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Faith

Pope Francis says women play a ‘fundamental’ role within the church

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis on Wednesday (April 3) said women play a "fundamental role" in the Catholic Church as those who are mostly responsible for passing on the faith from one generation to the next.     While the new pope stopped far short of calling for women's ordinatio...
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Brigham Young and Jesus Christ would break the Mormons’ no-beard rule

Eds: A version of this story originally appeared in The Salt Lake Tribune. It is available for use by RNS subscribers. Please use the The Salt Lake Tribune byline. SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) If they were alive today, nearly half the presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day...
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ANALYSIS: Are Catholics shifting tone or substance on gay issues?

(RNS) When New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan told national news programs on Easter Sunday that Catholic leaders need to do a better job of showing that their opposition to gay marriage is not "an attack on gay people," the nation's top Catholic bishop seemed to be signaling an importa...
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Cardinal Dolan: Catholic Church could do better on gay outreach

Eds: A version of this story originally appeared in USA Today. It is available for use by RNS subscribers. Please use the USA Today byline. (RNS) Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the top U.S. Catholic prelate, says the Roman Catholic Church has to make sure that its defense of traditional...
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Brazilian evangelist has big plans for U.S.

NEW YORK (RNS) The apostle bellowed in Portuguese to a packed crowd in a rented Astoria, Queens, church.     "Get out, spirit of death. Now you are burnt, now you are plucked out by my God!"     A blood-curdling shriek rose from one of the front pews, but Apostle Valdemiro Santiag...
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New testing dates Shroud of Turin to era of Christ

Eds: A version of this story originally appeared in USA Today. It is available for use by RNS subscribers. Please use the USA Today byline. (RNS) New scientific tests on the Shroud of Turin, which went on display Saturday (March 30) in a special TV appearance introduced by the pop...
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For many, holy days have become family ‘holidays’

Eds: A version of this story originally appeared in USA Today. It is available for use by RNS subscribers. Please use the USA Today byline. (RNS) Emily Hilliard will cook a festive brunch with friends on Easter Sunday. But none in her Washington, D.C., social circle of foodies, fo...
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American Atheists wrestles with its cherished ‘grumpy’ image

AUSTIN, Texas (RNS) For someone who was once dubbed "the most hated woman in America," Madalyn Murray O'Hair is getting a lot of love in this city she once called home.     New Jersey-based American Atheists, the group O'Hair founded here in 1963 to further the separation of church...
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Vatican defends Pope Francis’ washing of women’s feet

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican on Friday (March 29) dismissed criticism of Pope Francis' decision to wash the feet of two women during a Maundy Thursday Mass at a Rome youth prison.     The move has come under fire from Catholic traditionalists who say that the rite is a re-enactme...
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Despite censures, Womenpriests movement grows

(RNS) If heading a religious community is a lonely job for any woman, a Catholic Womenpriest might be the loneliest of all.     Yet the ordination of Catholic women within the Womenpriests movement, which flaunts Roman Catholic Church law forbidding the practice, continues to grow,...
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