Showing posts tagged catholic church
Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation is 1st since Middle Ages 85-year-old Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation this morning, a decision which took even the Vatican hierarchy by surprise. The last pope to step aside was Gregory XII in 1415, who did so in order to end the Great Western Schism. The last papal abdication was Celestine V in 1294, NBC News reports.“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” the pontiff’s statement said.Follow updates on BreakingNews.com.Photo: Pope Benedict XVI blesses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on May 1, 2011, ahead of the beatification of Pope John Paul II. (Giuseppe Cacace / AFP - Getty Images)

Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation is 1st since Middle Ages

85-year-old Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation this morning, a decision which took even the Vatican hierarchy by surprise.

The last pope to step aside was Gregory XII in 1415, who did so in order to end the Great Western Schism. The last papal abdication was Celestine V in 1294, NBC News reports.

“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” the pontiff’s statement said.

Follow updates on BreakingNews.com.

Photo: Pope Benedict XVI blesses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on May 1, 2011, ahead of the beatification of Pope John Paul II. (Giuseppe Cacace / AFP - Getty Images)

Pope Benedict XVI resigns NBC News: Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday he will resign on February 28 as leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, saying he no longer has the strength to carry out his duties.  Follow all the updates on breakingnews.com Photo: Pope Benedict XVI (Vincenzo Pinto / AFP - Getty Images, file) View high resolution

Pope Benedict XVI resigns

NBC News: Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday he will resign on February 28 as leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, saying he no longer has the strength to carry out his duties. 

Follow all the updates on breakingnews.com

Photo: Pope Benedict XVI (Vincenzo Pinto / AFP - Getty Images, file)

Inquest confirms Indian woman was denied abortion in Ireland Staff at Galway University Hospital have backed up claims by the husband of Savita Halappanavar that she had asked for and was refused an abortion at the hospital just days before she died last October. The Irish Times reports: Halappanavar had been 17 weeks pregnant when she presented at the hospital a week earlier with severe back pain and was found to be miscarrying.Her husband said, following her death, that she had been in pain and repeatedly asked for a medical termination over a three-day period but this was refused as a fetal heartbeat was still present and they were told “this is a Catholic country.”She died in the hospital’s intensive care unit, four days after the fetal heartbeat stopped. Photo: This handout picture from the Irish Times on November 14, 2012, shows Indian national Savita Halappanavar who died after being refused a termination of her pregnancy at a hospital in Galway. (AFP - Getty Images)

Inquest confirms Indian woman was denied abortion in Ireland

Staff at Galway University Hospital have backed up claims by the husband of Savita Halappanavar that she had asked for and was refused an abortion at the hospital just days before she died last October.

The Irish Times reports:

Halappanavar had been 17 weeks pregnant when she presented at the hospital a week earlier with severe back pain and was found to be miscarrying.

Her husband said, following her death, that she had been in pain and repeatedly asked for a medical termination over a three-day period but this was refused as a fetal heartbeat was still present and they were told “this is a Catholic country.”

She died in the hospital’s intensive care unit, four days after the fetal heartbeat stopped.

Photo: This handout picture from the Irish Times on November 14, 2012, shows Indian national Savita Halappanavar who died after being refused a termination of her pregnancy at a hospital in Galway. (AFP - Getty Images)

Cardinal urges Illinois Catholics to oppose gay marriage law

Cardinal Francis George issued a letter Tuesday calling laws permitting same-sex marriage a “legal fiction” and directing the Catholic faithful in Illinois to contact state legislators about a proposed Illinois gay marriage bill,  the Sun-Times reported.

His statement comes days before state Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) and state Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) are expected to introduce a gay-marriage legalization measure into January’s lame-duck sessions.

Nine states recognize gay marriage, including Maryland, where same-sex couples first were wed legally just after midnight Tuesday.

More from the Sun-Times here.

JUST IN: Mixed verdict in landmark Philadelphia clergy sex-abuse trial

Msgr. William J. Lynn was found guilty on 1 count of child endangerment and acquitted on 2 other counts, including conspiracy.

A mistrial was declared on attempted rape and endangerment charges against Rev. James J. Brennan after the jury deadlocked.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

Lynn, 61, was the first church official nationwide to be tried for enabling or covering up clergy-sex abuse. He was accused of recommending that Brennan and another priest, Edward Avery, be allowed to live or work in parishes in the 1990s despite signs that they might abuse minors.