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Nuns' fight with Vatican highlights Catholicism's global struggle
The nation’s largest group of nuns, LCWR, are under fire from the Vatican.
May 30th, 2012
04:23 PM ET

Nuns' fight with Vatican highlights Catholicism's global struggle

By Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor

Washington (CNN) - The charges ranged from promoting “radical feminism” to espousing religious teachings out of step with the Catholic Church. Now, six weeks after many American nuns said they were blindsided by a bruising Vatican assessment, a key nuns' leadership group is meeting to decide how to respond.

The board of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents the leadership of the vast majority of the nation’s nuns, began a four-day meeting in Washington on Tuesday, with church watchers dissecting the 22-member board's every move.

It's a fight that pits church men and against church women, and it could have broader implications for the global church.

One side is pushing the nuns to fight back against a church that they think has lost its way. The other is championing the Vatican against a group of aging nuns whom they say are on the verge of extinction unless they reform.

FULL POST

- CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor

Filed under: Belief • Catholic Church • Vatican

Vatican shows rare public anger over leak
May 30th, 2012
11:42 AM ET

Vatican shows rare public anger over leak

By Richard Allen Greene, CNN

(CNN)–The Vatican expressed rare public anger Wednesday in blasting the leaking of private papers from the pope's apartment, a scandal that observers say lifts the lid on a secret power struggle going on behind the closed doors of the Catholic Church.

A top Roman Catholic Church official called the theft of the documents "an immoral act of unprecedented gravity" and "despicable abuse of the relationship of trust that exists between Benedict XVI and those who turn to him."

Archbishop Angelo Becciu made the remarks to the Vatican's official newspaper six days after the pope's butler was arrested for leaking the papers.

Paolo Gabriele, 46, was arrested Wednesday on accusations of illegal possession of confidential documents, the Vatican said in a statement issued three days after the arrest.

FULL STORY

- Newsdesk editor, The CNN Wire

Filed under: Catholic Church • Pope Benedict XVI • Pope John Paul II • Scandal • Vatican

Business site raises eyebrows by asking 'Why Do Some People Hate Jews?'
Business Insider CEO and Editor-in-Chief Henry Blodget in New York earlier this year.
May 30th, 2012
10:25 AM ET

Business site raises eyebrows by asking 'Why Do Some People Hate Jews?'

By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor

(CNN) - The Business Insider, a popular business-focused news website, posted a curious headline on its site: “Why Do Some People Hate Jews?”

Tuesday's headline and accompanying blog post, from Business Insider CEO and Editor-in-Chief Henry Blodget, wound up turning a lot of heads. The avalanche of response and criticism prompted Blodget - a high-profile former Wall Street analyst - to revise his headline and offer explanations/defenses of his post throughout the day.

“Along with many other sites, this site is occasionally visited by people whose mission in life appears to be to express hatred of Jews,” Blodget wrote in his original post. “And hatred of Jews has obviously been an ongoing theme worldwide for centuries.

“What is the source of this animosity? Why does it perpetuate itself? Where did this prejudice come from?”

FULL POST

- CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor

Filed under: Judaism

May 30th, 2012
04:21 AM ET

Tennessee mosque's fate again up in the air

By Lateef Mungin and Moni Basu, CNN

(CNN) - The long-running battle between a Tennessee Muslim community and its critics over a new mosque took a dramatic turn with a county judge's ruling that could bring construction to a halt.

"Everyone is really shocked, many people are crying about this," Imam Osama Bahloul, leader of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, said early Wednesday.

"We did exactly what other churches in the county did," he said. "We followed the same process that other churches did. Why did this happen? Some people feel like it is discrimination."

The judge, Chancellor Robert Corlew, ruled Tuesday that plans for the new mosque that had previously been approved by a local planning commission were now "void and of no effect."

He said the planning commission violated state law by not providing proper public notice. The ruling throws the date of the mosque's completion, scheduled for July, up in the air.

Rutherford County Attorney Jim Cope said Corlew did not address the issue of whether work on the mosque has to stop right away. He said county planners will discuss options and determine an appropriate course of action.

FULL STORY

- CNN's Laura Koran

Filed under: Islam • Mosque • Tennessee

May 30th, 2012
04:17 AM ET

Belief Blog's Morning Speed Read for Wednesday, May 30

By Laura Koran, CNN

Here's the Belief Blog’s morning rundown of the top faith-angle stories from around the United States and around the world. Click the headlines for the full stories.

From the Blog:

CNN: Vatican scandals lift lid on secret power struggle
Bad luck comes in threes, even for the pope. The past week has seen his butler arrested, accused of leaking secret papers from the papal apartment; the head of his bank sacked for incompetence; and a demonstration on his front doorstep by protesters demanding that he reveal what he knows about Italy's most famous missing-person case. It's bad PR for the Vatican, but it may be more than that, experts say. It could affect who becomes the next pope.

FULL POST

- CNN's Laura Koran

Filed under: Uncategorized

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About this blog

The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.

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