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WASHINGTON (RNS) The Supreme Court announced Monday (Oct. 5) that it will not intervene in two prominent church-state cases, one involving a Catholic diocese in Connecticut and the other a former Episcopal parish in California. The Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn. has fought since 2002 to block the release of more than 12,000 pages of depositions…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The new American ambassador to the Holy See met the press on Monday (Oct. 5), for the first time since his nomination was announced in May. Miguel H. Diaz received a group of 10 American and Italian reporters at the official ambassador’s residence on Rome’s Janiculum Hill, three days after presenting his…

JERUSALEM (RNS) Four influential ultra-Orthodox rabbis in Israel have decreed that Jews may not use so-called “Shabbat elevators,” which enable observant Jews to use elevators without breaking rules against manual labor on the Sabbath. This is the first time a group of such eminent rabbis has banned the use of Shabbat elevators, which have been…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) In a meeting with the new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Pope Benedict XVI praised Obama administration policies on arms control and inter-religious relations, but underscored a key area of disagreement by reaffirming the Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion. Benedict made his remarks on Friday (Oct. 2) as he formally accepted…

(RNS) The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will allow religiously observant Jews to transport ritual objects related to the holiday of Sukkot in airports and through security checkpoints in the U.S. The move comes at the request of the New York-based Orthodox Union (OU), which over the years has heard complaints from Jews whose lulavs (palm…

WASHINGTON (RNS) When the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center opened in December 2008, the national motto, “In God We Trust,” was nowhere to be found. But almost a year later, after complaints from members of Congress, a new engraving of the phrase was unveiled. “This was accomplished due to the efforts of so many individuals in…

The Dalai Lama announced this week a gift of $50,000 to an Emory University initiative that is developing a science education curriculum for Tibetan monastics. Emory officials also announced that the Tibetan spiritual leader will return to the campus in October 2010 and host forums, seminars and other activities for the college community and the…

WASHINGTON (RNS) Support for abortion is declining across the country, with Americans now evenly divided on whether it should be legal, a new report shows. In 2007 and 2008, supporters of legal abortion more clearly outnumbered opponents, but recent surveys by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 47 percent…

(RNS) When the Dalai Lama came to Washington two years ago, he was feted with the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, as President George W. Bush and a bipartisan delegation looked on. But as the exiled Tibetan leader returns for another visit to the nation’s capital next week (Oct. 5-10), there is…

WASHINGTON (RNS) A slight majority of American Jews approve of the Obama administration’s Israel policy, but an almost equal number oppose his call for an end to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, according to a new poll. The 2009 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion found that 54 percent of American Jews approve of…
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