By KIM MICHELE RICHARDSON c. 2011 Religion News Service (RNS) The Vatican has given the world’s Catholic bishops one year to set policies for handling allegations of child abuse, including reporting to police where required by local law. And on Wednesday (May 18), the U.S. bishops released a 300-page report on the “causes and context”…

By DANIEL BURKE c. 2011 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS) A sweeping new report on the clergy sex abuse scandal compares the Roman Catholic Church to police departments, with similar hierarchies, moral authority and isolated working environments. And because the church, like the police, has “historically ‘policed itself,”‘ as the report says, some lay Catholics…

By FRANCIS X. ROCCA c. 2011 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY (RNS) The casket of the late Pope John Paul II was exhumed Friday (April 29), in preparation for the late pontiff’s beatification ceremony on Sunday. John Paul’s casket was removed in the early morning hours from its tomb in the Vatican Grottoes, under St.…

By KIM LAWTON c. 2011 Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly NEW YORK (RNS) Pope John Paul II will move one step closer to sainthood when he is beatified during an elaborate Vatican ceremony on Sunday (May 1). While the Roman Catholic Church has held up heroes, patrons, intercessors and spiritual companions for centuries, the path to…

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