The abuse scandal that creeps ever closer to Pope Benedict XVI has crept one step closer, with the NYT describing how U.S. bishops warned the Vatican about a troublesome priest who was abusing boys at a deaf school. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI) didn’t respond to pleas from the archbishop of Milwaukee, and the man who’s now the Vatican’s Secretary of State (the No. 2 position) ordered a secret church trial. The Times, in an editorial, says the pope has some explaining to do, and Germany’s Stern magazine finds a steep drop in Benedict’s poll numbers among his fellow Germans.
President Obama signed his executive order intended to prohibit federal funding of abortion as part of the health care bill, but both sides agreed on one thing: it’s essentially meaningless. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, are facing threats of physcial violence for their support of health care. Is turning the other cheek covered under the health bill?
Israel received a rare public slap-down from Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who warned his neighbor that plans to expand settlements into disputed East Jerusalem is “playing with fire.” Saudi Arabia calls Israel “arrogant.” Meanwhile, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu left Washington without any real progress on diffusing tensions with the U.S. Back home, Israeli rabbis have issued an APB on fake matzo, just ahead of Passover. Apparently they found 7 tons of the stuff in a warehouse. 7 tons of matzo? The stuff doesn’t weigh that much, so that’s gotta be a whole lotta matzo.
Speaking of matzo, the Defense Logistics Agency is making sure Jewish soldiers serving overseas will be getting their Passover meals on time. And while we’re on the topic of U.S. soldiers, the Pentagon said today it will relax enforcement on the Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell policy; third-party allegations will not be enough to boot gay and lesbian soldiers from the military.
United Methodists are withholding funding from two seminaries until they get a better sense of their financial viability. The annual Templeton Prize for advances in science and religion will be announced today, and atheists aren’t happy that the (religious) award is being handed out at the National Academy of Sciences. Secular humanist Paul Kurtz, meanwhile, worries that acerbic atheism is giving nonbelief a bad rap.
U.S. churches are suffering from the financial downturn, with 38 percent reporting a drop in donations (compared to 29 percent in 2008), according to the latest “State of the Plate survey.” R&B star Akon has pulled out of a planned concert in Sri Lanka after locals were upset with a music video featuring him and a scantily clad woman dancing in front of a statue of Buddha.
Everyone’s favorite gay Episcopal bishop, New Hampshire’s Gene Robinson, has joined the Center for American Progress (the Clinton/Obama think tank) as a part-time senior fellow. He’s not leaving New Hampshire; he’ll just have more reasons to come down to DC.
