Official says church's stance in Brazilian rape case 'lacked mercy'



A senior Vatican official has criticized the excommunication of a Brazilian woman whose nine-year-old daughter had an abortion after being raped, as well as the medical team who performed it.



"Before thinking about an excommunication it was necessary and urgent to save the innocent life" of the girl "to bring her back to a level of humanity of which clerics should be the experts and master," said Rino… Continue

Pope Benedict's repeated gaffes and the Vatican's inability to manage his message in the internet era are threatening to undermine his papacy, Vatican insiders have said.

The Holy See is struggling to contain international anger over the Pope's claim on his first official visit to Africa that Aids "cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems".



The Pope's remarks about condoms, and a recent… Continue

A proposal driven through by the Arabic block in the UN to make ”defamation of religion” forbidden by the United Nations has been quietly dropped from the menu of the forthcoming anti-racism conference. This is a clear-cut victory for all humanist, secularist and rationalist forces in the world. Accepting the original proposal would have made life more difficult for all non-religious people in the future, as any critique of the religions could have been… Continue

Happiness...



It can seem like such an elusive concept.



It flits through your life like a drunken butterfly, that try as you might.... you just cannot capture.



Take a deep breath.... because you are about to receive the key to the kingdom of happiness. And once you have it, you'll realize you don't have to clench it tightly in your hand to keep it, or camper after the butterfly anymore.



Happiness will seek you out, land gently on your shoulder, and… Continue