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UNITED NATIONS — A former Nicaraguan foreign minister who once called President Ronald Reagan “the butcher of my people” has been appointed to represent Libya at the United Nations after its delegate was denied a visa, the Nicaraguan government said on Wednesday. Nicaragua said the former minister, Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, 78, an outspoken critic of the United States and a Catholic priest, would replace the Libyan diplomat Ali Abdussalam Treki, who had been unable to obtain a visa to enter the United States. Libya’s ambassador to the United Nations, Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalgam, defected in late February after denouncing Col. Muammar...

For years, Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe lived something of a double life. He was widely admired by his flock at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, which he helped build into one of the largest Roman Catholic parishes in the Las Vegas area. But at the same time, he was stealing money from the church. He stole from the gift shop. He stole from the votive candle collection. He stole from a fund for novenas, or Masses in honor of the dead. Over nearly a decade, he pocketed about $650,000. His motive was all too familiar in slot-machine-heavy Nevada. McAuliffe was a gambling...

SPRINGFIELD - As his defense lawyer feared, a videotaped deposition of disgraced Bishop Thomas L. Dupre may soon make the Internet in the wink of a cybereye, after a Hampden Superior Court judge denied his motion to keep the interview from the public.

The Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office said it is investigating the death of a U.S. Catholic priest whose body was found with stab wounds Thursday morning inside a parish house in the eastern state of Bolivar. The Rev. Esteban Woods, 68, of Vancouver, Washington, had been serving as a priest in Venezuela for eight years and was currently the pastor of the Holy Family Church of Puerto Ordaz, the AG office said in a communique. “We found him gagged and stabbed on the floor of his room,” the pastor of the Our Lady of Coromoto Church, the Rev. Miguel Angel Garcia,...

You’ve seen the latest video rant from Trinity featuring a Catholic priest in the lead role? Apparently the guy is just what you’d expect to find in any Catholic parish [/snark]: Ambushed by a Bill O’Reilly camera crew, Pfleger stated: "He (Farrakhan) has—first of all, he has not called Judaism a gutter religion of blood suckers. That is not what he has said because I have heard that talk. I stick up for Louis Farrakhan because he is another person that the media has chosen to define how they want to do it. And they demonize how they want to...

PARIS: His subjects were mostly children and teenagers at the time, terrified witnesses to mass slaughter. Some were forced to work at the bottom rung of the Nazi Germany killing machine - as the diggers of mass graves, as cooks who fed Nazi soldiers, as seamstresses who mended clothes stripped from the Jews before execution. The witnesses live today in rural poverty, many without running water or heat, nearing the end of their lives. So Patrick Desbois has been quietly seeking them out, roaming the back roads and forgotten fields of Ukraine, hearing their stories and searching for the unmarked...

The political and constitutional turmoil in Haiti deepened yesterday as the country's parliament ceased to function and President Jean-Bertrand Aristide began in effect to rule by decree while mass protests against him continued. With a general strike entering its fifth day, President Aristide delivered a speech at the airport in Port-au-Prince in which he failed to mention the clamour for him to step down. Amid tight security, the President then left on his private jet to attend the Summit of the Americas in Mexico. His address was dedicated to honouring the founding fathers of Haiti, which became the world's first...

The Italian Monsignor suspended from his job in the Roman Curia after he acknowledged homosexual relations in an anonymous television interview, has revealed he has a list of active homosexuals working in the Vatican. Msgr Tommaso Stenico was removed from his duties at the Congregation for Clergy after the Italian La7 television network showed a videotape in which he propositioned a young man. Although the priest’s face was obscured, Vatican officials were able to identify his voice and his office, in which the video was surreptitiously recorded. However, soon after his identity was discovered, Stenico proclaimed he had never been...

Federal jury clears anti-abortion activist A U.S. District Court jury deliberated for just over two hours before finding the Rev. Norman Weslin not guilty Thursday of blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic in violation of a federal law. Weslin, 76, was arrested April 24, 2006, when he entered the Bellevue abortion clinic run by Dr. LeRoy Carhart.[Infamous Partial Birth Abortion specialist] The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act forbids the use of "force, threat of force or physical obstruction" to prevent someone from providing or receiving reproductive health services. Weslin had faced 18 months in a federal prison,...

