https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to the vatican en https://religiondispatches.org/2017/11/13/will-international-criminal-court-bring-charges-against-isis-gender-based-persecution Gay Times (U.K.) has compiled a map with nations marked by colors representing eight legal status categories for LGBT people, ranging from marriage equality to death penalty. “Original Sin,” a book by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, alleges “a host of… Mon, 13 Nov 2017 11:44:45 EST Peter Montgomery e4dc4ef6-82c3-42c7-9084-8754ee3a69ef https://religiondispatches.org/2017/09/05/catholic-cardinal-slams-jesuits-bridge-building-book-and-more-global-lgbt-recap Reports from several international LGBT gatherings: The Interfaith Diversity Network of West Africa (IDNOWA), founded in 2016, reported on its August gathering in Accra, Ghana, which drew more than 30 delegates from 10 countries, for interfaith worship and conversations about… Tue, 05 Sep 2017 11:26:44 EDT Peter Montgomery de0731a2-d5ea-4f4c-b711-320073d2610a https://religiondispatches.org/2017/08/07/most-ridiculous-responses-vaticans-call-out-catho-christian-right It’s not surprising that the apparently Vatican-approved denouncement of the conservative Catholic-Christian alliance that has come to dominate U.S. politics ruffled some feathers. What is surprising is the sheer amount of denial and obfuscation that the article in La Civiltà… Mon, 07 Aug 2017 01:21:28 EDT Patricia Miller 3741401c-a2da-4f4c-bb8e-af620b7e903b https://religiondispatches.org/2017/05/17/irony-really-dead-gop-plans-send-adulterous-third-wife-serial-philanderer-ambassador The Republican Party has maintained a death-grip on protestations of moral authority on matters of sexuality for most of my adult voting life. Since the Reagan administration we have seen a party that has consistently hoodwinked voters with its assurances… Wed, 17 May 2017 01:15:47 EDT Patricia Miller f46cf2d6-6844-4a7e-9f89-1f2736bb7441 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/03/12/religious-traditionalists-resist-marriage-equality-artist-questions-what-un-african-more ILGA notes that some women in more than 50 countries went on strike on Wednesday’s International Women’s Day: “We demand that our lives and labour be treated with dignity for they form the basis of this society,” the platform of… Sun, 12 Mar 2017 10:12:47 EDT Peter Montgomery 64d111c1-a18c-49f2-9fb2-1bd2ac599d88 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/02/17/creation-little-noticed-department-pope-francis-securing-liberal-reforms As Steve Bannon has allied with the pope’s bitterest opponents, liberals have had all the more reason to rally behind Francis. Fri, 17 Feb 2017 12:43:11 EST Cormac Shine 4187743d-bff6-4405-baa7-85ec0ddcca0e https://religiondispatches.org/2017/01/25/why-pope-popular-among-nones Popularity in public figureheads is fleeting. As the newly-elected president enters office with the lowest approval ratings of an incoming president in 40 years and contentious elections prepare to begin throughout Europe, the question of what popularity means today among… Wed, 25 Jan 2017 01:37:37 EST Kaya Oakes 088d3553-0017-49b4-b31d-027070b067a7 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/12/29/case-you-missed-them-top-pope-francis-quotes-2016 He’s had a weird year. Thu, 29 Dec 2016 02:27:21 EST Patricia Miller 49f71c7e-1daa-4c03-97fd-616f42274f55 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/12/21/no-shocker-gay-ex-jesuit-vatican-rejects-gay-priests-again I am not shocked by the Vatican’s recent affirmation of the 2005 ban on admitting gay men to the priesthood. There’s nothing new here. Despite the media and liberal priests’ attempt to portray the “ Who am I to judge?”… Wed, 21 Dec 2016 09:00:41 EST Benjamin Brenkert 1c0cef55-ef0b-4db9-92dc-17dc07d45367 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/11/28/catholic-feminist-isnt-oxymoron-and-other-tales-beleaguered-tradition In her latest book, journalist Celia Wexler explores the conflicted feelings many Catholic women have towards their faith and the attempts to make peace with the institutions and traditions that fail them. Mon, 28 Nov 2016 03:34:38 EST Celia Wexler 8a819f4c-ee58-49c8-b2ea-831fca606273 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/10/11/pope-francis-walks-lgbtq-people-one-step-forward-big-steps-back We will either learn to walk with one another, or we will be forced by dogma to condemn one another. Tue, 11 Oct 2016 09:00:06 EDT Kaya Oakes fb0a011b-b824-4b28-b497-6fd3dc64cab7 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/05/12/did-francis-just-blindside-conservatives-womens-ordination Three years, two synods, dozens of bishop attendees, hundreds of pages of documents, innumerous small committee meetings, and endless amounts of angst went into Pope Francis’ decision to more or less keep the status quo on the question of whether… Thu, 12 May 2016 07:49:50 EDT Patricia Miller 6ab9ee9b-d87d-46b4-abd0-17862a9bf0f4 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/04/12/we-went-through-amoris-laetitia-section-section-so-you-wouldnt-have A closer reading of Pope Francis’ Exhortation on love in the family Tue, 12 Apr 2016 07:47:40 EDT