Free Republic

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI is urging Catholics to be intransigent toward sin but not to judge the sinner. The pontiff addressed pilgrims in St. Peter's Square on Sunday but didn't mention his rebuke to Irish bishops a day earlier for their handling of decades of clergy sexual abuse of minors. He told English-speaking pilgrims they should humbly beg forgiveness for their own failings. Benedict read the Gospel passage about Jesus' inviting those without sin to cast the first stone toward an adulterer. In his letter made public Saturday by the Vatican, Benedict said Irish bishops made grave errors...

An agency of the Irish Bishops Conference has warned that it will not hesitate in raising complaints if the Catholic Church is subjected to inaccurate comments in the media. The move comes after the editor of the Irish Daily Star, the second biggest selling newspaper in Ireland, made what were described as 'exaggerated' comments about the Church on RTE's Prime Time programme. Martin Long, director of the Catholic Communications Office, said his office would be proactive in monitoring statements made about the Church in future. During a discussion about privacy and the media, Irish Daily Star editor Gerard Colleran –...