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LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy — For the second time in a week, Pope Benedict XVI has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, reasserting the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church and saying other Christian communities were either defective or not true churches.

The film “Angels and Demons” brings up the Catholic Church’s so-called war on science and the church’s treatment of Italian scientist Galileo Galilei. The following analysis sheds much-needed light on the case. In October 1992, Cardinal Paul Poupard presented to Pope John Paul II the results of the Pontifical Academy study of the famous 1633 trial of Galileo. He reported the study’s conclusion that at the time of the trial, “theologians ... failed to grasp the profound non-literal meaning of the Scriptures” when they condemned Galileo for describing a universe that seemed to contradict Scripture. The headlines that followed screamed...

The Inquisition 929. Does the Church give its tacit approval to the Inquisition? It explicitly condemns the extravagances and unwarranted cruelty of certain individuals who held office in the Inquisition. On the other hand, it explicitly approves the Inquisition as it should have been administered according to the social conditions prevailing in those times, and according to the particular evils to be eradicated. She would not approve the same measures in the present era. Changed conditions of society require a different approach to its various problems. 930. As the Church is responsible for religious seal inculcated in its majority membership,...

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair will appear at the Iraq Inquiry for a second time on January 21. Sir John Chilcot announced he would recall Mr Blair in December. It is thought Sir John and his panel were concerned about gaps and possible inconsistencies in the ex-PM's evidence. Jack Straw, who was foreign secretary at the time of the invasion, cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell and Lord Turnball, his predecessor, have also been asked to return.

FROMBORK, Poland – Nicolaus Copernicus, the 16th-century astronomer whose findings were condemned by the Roman Catholic Church as heretical, was reburied by Polish priests as a hero on Saturday, nearly 500 years after he was laid to rest in an unmarked grave. His burial in a tomb in the cathedral where he once served as a church canon and doctor indicates how far the church has come in making peace with the scientist whose revolutionary theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun helped usher in the modern scientific age. Copernicus, who lived from 1473 to 1543, died as a...

"RUSH: I don't understand this, folks. I literally don't understand this. I thought we were in the middle of a robust recovery. I thought we're going to nail these evil Goldman Sachs guys to the cross today. I thought we were going to have health care for everybody. And look at this, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is tanking, down 143 points, 140 -- well, 136 now. "Stocks fell late Tuesday morning after growing consumer confidence and the latest round of upbeat earnings reports mostly offset fresh concerns about Greece's debt problems." So we're back to Greece. Rush Limbaugh, the...

The House Democrats' Torquemada got cold feet. Self-styled "chief inquisitor" Henry Waxman announced this week that he's canceling a planned show trial of corporate executives who called public attention to the financial hit they're taking as a result of President Obama's health care mandate. Business owners can breathe a small sigh of relief. But the witch hunt isn't over. You'll recall that Waxman fired off nasty-grams to the heads of Deere, Caterpillar, Verizon and AT&T last month, demanding their presence at a congressional auto de fé. Their sin? Publicly reporting the costs and consequences of federal health care taxes on...

New Auto Defect Report Spells Gloom for Owners of GM and Chrysler Vehicles July 9, 2009. By Gordon Gibb Rehoboth, MA: The new era emerging in the automotive industry will have an impact on issues surrounding auto defects and those encumbered with a defective car. Thanks to a loophole built into the US auto industry rescue package, liability for the defective auto no longer appears to be a worry for the newly-reborn General Motors and Chrysler. Meanwhile, a new report forecasts that more than 3,400 Americans will be injured or killed by a defective GM, or Chrysler vehicle during the...

The Inquisition 1068. What about the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition? You have probably read many imaginary descriptions of that tribunal which pretend to be history. However let us be quiet about torture inflicted by Catholics four hundred years ago. Seventy years ago a young servant girl was transported for life to Tasmania for scorching linen while ironing, and that from England three centuries after the Reformation! We are rather in a glass house. In 1848 things occurred in Norfolk Island in the name of gentle English Protestant enlightenment which would make your hair stand on end. Here are...

