(RNS) The Orthodox Church in America announced that it forced its controversial leader, Metropolitan Jonah, to resign earlier this month chiefly because Jonah had failed to remove a priest accused of rape. By David Gibson.

Was Trayvon Martin's shooting divine providence? Backlash against Bachmann's Muslim hunt. Wheaton sues over contraception, the bishops' birth control mandate...

Was Trayvon Martin's shooting divine providence? Backlash against Bachmann's Muslim hunt. Wheaton sues over contraception, the bishops' birth control mandate...

(RNS) The scandal-plagued Vatican Bank still has a long way to go in order to comply with international standards for independent oversight and financial transparency, according to a status report from European officials released Wednesday (July 18). By David Gibson.

(RNS) Wheaton College, Billy Graham's alma mater and a leading Christian university, has joined a lawsuit against the Obama administration's birth control health insurance mandate. By David Gibson.

Rick Warren wants to bring the candidates to his church, Romney gets some Veep advice from Tony Perkins (Allen West, anyone?) and desecrations abound.

Rick Warren wants to bring the candidates to his church, Romney gets some Veep advice from Tony Perkins (Allen West, anyone?) and desecrations abound.

(RNS) The conservative Family Research Council has named a former top Delta Force commando and outspoken culture warrior, retired Army Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin, to run its day-to-day operations. By David Gibson.

Political campaigns are all about generating publicity and public support, but Vice-President Biden seems to have upended conventional wisdom by making an under-the-radar visit to the motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Francis in Dubuque during a two-day campaign trip to Iowa last week.

(RNS) Supporters of President Obama’s health care reform law celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the landmark legislation, but they may want to keep the corks in their champagne bottles. By David Gibson.

(RNS) Religious groups and social conservatives are reacting to the Supreme Court's historic ruling that largely upholds the Obama health care reform law. RNS will provide live updates throughout the day.

(RNS) An advocacy group for victims of sexual abuse by clergy has asked Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput to defrock the priest convicted last week of shielding priests who preyed on children. By David Gibson.

(RNS) A Philadelphia priest was convicted Friday of one count of child endangerment, becoming the first cleric in the Catholic Church’s long-running clergy abuse scandal to be tried and found guilty of shielding molesters. By David Gibson.

(RNS) The advice columnist for the online magazine Slate has said that a famed Jesuit priest and onetime Democratic congressman, the Rev. Robert Drinan, who died in 2007, tried to kiss and fondle her in the 1970s when she was 18 or 19 years old. By David Gibson.

NEW YORK (RNS) Cardinal Timothy Dolan loves to play up his Irish roots, but he may want to steer clear of the old sod for a while given the Irish bishops’ sharp rejection of Dolan’s scathing verdict on the orthodoxy of Ireland’s leading seminary. By David Gibson