Louisianians are praying for God to “stick his finger in that plug” in the Gulf of Mexico, after the failure of yet another attempt to quell the flow of oil.
Pope Benedict XVI continues to be hit with accusations that he did not move quickly to defrock priests accused of sexually abusing children when he was a cardinal in charge of the CDF. The latest is an AP story about an American priest who served prison time for molesting numerous children. Vatican rules under Pope John Paul II may have limited the future pope’s options, however, and the priest was eventually laicized. “Ratzinger was just obeying his boss,” says one liberal canon lawyer.
In other sex abuse news, Benedict has appointed nine prelates, including the archbishops of Boston and New York, to investigate child abuse in Ireland, and the Vatican announced the resignation of a Irish-born archbishop in Nigeria who is accused of having a 20-year-long relationship with a woman that started when she was 14. The New York Times explores the barring of gay applicants to the priesthood in the U.S.
Benedict will have to navigate some more minefields when he visits Cyprus this week, the AP says.
White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel’s son had his bar mitzvah on Sunday near the Western Wall amid protests from right-wing Israelis who don’t like President Obama’s policies towards Israel. Al-Qaida says its No. 3 has been killed. Afhgan authorities have suspended two Christian foreign aid groups on suspicion of proselytizing. Saudi Arabia is discouraging Muslims from sending corpses to Mecca and Medina for burial.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is inviting colleagues to join his amicus brief before the Supreme Court supporting the father of a deceased Marine against Westboro Baptist Church, which picketed the soldier’s funeral. Conservative lawyers say they are on a mission from God to unseat four California judges. A federal judge has ruled that two Connecticut high schools should not hold graduation ceremonies in a church.
Malawi’s president pardoned a gay couple who had been sentenced to 14 years in prison. A Catholic school teacher in Fort Dodge, Iowa was fired for telling Facebook she doesn’t believe in God. Salman Rushdie says the fatwa against him doesn’t affect his daily life anymore. A Pakistani court has lifted the ban on Facebook; Bangladesh has banned Facebook.
A Massachusetts town is taxing closed Catholic churches because they are not longer being used for religious purposes. Catholics are moving a church brick-by-brick from Buffalo to Atlanta. The AP ponders what will happen when the Dalai Lama dies.