...At this point, everybody expects the Liberal Inquisition. Before one can even finish the thought preceding any pronouncement critical of anything “progressive”, they must resign themselves to the knowledge that, should they actually let their politically incorrect words fly, they will be branded. The Scarlet R will be upon them. Right now, literally tens of millions of “racists” in America are getting more than a little angry with the whole thing, and rightfully so. But what happens when this “progressive” enthusiasim for the race card is combined with the well-established liberal hatred of orthodox Christianity? Just ask Sarah Palin. “..even...

SNIP (McCain) was in high spirits, and we talked for a while about the Obama Administration's embrace of realpolitik, Pakistan, Iran, the whole nine yards. But first I asked him about Dick Cheney and his defense of Bush Administration torture policies. He told me of his fundamental disagreement with Cheney: "When you have a majority of Americans, seventy-something percent, saying we shouldn't torture, then I'm not sure it helps for the Vice President to go out and continue to espouse that position," he said. "But look, he's free to talk. He's a former Vice President of the United States. I...

The Spanish Inquisition's reawakening and the unchecked rise of piracy off Somalia may not, at first glance, seem to have much in common. In fact, however, these phenomena represent an inversion of historic Western priorities and a decline in our collective resolve and instinct for self-defense. Sunday's daring rescue of U.S. freighter Capt. Richard Phillips notwithstanding, the West's evident confusion is causing enormously dangerous consequences. The shared element between excessive Spanish moralism, the contemporary version, and pirates with impunity is the concept of "universal jurisdiction" and how that concept has been recently transmogrified. From ancient times, it was legitimate to...

The Galileo affair: history or heroic hagiography? by Thomas Schirrmacher Summary The 17th century controversy between Galileo and the Vatican is examined. Fifteen theses are advanced, with supporting evidence, to show that the Galileo affair cannot serve as an argument for any position on the relation of religion and science. Contrary to legend, both Galileo and the Copernican system were well regarded by church officials. Galileo was the victim of his own arrogance, the envy of his colleagues and the politics of Pope Urban VIII. He was not accused of criticising the Bible, but disobeying a papal decree...

The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), an association of the world's Islamic states, is pushing the United Nations to outlaw "defamation" of religion in general, and of one religion in particular. My remarks that follow are based on 27 years of researching in the field of international relations and conflicts, and on a decade of teaching Religions and World Politics. Since I published my first book in Arabic in 1979, where I addressed the issue of relationships between civilizations and cultural blocs worldwide, I have had the opportunity to publish ten books and hundreds of articles focusing on the rise...

It's not often that cultural and religious persecution makes countries more diverse, but the Spanish Inquisition might have done just that. One in five Spaniards and Portuguese has a Jewish ancestor, while a tenth of Iberians boast North African ancestors, finds new research. This melting pot probably occurred after centuries of coexistence and tolerance among Muslims, Jews and Christians ended in 1492, when Catholic monarchs converted or expelled the Islamic population, called Moriscos. Sephardic Jews, whose Iberian roots extend to the first century AD, received much the same treatment. "They were given a choice: convert, go, or die," says Mark...

The State of California is investigating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints because they helped to defend true marriage as between one man and one woman. The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) was created by the Political Reform Act of 1974, itself a ballot initiative passed by California voters as Proposition 9. It is now being used as a tool to persecute those who defend marriage, wielded by a savvy ex political consultant who does not like the position taken by the Church or the results of the latest Proposition 8 initiative...“Californians Against Hate was established in...

The Inquisition was a Roman Catholic tribunal for discovery and punishment of heresy, which was marked by the severity of questioning and punishment and lack of rights afforded to the accused. While many people associate the Inquisition with Spain and Portugal, it was actually instituted by Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) in Rome. A later pope, Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisition, in 1233, to combat the heresy of the Abilgenses, a religious sect in France. By 1255, the Inquisition was in full gear throughout Central and Western Europe; although it was never instituted in England or Scandinavia. Initially a tribunal...