Anthony Adams 7b1394e2-fc98-46a5-bfae-1bd8caf1ac79 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/04/11/pope-francis-love-letter-opportunity-lost Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation on Love in the Family, leaves much to be desired—pun intended. If you are heterosexual, married, divorced, and remarried with an understanding parish priest, you have reason to be hopeful that your “irregular situation”… Mon, 11 Apr 2016 12:00:49 EDT Mary Hunt ef72050d-555f-4409-80d8-0e2b9fdebde9 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/03/28/why-cruxs-knights-columbus-partnership-problematic On March 14 of this year, the Boston Globe announced it would be pulling the plug on Crux, the Catholic news website it launched in 2014. Crux was headed by John Allen Jr., a veteran church reporter who had previously… Mon, 28 Mar 2016 05:56:53 EDT Kaya Oakes 115784cb-d36f-4506-a1b6-7ef70f0b0cee https://religiondispatches.org/2016/02/10/pope-francis-abuse-commission-fail Pope Francis’ formation of a committee to advise him on long-term policies to stem clerical sexual abuse was hailed as a major step forward in the Catholic Church’s bungled handling of the abuse crisis. But an internal crisis within the… Wed, 10 Feb 2016 04:17:50 EST Patricia Miller ee0536c4-ce5d-4611-9bd6-a4144b580d57 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/01/23/russian-orthodox-patriarch-blames-gays-isis-christian-nationalist-sworn-guatemalas US Vice President Joe Biden addressed a group of business leaders gathered in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum and urged them to do more to advance LGBT equality, saying there is never a cultural justification for human rights… Sat, 23 Jan 2016 10:01:15 EST Peter Montgomery 6988d644-599d-4d1b-8f75-2507b99f22cd https://religiondispatches.org/2015/12/29/top-five-pope-francis-quotes-2015 Pope Francis had another banner year in 2015, from his historic climate encyclical Laudato si’ to his rock-star reception in the United States. And once again, a large part of his allure stemmed from his uncanny ability to turn a… Tue, 29 Dec 2015 01:07:24 EST Patricia Miller 393032dc-8896-4004-b9c6-c3bc55823562 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/11/12/new-mormon-anti-gay-policy-sparks-mass-exodus-church-christian-aid-workers-africa-refuse Mormon Church: Policies Targeting Same-Sex Couples, Children Spark Mass Exodus We wrote in the last recap about the Mormon Church’s new policy declaring married same-sex couples apostates and banning their children from baptism until age 18 – and only then… Thu, 12 Nov 2015 11:46:59 EST Peter Montgomery 5811979a-ad7f-4881-a746-dd8078686ea9 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/10/18/conservative-bishops-unhappy-synod-ignore-walkout-call-australian-religious-leaders-step Novelist Marlon James became the first Jamaican author to be awarded the Man Booker Prize. “However,” writes Joe Williams at Pink News, “a number of Jamaican commentators have highlighted that while being celebrated as a Jamaican author, James in fact… Sun, 18 Oct 2015 11:08:08 EDT Peter Montgomery 41f48f0b-bff5-4d66-8fd9-b74e355d2711 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/10/12/catholic-bishops-meeting-family-synod-south-africas-dutch-reformed-church-oks-gay Sunday, October 11 was National Coming Out Day. The Canada-based Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights is featuring Telling Our Stories, a video portrait series. These countries were selected for Envisioning’s research on two grounds: 1) a shared legacy of British… Mon, 12 Oct 2015 12:43:00 EDT Peter Montgomery b8765421-74c0-4252-82ae-82887cb4912d https://religiondispatches.org/2015/10/06/surprising-origins-and-problem-vaticans-view-sex-and-gender Does God really work in such mysterious ways? Or, is it only the theologians who do? Tue, 06 Oct 2015 03:56:30 EDT Ivan Strenski 802deb6f-8056-400b-995e-27b946195b4d https://religiondispatches.org/2015/10/05/saints-are-only-human-leaving-church-heeding-popes-lessons Last week I took an urgent phone call from my brother who was seething about the pope’s visit with Kim Davis. A gay man who refuses to vacate his Roman Catholic pew, Robby’s Facebook post on the topic read: “The… Mon, 05 Oct 2015 03:58:33 EDT Elizabeth Colmant Estes 54e39050-203b-4c22-bb02-e70e2c710892 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/10/05/clashing-human-rights-visions-lgbts-united-nations-more-mixed-messages-vatican-family The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (pronounced iggle-hurk) announced last Monday that it has formally changed its name to OutRight Action International, with a tagline of “human rights for LGBTIQ people everywhere.” A new organization devoted to global… Mon, 05 Oct 2015 12:27:04 EDT Peter Montgomery a44bd3d2-f657-4310-9d82-1595316ab3a2 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/10/02/pope-francis-v-kim-davis-vatican-game-thrones Seems like the meeting between Pope Francis and Kim Davis was not as good for him as it was for her. In a statement released by the Vatican, approved by the pope, the Vatican stated “the Pope met with several… Fri, 02 Oct 2015 12:46:00 EDT Anthea Butler 2fff0e48-b351-4ff4-ad6a-5dbac9c46aa5