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The following article by Marco Tosatti, titled, "The Document That Put Ratzinger on Top," appeared in the Italian newspaper La Stampa last Friday (April 22). If the story it tells is true, it gives some grounds for hope that the will for reform may be taking root in places where it can make a difference. A confidential but highly detailed document on the situation of the Church -- and especially the situation inside the Church -- circulated among the cardinals over the past few days, making a vivid impression and probably contributing indirectly to the choice of Joseph Ratzinger as...

NEW YORK, JAN. 23, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The election-year controversy about pro-abortion Catholic politicians receiving Communion raises questions about the connection between "communion" and receiving Communion, according to a theological observer. Father Richard John Neuhaus, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York and editor in chief of First Things, hopes the discussion started will continue. Father Neuhaus shared with ZENIT his thoughts on the Eucharist's role in the Church, the New Evangelization and ecumenical relations, and the need for a comprehensive renewal of Catholic understanding and practice of the reception of the Eucharist with respect to authentic "communio." Q: What...

The Price of Politics Getting ahead of a potential distraction. By Deal W. Hudson In late 1998, Crisis magazine, which I have the honor to publish, ran a series of articles on "the Catholic vote" which unexpectedly led to my involvement in politics. The articles caught the attention of the nascent Bush presidential campaign and I was asked, and agreed, to be part of the team advising on their outreach to Catholic voters. Our basic advice, as reflected in our articles, was to target Mass-attending Catholic voters, not the larger group of self-identified Catholics, because Mass attendance is the best...

A sad, and as yet unsolved, chapter of the sexual abuse saga in the United States is the story of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. This man probably did die a saint, as his close friends attest. Without doubt, he did many wonderful things for the Church in America. In the media flurry that surrounded the allegation of sexual abuse, an impertinent reporter asked the Cardinal, "Are you living a sexually active life?" A simple "no" would have been sufficient. But the Cardinal said, "I am sixty-five years old, and I have always lived a chaste and celibate life." However defensible in...

Review board head charges bishops 'manipulated' sex abuse panel and withheld information Bishops 'anxious to put these matters behind them' By Joe Feuerherd WASHINGTON The high-profile lay committee investigating the clergy sex abuse scandals was "manipulated" by the bishops, who used the 13-member National Review Board for public relations cover while withholding key information from the panel. That charge was made in a March 30 letter from Anne Burke, the Illinois Court of Appeal Justice who serves as the Board's interim chair, to bishops' conference President Wilton Gregory. Editor's Note Copies of letters exchanged among bishops and Anne Burke will...

Are gay priests to blame? David France, who wrote the definitive investigation of the Catholic Church’s sex scandal, argues that the Vatican’s homophobia drove many gay priests to abuse youths By Bruce C. Steele An abridged version of this interview appeared in The Advocate, April 13, 2004 It’s easy to dismiss the child abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church as having little to do with gay people because pedophiles and mature gay men are not the same thing. Right? David France, the openly gay author of the just-published Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an...

ROME With movie executives wondering whether Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" will do as well in Europe as it has in North America, at least one person hopes that the film's popularity signals renewed interest in the forgotten basics of Christianity. He is the priest who rose before dawn every day during the final weeks of filming to celebrate Mass for the cast in Rome, a Mass attended by Gibson every day. "The film reminds you of the incarnation and the suffering of God," Father Jean-Marie Charles-Roux said, adding of the movie's high-gore factor: "Christianity can't be a...

<p>ALBANY, N. Y. -- When Bishop Howard Hubbard of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany takes center stage at a news conference, it is usually to speak out on the death penalty, poverty, or some other issue of social justice.</p>

Portrait of Pilate Critics miss the point in Gibson's portrayal of Pontius Pilate. When Senator Howard Baker was a candidate in the 1980 presidential election, he ran across strong criticism of his support for Jimmy Carter's return of the Panama Canal to Panama from a Republican woman in Vermont. "Well, madam," replied the senator with sweet reasonableness, "I must have cast thousands of votes during my time in the Senate. You probably agree with almost all of them. Why focus on the one issue where we disagree?" "Pontius Pilate probably made lots of good decisions too," responded the lady....

