The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to consider a high-profile case that could open the door to allowing public dollars to directly fund religious schools. The widely watched case out of Oklahoma could transform the line between church and state in education, and it will come before a court whose conservative majority has broadly embraced…
“I like punctuality, it’s a virtue I have learned to appreciate,” Pope Francis writes in the fifth chapter of his autobiography, to be published on Tuesday in 18 languages, adding that he considers it “a sign of good manners and respect, to arrive promptly.” Unfortunately, as a newborn, Francis writes, he arrived a week late,…
The Vatican has approved new guidelines for Italy that say that an applicant for the seminary cannot be rejected simply because he is gay, as long as he remains celibate. The guidelines say that seminary directors should consider sexual orientation as only one aspect of a candidate’s personality. They do not change the Roman Catholic…
“For a woman to be appointed as prefect would be great news, if it weren’t for the fact that she has been flanked by someone, it’s like assigning a custodian who can control her,” said Lucetta Scaraffia, a church historian and feminist, who said that in this context, the appointment was “window dressing.” Sister Brambilla…
Pope Francis on Monday named Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, bishop of San Diego, to be the next Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington, moving one of his most vocal allies on immigration to one of the most prominent posts in the American church. The move, announced in the Vatican’s daily bulletin, comes at a critical moment…