A priest charged with embezzling more than $800,000 from two Cape Cod churches will go to trial on July 31, authorities say. Attorneys for the Rev. Bernard Kelly and prosecutors agreed on the date at a brief meeting in Barnstable Superior Court on Friday morning. Kelly is charged with using funds from St. Joseph's parish in Falmouth and Our Lady of Lourdes in Wellfleet for his personal use. The Diocese of Fall River estimated that Kelly misused more than $800,000 of church funds. The diocese sued Kelly, and the sides agreed to a $1.3 million settlement last year. But Kelly...

In a rare move reminiscent of medieval times, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino convened a secret tribunal against a Riverside priest Tuesday after charging him with heresy and schism. Meeting at diocesan headquarters in San Bernardino, the tribunal took up the case against the Rev. Ned Reidy, 69, who said he left the Roman Catholic Church five years ago and formed his own parish near Palm Desert. The parish later affiliated with a new denomination that holds services resembling those of the Roman Catholic Church but rejects the authority of the pope, mandatory priestly celibacy, and prohibitions against...

VATICAN CITY (AP) - A priest from China's nongovernment controlled Catholic church who has been under house arrest for nearly six years has been released, Vatican Radio and a missionary news service reported Saturday. The Rev. Vincent Kong Guocun, 34, was freed June 8 because of poor health, Vatican Radio reported, citing the news agency Eglises d'Asie. The Catholic missionary news service, AsiaNews, carried an identical report citing a Catholic church source in China. Kong, from Wenzhou, on China's southeast coast, had been kept under house arrest since Oct. 20, 1999, the reports said. His parents were only allowed to...

He was a Vietnam legend, the priest. Ralph Oriscello first heard about him while treating injured soldiers at the 93rd Evacuation Hospital in South Vietnam in the fall of 1967. One after another, the soldiers told the story of how the priest, unarmed except for a crucifix and a prayer, ran into the middle of a mortar firestorm and dragged wounded men to safety. As the battle escalated and the casualties mounted, so did the priest's momentum. With mortar shells exploding all around him, he brought back one injured man after another, saving lives and comforting souls. "Many of the...

A Toledo Roman Catholic diocesan priest charged in the 1980 slaying of a nun was accused yesterday in a civil lawsuit of repeatedly torturing and raping a young girl in ritual abuse ceremonies at a north-side church. An unidentified woman claims she was the victim of bizarre demonizing ceremonies conducted by the Rev. Gerald Robinson and other clergy nearly 40 years ago in the basement of St. Adalbert Parish on Warsaw Street. The woman and her husband, who are listed as Survivor Doe and Spouse Doe, respectively, filed the lawsuit in Lucas County Common Pleas Court. Father Robinson, who is...

Baptist church 'fake pope' sign attracting attention, criticism By JEANNINE F. HUNTER, hunter@knews.com April 13, 2005 NEWPORT, Tenn. - Two days after being posted, a church marquee message that questions the purpose of the papacy is still attracting attention in this small community. "What I am trying to do is to let people know there's only one way to heaven through Jesus Christ," said the Rev. Cline Franklin, pastor of Hilltop Baptist Church. "There's no need for help. God sent his son, Jesus Christ. We're all priests if we're saved. I don't need to go to anybody else to pray."...

MAYERTHORPE, Alta. (CP) - A priest urged parishioners Sunday to pray for the soul of Mountie killer James Roszko while lamenting the collapse in values that helped turn his heart black. "We should pray for the one who caused this tragedy, who himself seems to be a victim of a lack of love," Father Andrew Bogdanowicz told 130 parishioners who packed the pews at St. Agnes Parish. "We don't know exactly what happened in his heart. I was told he was baptized Catholic, so he is one of us." Parishioners - some wearing the tiny red and white ribbons to...

