Catholic Church

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican lashed out Saturday at the media for what it said has been a run of defamatory and false reports before the conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI's successor, saying they were an attempt to influence the election. [ Read more → ]

ROME — A controversial article by Italy’s respected, leading daily newspaper, La Repubblica, has linked the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to the discovery of blackmail, corruption and a network of gay prelates in the Vatican. [ Read more → ]

The Roman Catholic Church hierarchy has long been an opponent to LGBT equality. Even before Pope Benedict came on the scene, the Vatican was employing the phrase “intrinsically disordered” to refer to LGBT people. In the 2012 election, Roman Catholic bishops led the opposition to marriage equality in Minnesota, Maryland, Washington, and Maine, pouring energy and money into campaigns that ultimately ended in defeat for the anti-gay coalitions. Is it likely that the cardinals will choose a pro-LGBT pope? Everything is possible, but this seems highly unlikely. The hierarchy tends to reward and promote those who have been particularly successful at opposing LGBT equality. [ Read more → ]

VATICAN CITY — Declaring that he lacks the strength to do his job, Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday he will resign Feb. 28 — becoming the first pontiff to step down in 600 years. His decision sets the stage for a mid-March conclave to elect a new leader for a Catholic Church in deep turmoil. [ Read more → ]

CINCINNATI — An assistant principal at a Catholic school in Cincinnati has been fired over a blog post he wrote in support of same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

WILMINGTON, Del. — As advocates prepare to push for a bill authorizing gay marriage in Delaware, the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington is weighing in with a pastoral letter on marriage. [ Read more → ]

Activists from the Gay Liberation Network, a longtime Chicago-based direct action LGBT rights group, are calling on the local community to join them early next month in a protest against Cardinal Francis George, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, due to his vocal opposition against... [ Read more → ]

LONDON -- More than 1,000 Roman Catholic priests have signed a letter voicing fears that legalization of same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom could threaten religious freedom in a way last seen during “centuries of persecution” of Roman Catholics in England. The letter, published Saturday... [ Read more → ]

The Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, who also leads the Catholic Church in England and Wales, announced this week that he has ordered the Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Central London to stop holding masses that were specifically designed for LGBT Catholics. [ Read more → ]

Chicago's Cardinal Francis George officially entered the political debate over same-sex marriage on Tuesday, issuing a pastoral letter that urges parishioners to contact state legislators and voice their opposition to a planned bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Illinois. [ Read more → ]

With Illinois state lawmakers poised to consider a marriage equality bill in the lame duck session that begins Wednesday, Catholic bishops and other advocates of "traditional" are taking a new approach: same-sex marriage simply violates natural law. [ Read more → ]

There was a time, not so long ago, when religion was a unified front against LGBT equality. However, over the years, we have seen that paradigm change, and 2012 witnessed religious people and organizations at the forefront of LGBT advancement ... By the end of the year, we saw several religious leaders stepping out and speaking up, with support coming from some pretty surprising places... [ Read more → ]

AMSTERDAM -- A website operator in The Netherlands is helping thousands of Dutch Catholics research information on how that can leave the church in protest of its opposition to same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

In private moments, it must be disconcerting to the Pope that gay couples pledging their love and lives to each other, have significantly greater moral authority than the Vatican. People, including most moderate Catholics, must be scratching their heads and wondering why a troubled religious institution that does not have its house in order, is obsessively trying to cause disorder in loving gay households? [ Read more → ]

A senior Roman Catholic Bishop in the United Kingdom will use his Christmas sermon to compare the legalization of same-sex marriage to the way the Nazis and Communists tried to undermine religion. [ Read more → ]

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Catholics United Education Fund (CUEF), a lay Catholic advocacy group, delivered a petition containing about 7,500 signatures to the Knights of Columbus on Tuesday, asking the Catholic fraternal organization to stop using its money to oppose same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

BARNESVILLE, Minn. -- A Catholic priest in Minnesota has denied Confirmation to a 17-year-old student after seeing a picture on his Facebook page last month which the teen in which he expressed opposition to the state's failed anti-gay marriage amendment. [ Read more → ]

The Roman Catholic Church hierarchy funneled $2 million into entirely unsuccessful efforts to advance discrimination against LGBT people in the four marriage ballot states of Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington this election cycle, according to a report by the Human Rights Campaign. [ Read more → ]

SAN DIEGO -- A British theologian claims that the University of San Diego has withdrawn a fellowship and revoked a speaking invitation because she signed a letter supporting civil marriage rights for same-sex couples in the United Kingdom. [ Read more → ]

The Catholic Church is funneling unprecedented dollar amounts into the four states where marriage equality is on the ballot this fall – Minnesota, Maryland, Maine and Washington – and in many cases, parishioners may not even be aware that their dollars are being used to fund discrimination, according to a new report by the Human Rights Campaign. [ Read more → ]