Free Republic

U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are gathering at a moment of turbulence for them and the American church, as Pope Francis moves toward crafting new policies for carrying out his mission of mercy - a prospect that has conservative Catholics and some bishops in an uproar. The assembly, which starts Monday in Baltimore, comes less than a month after Francis ended a dramatic Vatican meeting on how the church can more compassionately minister to Catholic families. The gathering in Rome was only a prelude to a larger meeting next year which will more concretely advise Francis on church practice. Still, the...

When Cardinal Roger Mahony called on Roman Catholics this week to embrace immigrants regardless of legal status, he wasn't just reiterating the church's long tradition of reaching out to the downtrodden. Mahony and other U.S. Catholic bishops are increasingly weighing into the debate over what to do about the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States - a development that's being met with criticism from groups pushing for tougher immigration law enforcement. Catholic leaders have launched a "Justice for Immigrants" campaign, appealed to President Bush and congressional leaders for a legalization program, and sharply criticized a bill...

CLONING-REACT Jul-15-2002 (560 words) xxxnU.S. bishops' official asks Senate action to ban human cloning By Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A U.S. bishops' pro-life official has asked the Senate to follow the majority recommendation of the President's Council on Bioethics by favoring at least a temporary legal ban on all human cloning. Without federal legislation, "the most irresponsible of researchers will create our national policy by default," said Richard Doerflinger, deputy director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. A majority of the bioethics council recommended outlawing human cloning for reproduction and favored a four-year...