By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
On the eve of their conclave to select a new pope, cardinals held their final debate Monday over whether the Catholic Church needs a manager to clean up the Vatican or a pastor to inspire the faithful at a time of crisis.
A Scottish cardinal Sunday admitted to engaging in sexual misconduct, one day before Roman Catholic leaders prepare for a meeting here to begin the selection of a pope under a cloud of church scandals, including those involving pedophile priests.
Despite lacking the public charisma of his predecessor, Pope Benedict in just eight years was able to carve out his own legacy, in significant part by continuing John Paul's work in different ways.
Pope Benedict XVI's sudden decision to step down Feb. 28 because of health concerns reverberated around the globe. The eyes of the world surely will be focused on the impending meeting of the conclave and the election of a new pope.
Pope Benedict XVI broke centuries of precedent Monday by resigning the papacy because of issues of old age, surprising the globe's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics and prompting speculation that the next pope will be the first non-European to lead the church in modern times.
Retired Cardinal Roger Mahony and other top officials of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles maneuvered behind the scenes to shield molester priests, provide damage control for the church and keep parishioners in the dark, according to church personnel files.
When Pope Benedict XVI announced last month he was transferring his respected sex crimes prosecutor to Malta to become a bishop, Vatican watchers immediately questioned whether the Holy See's tough line on clerical abuse was going soft — and if another outspoken cleric was being punished for doing his job too well.
Fifty years ago Thursday, the fourth child from a family of Italian sharecroppers convened a epochal meeting of Roman Catholic Church leaders designed to "open the windows" of the nearly 2,000-year-old institution and let some of the modern world's "fresh air" inside.
Lawyers for a man who was sexually abused decades ago by a priest at a Wisconsin school for the deaf have withdrawn their lawsuit naming Pope Benedict XVI and other top Vatican officials as defendants.
When Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Berlin this week, he will be greeted in his homeland by a Lutheran chancellor, a gay mayor and a divorced, remarried Roman Catholic president.
Pope Benedict XVI said Monday the Catholic Church must reflect on what is wrong with its message and Christian life in general that allowed for the widespread sexual abuse of children by priests.
America's leading atheist is dying. Christopher Hitchens, a prominent public intellectual, has been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. The deadly disease has spread to his lungs and lymph nodes.
The Vatican issued a revised set of in-house rules Thursday to respond to clerical sex abuse, targeting priests who molest the mentally disabled as well as children and priests who use child pornography, but making few substantive changes to existing practice.
Pope Benedict XVI yesterday authorized wider use of the 16th-century Tridentine Mass, restoring the use of Latin and the sense of awe surrounding the most sacred rite in the Roman Catholic Church.
