Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup: Queen Liz at St. Paul’s, Same-Sex Marriage, Vatican Bank

Home of ex-Vatican bank searched, Queen Elizabeth gets a special prayer, a "City of God" in New Zealand.

All eyes on Justice Anthony Kennedy as a same-sex marriage case wends its way to the Supreme Court. Reuters recalls Romer v. Evans, the 1996 decision authored by the quintessential swing justice, that struck down a Colorado amendment barring the state from passing laws to protect gays and bisexuals.

Latest on the Vatican bank unpleasantness: The AP is reporting that the home of the recently ousted president of the bank was searched as part of a corruption investigation into Italy's state-controlled aerospace and engineering giant Finmeccanica.

But Pope Benedict XVI is not intimidated. So says Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, in his first public comments about the Vatileaks scandal, which Bertone called a “fierce” and “organized” attack.


The Archbishop of Canterbury presided over a special service for the Queen of England at St. Paul's, thanking her for 60 years on the throne and putting aside “selfish goals” in her dedication to public service.

Homeland Security Honcho Janet Napolitano says synagogues and other Jewish institutions still need special protections, despite the fact that there aren’t any specific, credible threats against the community.

The latest rough news from Nigeria: Suicide bomber drives into a row of churches killing at least 10. Boko Haram claims responsibility.

Convicted in Copenhagen: Four men are headed to prison for 12 years for their plot to shoot up a Danish newspaper for publishing in 2005 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

Should they stay or should they go? Controversial Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki asks his followers to leave their homes – and their loved ones if necessary – and follow him to a “City of God” in another part of New Zealand, which, you have to admit, is a heavenly-looking country – at least in the movies.

Looking ahead, North Dakota voters next week will decide whether to add a religious freedom amendment to the state's constitution. A solution in search of a problem?


Goodbye to Guatemalan Roman Catholic Cardinal Rodolfo Quezada, 80, who helped broker the treaty that ended his country’s civil war.

– Lauren Markoe

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