<p>VATICAN CITY (AP) The Vatican will soon publish a report about sexual abuse by clergy that draws heavily on scientific opinion, including experts skeptical about removing from the ministry any priest who has molested a child, a psychologist who helped edit the report said.</p>

<p>The Arlington Catholic diocese's efforts to prevent sexual abuse of children in Catholic schools and religious programs backfired Monday night when angry parents filled a Manassas church to demand that a proposed "Good Touch, Bad Touch" program be canceled.</p> <p>In a four-hour hearing ending at 11 p.m., a majority of the 230 people at All Saints Catholic Church hooted, booed and hurled catcalls at a handful of diocesan employees, who defended the program.</p>

ROMA – “Teologia” is the scholarly journal of the theological faculty of Milan and northern Italy. It has a very small and elite readership. But its latest edition, dated March 2003, presents on pages 72-98 an essay that distinguishes itself from all the others. One can gather as much from the opening lines: “This is not a theological discussion. It is, in the first place, an experiential account.” The title is “A Discussion of Birth Control: Personal Experiences and Reflections.” The author is Bernardo Colombo (in the photo), 84, professor emeritus of demography at the University of Padua, the brother...

By TERRY MATTINGLY Scripps Howard News Service 26-NOV-03 Catholics who treasure ancient liturgies smirk and call them "Mass factories." These churches are visions of horizontal utilitarianism, their flat, plain walls broken by patches of metal and glass while rows of chairs face ultramodern altars. The faithful are more likely to see balloons drift to the rafters than clouds of incense veil images of Jesus, Mary and the saints. Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Dallas is certainly not a "Mass factory," as both critics and fans of this poor but lively parish in a battered barrio would agree. Its Italian windows...

<p>WASHINGTON -- Amid complaints of a shortage of Catholic priests and calls to make celibacy optional to attract more men to the priesthood, one expert says there are enough priests to meet the demand.</p> <p>Today, Call to Action and FutureChurch, two groups pushing for change in the church, say they will present 7,000 letters to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting here that call for the church to "open discussion" on letting priests marry. The groups are alarmed that the ratio of parishioners to priests -- the only ones who can consecrate bread and wine -- has hit a historic high. There are 66.4 million U.S. Catholics and 44,487 priests. That translates to 1,493 Catholics for every priest.</p>

<p>A powerful faction of religious and political conservatives is waging a latter-day counterreformation, battling widespread efforts to liberalize the American Catholic Church. And it has the clout and the connections to succeed.</p> <p>There is a glow to the priest when he talks. Something lights him up inside, and its intensity is increased by the mild way he says what he's saying. The words, harsh and unyielding, seem not so much a departure from the mainstream as they do a living refutation that there is any mainstream at all, not one to which the priest has to pay any mind, anyway.</p>

Call to Action, one of the country's largest and oldest Catholic reform organizations, will launch a nationwide petition and education campaign in support of optional celibacy for priests at its convention in Milwaukee next week. Conducted jointly with the FutureChurch reform group, the 18-month campaign will build on the debate that was sparked this year when 169 priests in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee took the unusual step of sending letters advocating optional celibacy as a solution to the priest shortage to Bishop Wilton Gregory, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops president. That's just one of the hot topics that will be...

So, is there a priest shortage? It is fairly common for the press, Catholic or secular, to report about a shortage of Catholic priests that is usually described as a crisis for the Church. It is true that the number of priests in the US has been declining for over a decade. This has been a fairly small decline however, from 53,000 in 1991 to 46,000 in 2001. There has probably been a similar decline in the percentage of active Catholics during these same years, but this is harder to measure accurately. Keep in mind that there are less than...

Newspaper says elderly cardinals seeking vote in conclave The Italian daily La Repubblica reported yesterday that 59 octogenarian cardinals have written to Pope John Paul II asking him to reinstate their right to elect the next Pope. Pope Paul VI ruled in 1970 that cardinals would relinquish their right to vote in the conclave after their 80th birthday. Two of Australia's three cardinals will lose their vote by the middle of next year. Former Sydney Archbishop Cardinal Edward Clancy (pictured right, with Cardinal Pell) turns 80 in December, and former Vatican official Cardinal Edward Cassidy turns 80 next June. La...

Also Oct. 17, CNN conducted an interview with Angelo Scola, the patriarch of Venice, who became a cardinal Oct. 21, and I was invited to tag along. Given that Venice produced three popes in the 20th century (Pius X, John XXIII and John Paul I), many eyes are on Scola as possible papal material, though he modestly insisted that "it is not my case." Scola's most fascinating comment came before the cameras rolled, while we were chatting in St. Peter's Square. As we stood there, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna approached and said hello. Schönborn is himself widely mentioned as...

Jesus Christ Celebrates 33rd Anniversary as God Incarnate-- But Critics Wonder Whether His Legacy Will be Ruined In a special celebration held in the home of Mary of Bethany, numerous friends and acquaintances of Jesus of Nazareth gathered to celebrate the Galilean's 33rd year as God Incarnate. But sources close to the so-called "Son of God" say that behind the accolades and well-wishes lies the darker reality of a divided fellowship of disciples, infighting, charges of gluttony and drunkeness, and fears about the future, as well as questions about the Nazarene's own use of resources supposedly allocated to the poor....