Pope Benedict made an appearance at today’s Vatican meeting to discuss the investigation of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative Catholic order founded by the Rev. Marcial Maciel, who turns out to have fathered several children and abused seminarians. As expected, the Vatican did not announce a decision about the order after the meeting, though some kind…

The most entertaining religion news story this week was unquestionably “Boobquake,” a Facebook-fueled joke calling on ladies to respond, um, appropriately to an Iranian Muslim cleric’s recent statement that womens’ immodest attire has been causing the earth’s violent tremors. Purdue University student/Boobquake mastermind (and atheist) Jennifer McCreight explained the April 26 phenomenon for ABC News. Apparently, we all survived… except that…

After spending the last two days hearing arguments over the controversial sentencing of Sholom Rubashkin, a Hasidic Jew convicted of fraud related to how he ran Agriprocessors, the now-defunct kosher meat plant based in Postville, Iowa, U.S. District Court Judge Linda Reade announced she will issue her ruling on May 27. Prosecutors had initially recommended a…

In his recent interview with PBS Newshour, Cardinal William Levada indicated that Pope Benedict will be issuing a formal apology to clergy abuse victims in June, at the end of his — unfortunately timed, given the global pedophilia revelations — “year of the priest.” Levada himself has been criticized for how he handled clergy abuse cases,…

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