “Ten Commandments” for drivers, warning that cars can be “an occasion of sin.” The document recommends prayer for surviving the road in good physical and spiritual condition, especially saying the rosary while driving because its “rhythm and gentle repetition does not distract the driver’s attention.”
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The Vatican is urging Catholics not to donate to Amnesty International because, it says, the group selectively promotes abortion. The human rights organization says the church has misrepresented its policy and, in the process, imperiled human rights. The World Health Organization estimates that 70,000 women die every year from unsafe abortions.
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Red State Update weighs in on the president’s recent papal visit, the difficulties of brush clearing while wearing a fancy ring, and Papa Bush’s newfound softness.
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AP Photo / Silvia Izquierdo
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Brazilian Catholics thronged to see Pope Benedict XVI in Sao Paulo on Friday as he officially added native-born 18th-century Friar Antonio Galvao to the canon of saints. While he was at it, the pope emphasized the importance of just saying no to drugs and premarital sex.
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Join Truthdig’s Robert Scheer, along with Arianna Huffington, Tony Blankley and Matt Miller, for a lively discussion on the week in politics, policy and culture. This week: the Bush-Republican detainee-interrogation deal, U.N. rants, midterm elections, corporate spying, upheaval at the Los Angeles Times and the furor surrounding the pope’s recent comments on Islam.
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Responding to Sam Harris’ Truthdig-published column on the pope’s recent speech on “faith versus reason,” Andrew Sullivan writes, “Harris both condemns Benedict for being controversial in inflaming Muslims and then condemns him for not being controversial enough.”
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Pope Benedict XVI said he was “deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages” of the address he gave last week.
Note: He’s sorry for the reactions—not for saying what he did.
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Check out these two new (unrelated) reports by men who embody the Truthdig mission of drilling beneath the headlines:
Daniel Ellsberg: “Time to Drive Out the Bush Regime”—The man who gave the world the Pentagon Papers delivers an impassioned plea to a new generation of activists to heed the lessons of Nixon and even Hitler when taking stock of the Bush administration?s nuclear ambitions.
Sam Harris: “God’s Rottweiler Barks”—The bestselling author of ?The End of Faith? gives a fiery response to Pope Benedict XVI?s speech on the interplay between faith and reason.
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