The Aug. 20 issue contains two items that are strongly connected. Columnist Russell Shaw draws attention to the error of religious groups taking position on matters they don’t know enough about. Environmental activists have frequently been successful in getting church leaders to sign on publicly to the positions for which they are lobbying. By adhering...Read More

WASHINGTON – Pope Benedict XVI held an unscheduled meeting with victims of priestly sexual abuse, shortly after pledging the church’s continued efforts to help heal the wounds caused by such acts.Read More

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin’s Catholic bishops have called a provision in the recently enacted state budget that mandates employer health insurance policies to cover contraceptive services as “blatantly insensitive” to the moral values of Catholics and the church’s teaching against artificial contraception.Read More

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. – Welcomed by U.S. President George W. Bush and an array of church officials, Pope Benedict XVI began his first pastoral visit to the United States as pope April 15.Read More