A transcript of the unedited interview of Sarah Palin by Charles Gibson clearly shows that ABC News edited out crucial portions of the interview that showed Palin as knowledgeable or presented her answers out of context. This unedited transcript of the first of the Gibson interviews with Palin is available on radio host Mark Levin's website. The sections edited out by ABC News are in bold. The first edit shows Palin responding about meeting with foreign leaders but this was actually in response to a question Gibson asked several questions earlier: GIBSON: Have you ever met a foreign head of...

Charles Gibson "Interviews" Sarah Palin. Now, young woman -- you are accused of heresy on three counts -- heresy by thought, heresy by word, heresy by deed, and heresy by action -- *four* counts. Do you confess?

OTTAWA -- Investigators at the Canadian Human Rights Commission share control of an online identity called Jadewarr, which they have used to anonymously monitor and contribute to controversial far-right and white supremacist Web sites, in a strategy that a prominent defendant calls entrapment. The admission came in testimony Tuesday at the final day of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal's hearing in the case of Marc Lemire, who is charged with violating the Human Rights Act's controversial hate speech section because of comments posted on his FreedomSite. Legally, the admission by CHRC investigator Dean Steacy, and the subsequent cross-examination by Mr....

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Majority Democrats in the Senate are forcing their Republican colleagues on the record about whether embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should keep his job. No one is predicting that a symbolic resolution expressing no confidence in Gonzales will survive even the test vote Monday. Most Republicans are likely to vote no, dismissing the whole exercise as a ploy to embarrass President Bush. At a news conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, the last stop on a weeklong visit to Europe, the president reaffirmed his support for Gonzales, a longtime friend and legal adviser. "They can have their votes of...

Scotland's University of Edinburgh, after proposing a ban on Bibles and denying a Christian campus group the right to hold a conference on the immorality of homosexuality, has extended the welcome mat to the school's Pagan Society to hold its annual meeting on campus next month. The pagan conference will feature presentations on a variety of topics, including Magic and Witchcraft in the 21st Century, Pagan Parenting, Pagan Marriage, Pagan Symbolism and Practice and Ancient Greek magic. A workshop in tribal dance will be held at the university Student's Association. "It will be an opportunity for people to listen to...

Proponent of intelligent design denied tenure by ISU By: William Dillon 05/12/2007 Guillermo Gonzalez, an assistant professor of astronomy and physics who argues for the theory of intelligent design, was denied tenure this semester by Iowa State University. "I was surprised to hear that my tenure was denied at any level, but I was disappointed that the president at the end denied me," Gonzalez said during a telephone interview with The Tribune Friday. Gonzalez filed an appeal with ISU President Greg Geoffroy on Tuesday, May 8. Geoffroy has 20 days to respond. While his work is heralded as "path-breaking" by...

On May 9 and 16, PBS will air a four-part docudrama called “The Secret Files of the Inquisition.” Catholic League president Bill Donohue raised some concerns today: “PBS will not air a movie that its officials say paints Muslims in a bad light, ‘Islam vs. Islamists,’ but it has no qualms about showing a flick that Catholics have every right to question. This film is advertised on PBS’s website with an eerie black background depicting all the ‘T’s’ as crosses. All that is missing is Dracula’s voiceover. ‘For over half a millennium a system of mass terror reigned,’ it says, and...

Spain digs for its once-hidden Jewish heritage By Renwick McLean / The New York TimesPublished: November 5, 2006 TOLEDO, Spain: Spain has sometimes been slow to recognize its own treasures. Miguel de Cervantes was slipping into obscurity after his death until he was rescued by foreign literary experts. El Greco's paintings were pulled from oblivion by the French. The Muslim palace of Alhambra had fallen into neglect before the American author Washington Irving and others wrote about it in the 1800s. Now, more than 500 years after expelling its Jews and moving to hide if not eradicate all traces of...

Militants Vow to Target Non-Muslims Washington Post, to abduct non-Muslims visiting the Palestinian territories and kill them unless their demands were met. The statement, posted in the name of the Holy Jihad ...

