Pope

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said Tuesday in a statement issued to the Health and Human Services (HHS) that prospective changes in the contraception mandate, offered by the Obama administration as a form of compromise after a massive backlash, are still "morally objectionable."

The mandate, part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, requires employers – including most religious nonprofits such as hospitals and colleges (although not churches) – to provide health insurance that includes birth control for workers. The plan sparked protests from faith leaders and the public, and the Obama administration duly started working on a compromise in February, meant to "accommodate" religious institutions. Under the new rules, rather than requiring religiously affiliated charities and universities to pay for contraceptives, the cost would be shifted to health insurance companies, Obama said in February.

But after scrutinizing the proposed changes, titled the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM), lawyers representing the USCCB said this week that religious employers and other stakeholders would still have their employee health insurance plans and premiums "used for services they find morally objectionable." The USSCB is the main Catholic Church body in the United States. more >>

The exhumation of an Italian mobster in Rome has raised questions of the Vatican's involvement in a nearly 30-year-old case involving the missing 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee.

Emanuela Orlandi went missing in 1983 while taking a walk from her house to a music lesson in Rome. Orlandi's father was an employee of the Holy See, and some charged that the Vatican had not fully cooperated with the investigation surrounding the missing girl.

Vatican officials however, had denied such allegations, insisting that they had done everything possible. more >>

The Vatican has expressed sympathy for the two dozen victims of the latest terrorist attacks in Nigeria and Kenya targeting Christians, but has called on believers to not give in to the "temptations of hate."

Nigeria has been experiencing bombings and other attacks on an almost weekly basis since last year, and most of these attacks have been blamed on the Islamic fundamentalist group Boko Haram, who want to establish Islamic rule in a country divided culturally and geographically by Christian and Muslim lines.

The group has often targeted Christian churches and congregations, carrying out blasts and killing dozens even on the most holy of Christian holidays, including Christmas and Easter. This past Sunday, the northern Nigerian city of Kano was targeted when attackers believed to be part of the Boko Haram group threw bombs at Beryo University, where Christians had gathered for a religious service. The terrorists then opened fire on the fleeing crowd, slaughtering a total 20 people and wounding many others. more >>

The largest organization of Roman Catholic nuns in the U.S. has been hit by a Vatican-ordered crackdown that brands the Leadership Conference of Women Religious as too "radical" and diverging from several core pillars of Catholic faith.

Among a number of "feminist themes" the official report claims against the Leadership Conference is its lack of support for the traditional definition of marriage, as well as pro-abortion and pro-euthanasia positions.

"Issues of crucial importance to the life of Church and society, such as the Church's Biblical view of family life and human sexuality, are not part of the LCWR agenda in a way that promotes Church teaching," the assessment reads. more >>

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his 85th birthday on Monday at the Vatican, where he dismissed talk of retirement but asked for prayers as he prepares for the "final stretch" of his life.

"I am facing the final leg of the path of my life and I don't know what's ahead," Pope Benedict declared during the day's events. "I know though that God's light is there ... and that his light is stronger than every darkness."

A live band from his native Bavaria played at the celebration for the pope, who also received birthday greetings and a host of "many happy years" from prominent world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Queen Elizabeth II. The pope held both a public and private ceremony, and welcomed more than 150 bishops, including his brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, Reuters reported. more >>

Pope Benedict XVI prayed for the end of violence in the Middle East and Africa, particularly singling out Syria, Nigeria and Iraq during his Easter address Sunday at Vatican City, as Christians around the world were celebrating the resurrection of Christ.

"May the risen Christ grant hope to the Middle East and enable all the ethnic, cultural and religious groups in that region to work together to advance the common good and respect for human rights," the pope said in his Easter message, "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and to the world), delivered from the St. Peter's Basilica balcony to a crowd of some 100,000 Catholics.

"Particularly in Syria, may there be an end to bloodshed and an immediate commitment to the path of respect, dialogue and reconciliation, as called for by the international community," the pontiff said. "May the many refugees from that country who are in need of humanitarian assistance find the acceptance and solidarity capable of relieving their dreadful sufferings. May the paschal victory encourage the Iraqi people to spare no effort in pursuing the path of stability and development. In the Holy Land, may Israelis and Palestinians courageously take up anew the peace process." more >>