Bishop: 100 cases in 10 yrs for Italy priest abuse ROME — Italy’s bishops’ conference provided the first ever statistics of clerical sex abuse in the country Tuesday, saying there had been about 100 cases over the past 10 years that warranted church trials or other canonical procedures. Monsignor Mariano Crociata, the No. 2 official [...]

I can dream, can’t I? Richard Dawkins: I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI RICHARD DAWKINS, the atheist campaigner, is planning a legal ambush to have the Pope arrested during his state visit to Britain “for crimes against humanity”. Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for [...]

Vatican Bank probed for money laundering ROME – A probe has been opened by Rome magistrates to determine whether the Vatican bank, the Istituto Opere di Religione (IOR), violated Italian laws against money laundering. The probe is focusing on one or more accounts IOR opened with Unicredit, Italy’s biggest bank, through which some 60 million [...]

Yeah, that sounds like and healthy.. Pope ‘Whipped Himself In Remorse For Sins’ Reveals Nun POPE John Paul II regularly whipped himself in a sign of “remorse for his sins”, a nun has disclosed. Pope John Paul, who died four years ago at 84, is being considered for sainthood by the Catholic Church – the [...]

The Vatican joins the search for alien life The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is holding a conference on astrobiology, the study of life beyond Earth, with scientists and religious leaders gathering in Rome this week. For centuries, theologians have argued over what the existence of life elsewhere in the universe would mean for the Church: [...]

Wilmington diocese files for bankruptcy on eve of sex-abuse trials WILMINGTON – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington filed for bankruptcy protection just hours before eight clergy sex-abuse trials were set to begin yesterday – the first wave in dozens of cases against its priests that, by diocesan estimates, could cost it $100 million to [...]

Is the Catholic Church entering into exile? THIS YEAR the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin is celebrating a year of evangelisation. The project’s website notes that “evangelisation is . . . an essential mission of the church”. Necessary, courageous, no doubt, but, one might well ask the question, “why now?” A friend told me, several [...]

Catholic bank owned pill shares A Roman Catholic bank in Germany has apologised after admitting it bought stocks in defence, tobacco and birth control companies. Der Spiegel newspaper discovered the bank had invested 580,000 euros (£495,310, $826,674) in British arms company BAE Systems. It also invested 160,000 euros in American birth control pill maker Wyeth [...]

Argentine Priest Convicted of Sexually Abusing Boy A Roman Catholic priest who won fame running an Argentine foundation for poor youths was convicted Wednesday of sexually molesting a boy who participated in the program. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison. A three-judge panel found Father Julio Grassi guilty of one count of sexual [...]