Christians are Jews' best friends Toronto Sun Sat, August 12, 2006 By MICHAEL COREN One of the most difficult things about spending time in Israel is returning home, as I did two weeks ago. As dangerous as life might be in the Jewish state at the moment, daily existence is layered in significance. Then it's back to North America, where the trivial is made to seem profound. I refer to Mel Gibson's drunken stupidity when he made various repugnant comments about Jewish people. As a Roman Catholic with three Jewish grandparents, and someone who worries every day about the...

JULIA and Richard do not look like fugitives but they could be jailed under new Indian laws to stop missionaries converting low-caste Hindus to Christianity without a magistrate’s approval. A well educated British couple with young children, they left London two years ago to teach missionary work in some of India’s poorest states, such as Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Orissa. Last week Madhya Pradesh became the latest state to pass an anti-religious conversion bill that could leave Christian missionaries open to criminal charges. Leaders of India’s 26m Christians say the bill is an attempt to intimidate and persecute them, while...

...In seven states in India, the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] and its allies have introduced over the past few years a number of laws that punish “proselytism.” Ivan Dias, the archbishop of Bombay...asserted that “conversion from one religious belief to another is a strictly personal matter between God and the individual concerned.” Conversions “induced by force, fraud or allurement,” the cardinal continued, are not part of the Church’s mission. Those who attack the Church must provide proof for their accusations, but they have not been able to do so... “Christians in India number only 2.3% of the total population: of...

Given that the old Greek word behind the English term "gospel" means "good news," you have to wonder whether the much-touted and recently published Gospel of Judas really qualifies as either. Assuming you didn't give up the media for Lent -- which, come think of it ... oh, never mind -- you could hardly have avoided this month's announcement about the latest addition to the religious history files. To make a long story short: The Gospel of Judas is part of an ancient manuscript that apparently was unearthed in the late 1970s in Egypt. After a lengthy trip through the...

The Vatican, commenting on a series of satirical newspaper cartoons that have outraged Muslims, said freedom of expression does not include the right to offend religious sentiments.... The Vatican statement, without getting into the details of the cartoons, said "freedom of thought or expression ... cannot imply a right to offend the religious sentiments of believers," no matter what the religion....

I have heard the terms "heresy," "apostasy" and "schism" used in describing people and beliefs not in agreement with our Catholic faith, but I suspect that those terms are often used incorrectly. What are their proper definitions? The Church distinguishes three specific genres of what it calls the sin of "incredulity" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2089). Heresy is the obstinate denial by someone baptized of a truth which is to be believed with divine and "catholic" faith, or it may be an obstinate doubt about such a truth. Apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith. Schism...

The long-awaited apostolic visitation of American seminaries is now underway, and that’s very good news. It’s no secret that priestly formation in the United States suffered in the 1960s and 1970s, when fidelity to authentic Catholicism often took a backseat to the social and theological fads of the age. While things are clearly better now, there’s still much work to be done. Despite the fascinations of the secular media, this will involve more than just dealing with homosexuality in the seminaries. The fact is, most seminaries have rid themselves of the pervasive gay subculture that dominated the institutions a couple...

Here we go again, rocketing into another fun-filled, exciting defense of those calumniated 18th-century Lisbon priests. Exactly 250 years ago tomorrow, on All Saints’ Day, November 1, 1755, a tragic earthquake and tsunami struck Lisbon, Portugal, killing tens of thousands, and destroying much of the city.Back on the Trail of a Historical Fiction Catholic Exchange readers might remember that 9 months ago I wrote “Journalistic Un-integrity,” parts one and two, in response to a Washington Post article written by Jose Antonio Vargas, in which it was alleged that in the aftermath of the disaster, “priests roamed the streets, hanging those...