The Rev. William M. Naughton made a surprise announcement one Sunday in February 2001 from the pulpit of Resurrection Church in Randolph. He needed a change of scenery, he said, so he was leaving the parish he had served as pastor for half its history. The true reason for Naughton's sudden departure was whispered at spaghetti dinners, rummage sales and other places where parishioners gathered, but it remained officially a secret, never addressed by Naughton's successor and never explained by the church. Connell made no mention of the amount of money involved, but some parishioners have said it was around...

China's intelligence service spent years training a spy who posed as a Catholic priest in New York and was part of an escape plan for a Chinese agent in the CIA, according to a veteran FBI counterspy.     Retired Special Agent I.C. Smith said China's use of the masquerading priest was "one of the most fascinating things" about the spy case of Larry Wu-tai Chin, who supplied secrets to China for decades as a CIA translator until his arrest in 1985.     "The People's Republic of China Ministry of State Security took a married Chinese national from the People's Republic and...

<p>DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest caused a stir on the House floor Tuesday when he urged lawmakers to let religious faith guide their votes and "be the antithesis of John Kennedy."</p> <p>While delivering the chamber's morning prayer, the Rev. Bill Carmody said too many politicians have followed the example of the nation's first Catholic president by pledging to separate their faith from politics.</p>

TESTING THE FAITHPriest busted for Communion wineWants variance of city law so he can say Mass outside abortion clinic A Catholic priest has run afoul of the law in Colorado Springs, Colo., after being caught with an open container of sacramental wine while performing Mass outside an abortion clinic. The Rev. Bill Carmody was warned by a police officer after the cop asked him what he was holding. "The police officer asked me what's in the flask," he told the Colorado Springs Gazette. "I really didn't know what to do." Carmody has asked the Colorado Springs City Council for a...

A Bergen County, NJ, priest will be delivering a sermon on compassion three days in a row next week, but he won't be speaking from a pulpit. Believing actions often speak louder than words, the Rev. Peter Wehrle will be cycling from Perryville, Md., to New York City from Friday, Sept. 10, through Sunday, Sept. 12, to raise funds for people suffering from HIV/AIDS.Also taking part in the 265-mile fundraiser, Braking the Cycle will be a Montclair cyclist who manages a brewery in New York and a former Cliftonite who serves as a corporate tax accountant.Proceeds of the event will...

Make no mistake: The Rev. John B. Ardis, the Catholic priest whom Senator John F. Kerry has chosen to give the benediction at tonight's closing session of the convention, opposes abortion. But he also opposes capital punishment, the war in Iraq, and public policies he views as unjust toward the poor or hungry. Although several Catholic cardinals have declined to speak at Democratic conventions because of the party's support for abortion rights, Ardis, the director of the Paulist Center of Boston, will speak tonight without reservation, noting that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are fully in step with Catholic...

Misael Vacca Ramirez, the Bishop of Yopal BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe ordered his troops to launch a rescue operation if they locate a Roman Catholic bishop being held by Marxist rebels in jungle-covered mountains. Hundreds of counterinsurgency forces searched the northwestern Casanare region Monday for signs of Misael Vacca Ramirez, the Bishop of Yopal. He was seized Sunday by members of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, the smaller of Colombia's two main rebel groups. "Kidnapping is indefensible," Uribe told reporters. "He must be rescued, and I hope that he quickly regains his freedom." Speaking Tuesday from...

Priest clobbered 2nd outrage! Beaten as he helps woman The Rev. Francis Gargani gestures toward back, where he was hit by thug with table leg when he went to parishioner's aid. A gentle priest bravely confronted a raving ex-con on the steps of a South Bronx church, sacrificing his own safety to protect an elderly woman. The Rev. Francis Gargani's heroics left him beaten and bruised on the stone steps outside the Church of the Immaculate Conception. But his daring action gave the parishioner just enough time to elude the wild-eyed thug, who was threatening to pummel her with...

Catholic Priest Accused of Swindling Elderly Parishioner By Lisa Colagrossi(Upper East Side-WABC, July 13, 2004) — A Manhattan priest is facing a major lawsuit today. He is accused of using his spiritual influence to swindle an elderly parishioner out of nearly half a million dollars.     From the AP: The News in Photographs Add News Headlines to Your Web Page or Corporate Intranet Eighty-eight year old Rose Pale was a devoted parishioner. She attended mass every day. The lawsuit says the monsignor at Saint John The Martyr Church on the Upper East Side betrayed her trust.  The lawsuit says that Monsignor...

