Italian Journalist Defends Vatican Leaks 
Pope Breaks Silence Over Vatileaks Scandal 
Vatican Says Leaks Scandal Is Brutal Attack On Pope 
Pope's Butler Arrested In Embarrassing Scandal 
Pope Benedict XVI Gives Direction To U.S. Bishops On...
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The Blog
Of course, there are Latino libertarians out there. But in general, talking Hispanics into espousing the Ron Paul agenda is only slightly easier than getting the pope to show up at the Stonewall Inn for a drink.
While Pope John Paul II's relationship with American nuns appeared to rein in the more exuberant experiments and freedoms they embraced after Vatican II, Pope Benedict XVI's recent decree is drop-dead shocking.
So rogue are most Roman Catholics when it comes to papal teaching, that Catholic dissidence often seems the norm.
I believe in exacting change from the inside out by trying to make things better rather than abandoning them. But unless I can find a way to express my opposition to all forms of bigotry within the confines of my Church, I'm going to have to sit that pew out.
At this point, there are few people on this Island who haven't seen the video where a man -- wearing a Red Cross emblem -- hits and beats with a stretcher Andrés Carrión, who had shouted an anti-system slogan.
Does the Pope really want to force American Catholics to choose between standing with our nuns or with a male hierarchy interrogating them for nebulous infractions, with a stated agenda of keeping their findings secret?
It is far less an appeal to reason, and far more a campaign to preach to the choir, to circle the ideological wagons of the members of the tribe, and rally the troops around Heartland's deeply conservative and libertarian ideals.
May Day once again will be hijacked. The day will end without demands being made of this boss named "the State" to raise salaries, lower the cost of living, or improve working conditions. Instead, every individual who marches will be taken as a faithful "believer" in the Party.
Until recently, I had not the slightest clue as to what American nuns did all day. Delivering meals to the poor. Knitting giant crucifix cozies. No idea. Until now. Until I discovered that a great many American nuns have been actively and frequently pissing off the Vatican.
A few weeks have already gone by since Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Cuba, and one name comes up again and again to evoke those last days of March. Andrés Carrión, age 40, the citizen who shouted at the Pope's homily in Santiago de Cuba, "Down with Communism!"
This is not a new war for the Vatican. This is old time religion. The Catholic Church has been a repressive place for women for its entire history.
Mean-spiritedness, hostility and acrimony flourish in a church that should be all about the peace and love that Jesus brought to our world. Certainly, all sides are to blame as we permit these differences to obfuscate the "Good News" of the faith.
The democratic reforms President Obama called for in Cuba might not be so crazy to imagine. I say that because in Havana, I saw a great deal about how hard it is to suppress people's desire to rise.
Professor of philosophy and a career diplomat, Alarcon spent nearly 12 years in the United States as the Cuban ambassador to the United Nations. Over time, he has become a spokesperson for the Havana government.
Another important issue to consider is that the multitude that crowded the plazas in Santiago and Havana were in grand part organized and obligated to attend the event, as part of their day of labor. The lack of enthusiasm during the celebration was notorious.
"People have expectations of my films, which I always try not to meet. Many people expected a frontal attack on the Vatican. But I didn't want to do that."