HOUSTON, Oct. 28 - When she was growing up in a small town in southern Colorado, an area where her ancestors settled centuries ago when it was on the fringes of the northern frontier of New Spain, Bernadette Gonzalez always thought some of the stories about her family were unusual, if not bizarre. Her grandmother, for instance, refused to travel on Saturday and would use a specific porcelain basin to drain blood out of meat before she cooked it. In one tale that particularly puzzled Ms. Gonzalez, 52, her grandfather called for a Jewish doctor to circumcise him while he...

Tiago Zarco lies alone, in a dark cell, licking rainwater off the walls for a taste of freedom.It is a compelling opening to a compelling novel -- Guardian of the Dawn, by Richard Zimler. This is the third instalment of the author's 'Sephardic cycle' (following the best-selling Last Kabbalist of Lisbon and Hunting Midnight), tracing Jewish experiences of persecution through generations of one family. What makes it special for us is the setting: Sixteenth century Goa.Guardian of the Dawn deserves to be read because it focuses on a period in history few of us are familiar with -- the Inquisition...

The Next Inquisition Energy: Soaring oil prices have started to pinch, and how is Congress responding? By holding another round of hearings on oil company “price-gouging.” Maybe someone should investigate Congress instead. At over $65 a barrel in recent days, oil is no bargain. The pump price for gasoline nationally is now $2.61 a gallon— up 79 cents since January, and more than 30 cents in just the last month.

(IsraelNN.com) In a move reminiscent of the Stalinist era, or the Spanish Inquisition, Russia’s state prosecutor has begun probing whether a Russian translation of a code of Jewish law constitutes racist incitement. Lawyers working for the state prosecutor ordered Rabbi Zinovy Kogan, chairman of the Congress of Jewish Organizations, to explain the contents of the 16th century codification of Jewish law, of paramount importance, the Sulchan Aruch, in order to determine what the code says about non-Jews. The inquiry follows publication of a letter signed by 500 public figures, including 20 members of the nationalist Rodina party, calling on the...

Rome, Jun. 10 (CNA/CWNews.com) - Italian journalist Vittorio Messori responded this week to an article in the Communist daily Il Manifesto that portrays as truthful the "black legend" about the Inquisition that hundreds of thousands or even millions were killed by the Church. In a column translated from Italian by the Spanish daily La Razon , Messori maintains that "the imprudence-- or shamelessness-- of these ideologies never ceases to amaze me. A publicist named Adriano Petta published an article called 'The Skeletons of the Holy Inquisition.' Deja vu, of course. We're talking about two and half centuries ago." According to...

In Spain there are about 600 thousand Muslims; 6 thousand of these are converts. Islamic immigration started about 15 years ago. There are different Muslim communities and religious reference points. The most important are: the Association of Immigrant Moroccan workers, like a union, unlinked to religious groups; the CIE, Spanish Islamic Commission, an organ recognised by the government and integrated by FEERI, the Federation of Islamic Religious Entities and by UCIDE, the Union of Islamic Communities in Spain. In Spain there are 74 mosques and 139 associations. Just like in France, there are many garage-mosques, where violence is preached out...

This past week, I have received many responses from Muslims concerning my two most recent columns: ''Followers of Islam: Can You See the Blood on Your Hands'' and ''Here Comes the Arab/Muslim Outrage.'' In one breath, some of the writers would call themselves ''intellectuals'' and then accuse me of being a Jew when I put tough questions to them that they could not answer. They maintained that as an American, I just was not intelligent enough to understand Islam. The mistake these ''intellectuals'' made is believing that I have any intention of ''understanding'' Islam. It has taken me since 9/11...

This past week, I have received many responses from Muslims concerning my two most recent columns: ''Followers of Islam: Can You See the Blood on Your Hands'' and ''Here Comes the Arab/Muslim Outrage.'' In one breath, some the writers would call themselves ''intellectuals'' and then accuse me of being a Jew when I put tough questions to them that they could not answer. They maintained that as an American, I just was not intelligent enough to understand Islam. The mistake these ''intellectuals'' made is believing that I have any intention of ''understanding'' Islam. It has taken me since 9/11 to...

