A top Vatican official says the ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal has caused Pope Benedict great pain, the Associated Press reports. (With all the allegations reported lately, spanning from Mexico to India and including the pontiff’s own brother in Germany, I would be far more surprised to learn that he felt great. But, not every news story…

For years, Catholic Church leaders at the Vatican and around the world considered clergy sex abuse an “American problem.” Well, the past year has shown that pedophile priests and the cover-ups that protected them have been a European scourge as well — and now an African archbishop is making headlines by confirming that it’s not even only a…

Rescue efforts have resumed for the four trapped men that may still be alive deep beneath the earth, four days after the West Virginia coal mine disaster. The blast killed 25 miners; 18 of their bodies have yet to be recovered. From the Associated Press: “Officials and townsfolk alike acknowledged they didn’t expect to find any of…

The Masters Golf Tournament 2010 starts today, and all eyes are on Tiger Woods, who is ending a self-imposed five-month exhile after his extremely public fall from grace. In a press conference this week, Woods reiterated that he has recommitted himself to Buddhism, his family’s faith, in hopes of returning to his core values (which presumably do…

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