Not that we like to trade in gossip, but the word on the street is that Philly Cardinal Justin Rigali (widely blamed for dropping the ball on the abuse scandal) will retire tomorrow and will be replaced by a certain high-profile conservative from the Rocky Mountains. Poor Rocco can hardly contain his anticipation.
There were reports over the weekend that the Orthodox Brooklyn man who confessed to kidnapping and dismembering an Orthodox Jewish boy had tried to do it before.
The NYT probes Michele Bachmann‘s evangelical faith and views on homosexuality, as her husband comes under fire for supposedly encouraging men to pray away the gay. Mark Silk has details on just where Bachmann is attending church, and turns out it’s the same (Swedish-roots) Baptist denomination that Tim Pawlenty belongs to.
Our own Daniel Burke breaks down the timing of Bachmann’s departure from the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.
The Dalai Lama wrapped up his peace festival in D.C. with a meeting with POTUS at the White House, and then headed on to Chicago, where he praised Illinois for abolishing the death penalty.
And if the White House wonders why people don’t know if Obama is a Christian, maybe it’s because you can count on two hands (with room to spare) the number of times he’s gone to church since moving into 1600. No. 8 was on Sunday (photo above).
The Episcopal bishop of Long Island has told his gay priests they have nine months to get married because he doesn’t want them living in sin with their same-sex partners.
As if Casey Anthony didn’t have enough to deal with, she was the subject of a retrial at a Cleveland church.
The always-colorful Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin says he’s angry over abuse lapses in the Diocese of Cloyne, and suggests the church has no one else to blame for its diminished place in society. B16 may be downsizing the Irish church, reports say.
The eldest son of the last Austrian emperor was buried in grand style in Vienna on Saturday. Interesting tidbit from the Hapsburg funeral:
Three times the master of ceremonies knocked on the crypt’s doors and twice the coffin was denied entry – first when Habsburg was named as emperor and holder of dozens of other royal titles, then when his academic and political achievements and other accomplishments were listed.
“We do not know him!” was the response from the Capuchin friars within. The doors only opened onto the sun-filled afternoon and into the gloomy half-light of the chapel above the crypt after Habsburg was described as “Otto – a mortal and a sinner.”
Not surprisingly, the Vatican excommunicated the Chinese bishop who was ordained without Rome’s OK. The Vatican and Malaysia have agreed to establish full diplomatic relations.
— Kevin Eckstrom