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3754206.stm BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Vatican condemns EU 'inquisition' Vatican condemns EU 'inquisition' A senior Vatican cardinal says there is an anti-Catholic "inquisition" in Europe, evidenced in the controversy over the remarks of Rocco Buttiglione. "It is a lay inquisition but it is so nasty," Cardinal Renato Martino told the news agency Reuters. Mr Buttiglione's comments on marriage and women prompted a committee of the European Parliament to vote against his candidacy as EU commissioner. Mr Buttiglione said on Sunday he was the victim of a "hate campaign". The row comes ahead of a crucial parliamentary vote...

“What’s wrong with apologizing for the Inquisition?” asked my friend Jan, when she saw my consternation over the most recent apology of John Paul II for the supposed wrongdoings of the Holy Inquisition. “Isn’t it right for the Church to apologize for something that was so unjust and extreme?” I am referring to the John Paul II’s letter of June 15, 2004 addressed to Cardinal Roger Etchegaray on the occasion of the release of the “Report of the International Symposium on the Inquisition.” In it, he reiterated the apology he made in his Apostolic letter Tertio millennio adveniente. He also...

When the sins of the Catholic Church are recited (as they so often are) the Inquisition figures prominently. People with no interest in European history know full well that it was led by brutal and fanatical churchmen who tortured, maimed, and killed those who dared question the authority of the Church. The word "Inquisition" is part of our modern vocabulary, describing both an institution and a period of time. Having one of your hearings referred to as an "Inquisition" is not a compliment for most senators. But in recent years the Inquisition has been subject to greater investigation. In preparation...

When the sins of the Catholic Church are recited (as they so often are) the Inquisition figures prominently. People with no interest in European history know full well that it was led by brutal and fanatical churchmen who tortured, maimed, and killed those who dared question the authority of the Church. The word "Inquisition" is part of our modern vocabulary, describing both an institution and a period of time. Having one of your hearings referred to as an "Inquisition" is not a compliment for most senators. But in recent years the Inquisition has been subject to greater investigation. In...

The Vatican sought to play down the terrors of the Inquisition yesterday, claiming that far fewer people were tortured and executed for heresy than was popularly believed. The reassessment by Church historians was seized on by the Pope to qualify the apology he made for the Inquisition during the Church's millennium celebrations. The research emerged from a conference of scholars convened in 1998 to help the Pope assess the impact of the Inquisition, which often used brutal methods to suppress alleged witchcraft and doctrinal unorthodoxy. Church officials said that statistics and other data demolished myths about the Inquisition, including that...

Torture, burning at the stake and other punishment for the faithful condemned as witches or heretics by church tribunals during the centuries-long Inquisition was not as widespread as commonly believed, the Vatican said Tuesday. Research findings into the dark era in church history were praised by Pope John Paul II as part of his efforts to identify wrongs it had committed. During the Catholic Church's millennium celebrations in 2000, the pope apologized for the sins of Catholics made in the name of their faith throughout the ages, including such abuses as those committed during the Inquisition, a systematic crackdown by...

DEFENSE OF THE INQUISITION By Jean-Claude Dupuis Originally published in the November 1999 issue of The Angelus magazine, this article is a timely defense of a much misunderstood chapter of history in the Catholic Church The alleged horrors of the Inquisition generally come at the head of the list of the arguments of the enemies of the Church. Voltaire spoke of "that bloody tribunal, that dreadful memorial to monkish power." 1 The black legend of the Inquisition has impregnated our minds to a point where, today, the majority of Catholics are incapable of defending this phase of the history of...

Vatican City - The Vatican on Tuesday published a lengthy report exposing abuses committed by the medieval Inquisition, as Pope John Paul II again apologised for the body's excesses in cracking down on heresy. Set up in the 13th century, the Inquisition spread fear throughout Europe in the Middle Ages as it tried people accused of heresy - a major problem for the Church even before the emergence of Lutheranism and Calvinism. The Inquisition took the form of a network of ecclesiastical tribunals equipped with judges and investigators. Abuses were widespread, while executions were carried out through burning at the...