Vatican news stories on Newser

Vatican Bank Chief Bounced

Rob Quinn — Fri, 25 May 2012 03:47:55 CDT

The chief of the secretive Vatican bank has been given the boot for allegedly letting standards slip at the institution. Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was forced to resign after the bank's board of directors unanimously passed a no-confidence vote against him for failing "to carry out duties of primary importance," the...

TV Priest: I Fathered Child

Mary Papenfuss — Wed, 16 May 2012 00:04:00 CDT

A well-known priest who has authored several books and appeared on TV programs to discuss morality, God, and Catholic teachings has revealed he fathered a child. The revelation by Father Thomas Williams, who's a dean of papal morality at a university in Rome, is a new blow to his controversial...

Vatican Cracks Down on 'Liberal' US Nuns

Mary Papenfuss — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:51:00 CDT

The Vatican is launching a massive crackdown on US nuns for their failure to attack gay marriage, female ordination, and abortion. Officials blasted the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an umbrella group that oversees some 55,000 American nuns, for sponsoring conferences that feature "radical feminist themes incompatible with the...

Ahead of 85th Birthday, Benedict Asks Strength

Polly Davis Doig — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 08:11:38 CDT

Staring down both his 85th birthday and the seventh anniversary of his papacy, Pope Benedict today asked the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square for both prayers and strength, reports the AP . "Next Thursday, on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of my election to the See of Peter, I...

Vatican to Outspoken Priest: Spend 6 Weeks in Prayer

Rob Quinn — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:23:00 CDT

A popular Irish priest known for his liberal views has been told to shut up by church authorities, reports the Daily Beast . Father Tony Flannery, who has questioned the doctrine of celibacy, and said the priesthood should be opened up to women, has been told to stop writing about controversial...

Pope Warns of Technology Without God

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 17:26:23 CDT

Pope Benedict XVI, carrying a tall, lit candle, ushered in Christianity's most joyous celebration with an Easter vigil service tonight, but voiced fears that mankind is groping in darkness, unable to distinguish good from evil. "Life is stronger than death," he said. "Good is stronger than evil. Love is stronger...

Pope Slams 'Radical' Austrian Priests

Mary Papenfuss — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 03:00:00 CDT

Pope Benedict has ripped into a dissident group of Austrian priests for questioning some church teachings and advocating for married and female priests. He accused the group—known as the Pfarrer Initiative—of "a desperate push to do something to change the church in accordance with one's own preferences and...

Hackers Crash Vatican Website

Dustin Lushing — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:09:39 CST

Hackers infiltrated the official website of the Vatican today and crashed it, and the culprits were an Italian branch of Anonymous, reports Reuters . According to a statement on group's Italian site, the hackers targeted the Vatican because of the Catholic Church's extensive history of "corruption." The site www.vatican.va...

Church Is at Breaking Point Over Molesters: Archbishop

Mary Papenfuss — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 01:52:00 CST

Catholic officials' failure to adequately police and punish molesters in the clergy has placed the Irish church at a "breaking point," Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin tells 60 Minutes . The Irish Catholic leader has angrily criticized the church hierarchy for moving pedophiles from parish to parish, and defied Vatican orders by...