"Symptoms of mental instability suspicious of his 're-education'" "Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) - Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, sentenced to 15 years for speaking out about the persecution of Christians, received a reduction of the term for “good attitude and conduct”. AsiaNews sources in Hué confirm that Fr. Van Ly wrote and signed letters in prison praising Vietnamese socialism and the politics of the Communist Party. According to individuals who were allowed to visit him, the priest showed symptoms of mental imbalance and that he seemed to have been drugged as part of the effort “to re-educate him”. The...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today: February 24, 2004 at 3:45:30 PST Vatican Reinstates Accused Navy Chaplain ASSOCIATED PRESS DETROIT (AP) - The Vatican has reinstated a U.S. Navy chaplain as an active priest after he was placed on administrative leave amid sex abuse allegations, Detroit Roman Catholic leaders said. The Rev. Brian Bjorklund, 64, was suspended last summer over allegations he molested a 17-year-old boy in his early years in the ministry. He was ordained in 1966. Vatican leaders say the alleged contact was not a violation of church law at the time, though it is now. News of Bjorklund's reinstatement comes four...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Roman Catholic priest was arrested for soliciting a prostitute and masturbating in his car, sheriff's officials said Monday. The Rev. Thomas Vellappallil, 40, was charged late Friday with soliciting a prostitute and committing a lewd act for offering to pay an undercover police officer $20 for oral sex, according to a report from the Orange County Sheriff's Office. Father Thomas was driving a car owned by his religious order, The Missionaries of Lasalette in Connecticut. The undercover female officer posing as a prostitute wouldn't have known he's a priest. He was not wearing his collar when...

JAFFREY – Bishop John B. McCormack confronted angry parishioners Sunday as he explained why he assigned to their church a priest who had a sexual relationship with a teenage boy. "Don’t accuse me of lying. I’m not lying," he shouted as many in the crowd of about 200 at St. Patrick Church accused him of withholding information about the Rev. Roland Cote, who was assigned there from Nashua’s St. Louis de Gonzague this spring."You have no business being in this church," one woman told him. Another woman walked out during the 45-minute question-and-answer session and muttered, "How can a bishop...

The family says that she's the same spunky Gracia. After being unable to speak to her for over a year, the Burnham family in Wichita, Ks., waits eagerly for the next ring of the phone. We've all seen their news photos over the past year: their frames becoming increasingly frail; family members, including their three children, wondering if they would ever see them again. Late last week saw a very difficult end to the search for Martin and Gracia Burnham. The captors of the American couple, who had kidnapped them while they were taking a brief holiday to celebrate their...

<p>Beleaguered Boston Cardinal Bernard Law is expected to be replaced by June and assigned to a new position at the Vatican, a Boston newspaper reported Friday.</p> <p>The Boston Herald quoted unnamed church officials saying Pope John Paul II would move the embattled archbishop to an undetermined post before a scheduled deposition of Law in a suit against the Boston archdiocese.</p>

In what appears to be a national precedent, the Catholic Diocese of Dallas has removed a priest from his church for failing to do criminal background checks required by the diocese's sexual abuse policy. The Rev. Efren Ortega, 67, a beloved priest for 12 years at St. James Catholic Church in Oak Cliff, is being reassigned to another Dallas parish as a pastoral associate. He can still perform sacramental duties, the diocese said, but he cannot serve as an administrator. "This should send a clear message to all clergy and employees of the Diocese of Dallas that we intend to...

Man named in cases in Nebraska served time for abuse as chaplain LINCOLN, Neb. – The Navy confirmed Friday that an ex-priest accused of sexually abusing four Nebraska brothers in 1978 was later convicted of lewd conduct involving boys as a military chaplain. Robert Hrdlicka, who became a Navy chaplain in 1986, was court-martialed for seven counts of acts unbecoming an officer, Navy spokesman Lt. Jon Spiers said. Mr. Hrdlicka was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1993 and released in 1999. His whereabouts are unknown. The case – among many to rock the Roman Catholic church across the...