A historic palazzo in Rome that houses a key Vatican department is also the home of a well-known gay sauna.
The Holy See paid 20m euros (£17.5m) in 2008 for around 20 apartments in the building for the Congregation for
Conclave: the secretive end to unannounced campaigns
By Tom Heneghan
The conclave to pick a Roman Catholic pope is the dramatic final stage of a secretive election process that quietly began weeks, months or even years ago.
Some of the 115 cardinals who file into the Sistine
Church’s two-faced attitude to gays cruel
By Fintan O’Toole
A few years ago, I was on a studio-based television show. One of my fellow guests was a reasonably well-known Catholic priest. He was in a buoyant, perhaps reckless mood, pepped up by the adrenalin surge that
Roman Catholic leaders need to get rid of their groupthink
By Lisa Miller
Recent events prompt a stating of the obvious. The Roman Catholic Church is not now, nor has it ever been, a democracy. It values neither free speech nor freedom of the press. Its leaders are not elected
Flocks and shepherds
As a conclave gathers to elect a pope, many in the Catholic church want change
WANTED: man of God; good at languages; preferably under 75; extensive pastoral experience; no record of covering up clerical sex abuse, deeply spiritual and, mentally,
Catholic Patriarchy: What the Papal Transition Means and What Feminists Can Do About It
By Mary Hunt
The obvious question is why any self-respecting feminist would worry about the Pope, the Roman Catholic Church, and its machinations. My simple answer is POWER. Religion is one of the many sources that shape how power is
A Papal Surrender?
I thought this was a particularly insightful article. A bit dated, but still.
By Paolo Flores d’Arcais
“There’s no place for a Pope Emeritus,” John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła) declared dryly as recently as 1994. Yet beginning at
Strong policies on abusive priests vital, O’Malley says
Ya gotta love this guy!
By Lisa Wangsness
Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley said Tuesday that the next pope must make sure the Roman Catholic Church adopts measures to deal with bishops whose “malfeasance” allowed abusive priests to remain in ministry.
College of Cardinals imposes media blackout
These old men will never get that their pathological need for secrecy is one of the main reasons their church is in crisis. When all else fails, redouble the effort to keep the lid on.
By Jason Horowitz
The College
Rome exhibition takes aim at the Church as papal vote looms
By Naomi O’Leary
As cardinals flock to Rome to choose the next pope, two artists have taken the opportunity to stage an exhibition taking aim at the wealth of the Roman Catholic Church and the sex abuse scandals that plagued