It is one of those days where PR people love to release bad news in the hopes that it will get overlooked, because there is no shortage of Catholic news in the headlines today.
Just about every major news outlet is covering the story today on groups representing sexual abuse victims asking the International Criminal Court to investigate Pope Benedict XVI and three other Vatican officials over their failure to stop the abuse crisis. Time will tell if this amounts to more than a stunt, as the Vatican's lawyer claims, or if it could spell serious trouble for church leaders.
Over in Ireland, a retired bishop has spoken out about an issue that's been on the minds of many Catholics for a long time–ending the concept of mandatory celibacy among priests. Bishop Edward Daly is making waves by saying priests should be allowed to marry because it will help to build up the declining numbers of priests. And in case you missed it earlier this year, a document from 40 years ago shows that one Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict, once also considered the question of allowing priests to marry.
Meanwhile, the issue of divorce is also starting to get a lot of attention in the church. Yesterday, Bryan Cones blogged about a German bishop's comments on Catholic attitudes toward the divorced. And if you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out what the Austrian bishops have said about divorce and remarriage in our latest Sounding Board, then give your own feedback in the survey that follows.
And finally, here's another bad news story about a prominent priest: Priests for Life head Father Frank Pavone was suspended from ministry outside his diocese by his bishop, who cited some concerns about how Pavone has handled the pro-life group's finances. The Anchoress has been following this one pretty closely and provides a good overview of the situation.
