This week’s bombshell announcement from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith that Catholic priests may now use their discretion to bless individuals in same-sex relationships and others in “irregular situations” has sparked intense debate and varied reactions…
She was the only Baptist and only woman fraternal delegate at a Vatican synod
For two weeks in October, Elizabeth Newman served as the only woman and only Baptist representative to the Vatican’s international Synod on Synodality. One of the many lessons the ethicist and theologian learned in Rome was how to explain to…
Pope Francis practices Orwellian doublethink
Despite having declared in 2013, “Who am I to judge gay people?” (to the dismay of conservative Christians and the hope of much of the Western world) Pope Francis did just that in supporting a recent ruling by the Vatican’s…
It was a bad week for women, but it wasn’t unusual
In case you didn’t notice, women had a very bad week. In Georgia, a Southern Baptist man shot and killed eight people, six of whom were women of Asian descent, because he wanted to eliminate temptation because of his sex…
Vatican makes clear that Catholic churches might welcome LGBTQ Christians but cannot bless their unions
Pope Francis signaled a bit of welcome for LGBTQ Christians in October, but the Vatican made clear March 15 that the Catholic Church will not bless same-sex unions, which it considers to be a sinful “choice.” While the pope is the…
America’s second Catholic president faces a vastly different landscape than the first
The first time Americans elected a Catholic as president, Baptists were among those expressing alarm over possible violations of church-state separation. This year, with the imminent inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden as the nation’s second Catholic president, the landscape looks…
Religion Notes: Baptists hear warning from pope during Vatican meeting
-Baptists hold dialogue with Pope Francis
-Prayers for national healing
-Bestselling author to lecture at McAfee
BWA, Catholics to resume dialog in 2017
Baptists and Catholics will launch a third round of theological conversations in 2017, the Baptist World Alliance has reported. The announcement followed talks between the BWA and the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Landmark Vatican conference rejects just war theory, asks for encyclical on nonviolence
Participants say church teachings have too long been used to justify violent conflicts.